Samuel Benjamin Aprecio

After 48 hours of labor, and 2 hours of pushing Sam was born at 4:28 Sunday morning at 6lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. With only a few hours to ourselves as a family, Sam was whisked away to pediatrics after the nurses found him with low blood sugar. A few blood tests later landed him into the NICU where he will remain for the next week.

Sam has not been completely diagnosed yet, and things are changing every hour so I will try to keep this blog as updated as possible, but please understand that things are very hectic right now and I want to spend as much time with my baby as I can.

First off, I will remain in the hospital for a while on anti-biotics to clear up an unknown infection. We are awaiting tests on that. The suspected infection is known as Coreo.

Sam is also awaiting many test results, but a few things that we know are as follows:

Samuel has a very rare antigen in his blood called JKA. When he was in utero, there was a small blood swap between him and I through the placenta (this is normal for many babies). However, because I do not carry the antigen, my body created Antibodies to fight off the JKA. So, Sam is at high risk for anemia during the next few months and is now "chillin' in blue" due to jaundice. JKA should not pose any further risk to him once he is in the clear, but it is something that Matt and I need to keep in mind for future pregnancies.

The second condition, is a more serious one for Sam. For reasons unknown at this time, he has a very low platelet count. When he was born, his levels were at 19k-the normal being 200k. As of today he has had 3 transfusions 2 of which were not very successful, and the last one bringing his numbers to 150k. This is very good news, but we are watching to make sure that number doesn't drop again, as did the first 2 infusions.

It is not known what is causing this blood disorder but we have done tests and cultures and are awaiting results to hopefully give us answers. Right now we are busy keeping Sam comfortable, clean and fed.

Due to illness and a long labor, Sammy has had a very difficult time eating. So they started him on glucose (which brought his blood sugar to normal levels) and have a feeding tube in place. We have had a few good sessions of breast feeding, but we are working hard to use that as his only source of nutrition. In 30 minutes today he drank 22ml which is very exciting.

We can not wait for things to normalize! It is so hard to hold your newborn amongst wires and tubes with a strict time limit but we are loving every moment with Sam. He is the most beautiful baby we have ever seen. (biased, we know) He is so strong and is such a great example to everyone who has met him. Matt and I are so very thankful for him, and we can not believe that he is ours for eternity.

I am feeling great. There have been very tough times, and I am sure that there are many more to come, but everyone is very positive about the outcome. I will probably be sent home soon, but I will be here ever couple of hours to feed and cuddle with my new son. I will be able to post more pictures and details later, but for now this is the outline of what is happening.

We greatly appreciate prayers for Sam. We are so thankful to those of you who have helped us already either through favors or words of comfort. We are a very blessed family, and I can not wait to see how many more blessings are in store for us through Samuel.