Milo

So after all of the waiting around he is finally here.
Milo was born 7/2/2011 at 1:40am 8lbs 7oz, 20.5 inches(2 weeks early, I couldn't imagine going to the full 40 weeks or more with this big little guy.
It all started Thursday morning, I woke up having some really bad back pain but that was nothing new really, just a little more intense this time. I also had a bit of bleeding (sorry, tmi) and with all of the preterm stuff I had going on the Dr. wanted me to go into the hospital if I had any bleeding at all, so long story short I went in to labor and delivery, they checked me and I was still only at a 2 so they sent me on my way.
Contractions started up and just got more intense as the day went on but they were not too bad so I wasn't TOO worried, just a little more irritated. I went to my 38wk appt that same day later in the afternoon, the doctor checked me again and I was still only at a 2 so he said with everything I had going on he could be there with in a day or maybe couple weeks- who knows.. by this time I was in quite a bit of pain but still able to walk and what not through my contractions.
That night at about 9:00 the contractions were super strong and got to only about 2mins apart and since the Dr told me to go in if they got that close... I did.
Well I went in and STILL at a 2 and in a lot of pain.
I had to work the next day so I didn't want the morphine shot again so they gave me something a little less intense for the pain and sent me home.
What they gave me made my pain even worse and I ended up back in the hospital at about 3:00am.. yep STILL at a 2 and in A LOT more pain.
I got the morphine for the pain and they sent me home again.
The morphine made me drowsy but didn't help with my pain, I got to the point where I was not going to last any longer and was about on the floor with the contractions so on Friday at about 3:00pm I was back in the hospital (balling as I walked in the door, super embarrassing) she checked me and said I was for sure staying and I was at a 4, she offered me the epidural right away and I have never felt so relieved in my life.
From there on we waited, and waited and waited till finally I had dilated to a 10 and it was time to start pushing- which by the way was the easiest part of the whole pregnancy and birth.
After only 45 mins my little guy was here, as they were cleaning him, weighing him etc... they noticed his arm.
They all started looking at it and had no idea what was wrong with it.
I can't explain what it looked like but I guess the best way to explain is that it looked like his bones were protruding out and that he had sores on the outside as well. They handed him to me for about 1 min then took him to the neonatologist. The neonatologist came back in a couple hrs later and basically said he did not know why or what was wrong with Milo's arm and that he needed to go to the specialist's up at primary children's.
That day at about 5pm the ambulance came and took my little guy... by far one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, saying goodbye to him like that was indescribable.
They hooked an IV in his little head for fluids for the ride and strapped him down in a bed and sent him on his way. Ron and I both cried a lot that night.
After what seemed like forever and some testing they decided that what Milo has is Vascular Malformation which means that his vessels did not form correctly in his arm. So the big lumps are clots in the surface veins.
They said that they are the veins that are not deep tissue so they are not too worried about clotting going to his lungs or anything like that.
They only did an MRI on his arm and not his whole body because he is so little and a full body MRI takes a lot more of the sedation med than just an arm MRI and the sedation is not too safe at this young age, as of right now we have to just watch him grow and go to a lot of follow up appointments with the specialist.
I can only pray that these are not anywhere else in his little body and that he will be ok down the road.
Other than his arm he has been such a good baby- well worth the rough pregnancy and days of labor.
We could not be happier that he is here with us.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, it means a lot to us that you all care so much.
The past week has definitely been a learning experience for me.
This past  year has been life changing for me in many ways, becoming a mother and losing my own mother have been one of the best and worse things that I never pictured happening.
Anyways, that's for another post.
Thanks again everyone. We are more than grateful for you.
Here are just a few shots of our little Milo, or as Ali Jo would say "Baby Lo"

He looks so much like his daddy

Marti loves her new little friend, she is very protective of him already.

No, I didn't tell them to pose this way