Our 2nd Little Preemie!!

 Really?  After 20 weeks of painful and sickening shots to keep our little man from showing himself early like his big sister, I find myself sitting in the small little hospital room of the NICU while my son continues to grow and thrive daily.  

At 34 weeks our beautiful son decided to make his entrance into the world.  Dominic Sergio Francci was born at 34.4 weeks on January 25, 2013 at 331am weighing in at 5 lbs 13 oz. and 18 inches long.  He is an amazing addition to our family.  

I think that he is going to be in competition with his big sister Angelique for many years.  You see she was also a preemie baby born at 35.5 weeks and I was in labor with her for a whopping 4 hours and with Dominic he was born at 34.4 weeks after only 2 hours of labor.  So let the competing begin!

What an experience this has been for all of our little but growing Francci Family.  From the start this pregnancy it has been a trip.  We had tried for so long to have a little brother or sister for Angelique and when we found out I was pregnant after 2 years of trying it was like a miracle.  This time my blood pressure was staying down and things seems to be looking much better.  I never thought of the chances of a second preemie (I should have research a little more, I might have been better prepared for what we had in store).  At 20 weeks gestation my doctor asked me to start a drug regimen where I received shots of hydroxyprogesterone. These shots were going to help keep our little man safe in the womb for what we hoped would be full gestation.  At 32 weeks I was so sick of the shots, the nausea from the shots weekly was almost to much for me to handle.  At 33 weeks I received my last shot and waited to see what would happen.  After just a week of not having the shot I went into full blown labor at 120am on 1-25-13.  Thank God I knew what to expect this time around and we got to the hospital and the adventure began.

Angelique was  lucky enough to be right there in the delivery room with Me and her Daddy that night.  She stood bravely next to me and tried to even hold my hand as I cringed in pain as contraction after contraction just kept rolling in.  She did not have to wait long (a wee 1-1/2 hours from the time we actually pulled into the hospital) to actually see the miracle of of baby being born.  She was right there near the doctor to see Dominic as he entered the world.  I don't know many nearly 7 year old kiddos who would have done it, but she was so curious for so long I am glad she was there to see it.  That is something that she will be able to carry with her for a lifetime.

Now Dominic is in the NICU and they say it could be a couple days but maybe even weeks before we can take him home with us.  I have been patiently waiting and sleeping here by his side for the past 5 days, while his Daddy and Big Sister struggle at home waiting for him to come be a part of our family.  He has been progressing so well, finally gaining weight back and eating more food then what I feel a 8 day old baby would ever eat (the sad thing is that the RN's in the NICU feel much as I do about the quantity they are expecting him to eat), but in order to continue growing they say they have to push a little harder.  He has taken it all so well until recently when he has decided that it is just to much and he is too tired.  Talk of feeding tubes to make sure he gets all his needed calories and we have had to turn the oxygen up as well.   

So as of today ... Day 8 of our newest family member life we are still saying prayers not only that he gets to come home to us soon, but also prayers of thanks that our little miracle is doing so well.  

God has blessed me with an amazing husband Serge, Daughter Angelique and now my family is complete with my little Boy Dominic!