I almost entitled this posting as the legend of "Little W"- my weest little blessing. In just 3 weeks it is hard to remember what life was like before he was born and his stories are true, although they sound like an urban legend (okay maybe that's a little drastic, but if I hadn't lived through the last 3 weeks I don't know that I would of believed myself!
God's Blessings...
We were totally surprised when we found out about blessing no. 2- we loved being parents and our oldest son is the highlight of our day (being almost 2- he's so funny and is learning so much every day) so we were okay with the thought of going through the adventure again! Most women gain weight in pregnancy- I loose it. As in 30 lbs down with both children before I started regaining what I lost. Some women thrive in being pregnant, some thrive in delivery, the blessed thrive in both- I'm in the middle group, being preggo was H-A-R-D both times around. The first time I had to get iv fluids 3 times before I made the turn into 2nd trimester, this time we had to go 5 times. The advantage of this was that we got to meet a lot of the nursing staff at the hospital and become friends with them- the disadvantage was that it broke my heart every time 1st son patted me on the back while I hugged my friend john until the nausea was over.
For those of you who are close to us- you know that Little W was my 3rd pregnancy. We had tried for a couple of years to get pregnant and couldn't/didn't (not that working on my master's and such long hours at school helped things). In January of 2009 we found out that we were expecting and we were so excited. It was a Wed. afternoon and I had a feeling that something was going on because I was so tired all of the time. I'm a geek, I don't do double lines or plus signs- I wanted the test that spelled it out for me "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant", I couldn't begin to tell you how many of those tests we went through! We were so excited when the "not" didn't show up on that test! For 3 days we were in bliss, and then I realized something wasn't right and called my Dr. It was so early on that they confirmed my pregnancy with a urine test, and then sent me to the hospital to monitor the hormones in my blood to see what was going on. This was on Friday afternoon- with instructions to go back on Sunday to get a second "reading" on the level (I think we both knew what that result would be). When we went back on Sunday we ran into one of my friends/co-worker who was on her way to the delivery room. Watching her go in, hubby and I decided to let go and let God's will be done- that he sees a bigger picture whereas we saw only the small details. Needless to say, His strength was with us in the year to come as we continued to try and wait for things to be "right". I graduated with my Masters that December and decided to apply for my National Boards that Spring and totally decided to wait to try until after that process was over. Nearly 1 year to the date of the January before when we discovered we'd miscarried, we discovered we were pregnant again, God had blessed us with our precious 1st born son. He saw the bigger picture, even when we didn't... even better He blessed one of my closest friends in the same way at almost the same time- she and I got to experience our whole pregnancies together (and even delivered our boys on the same date, although at 2 different hospitals). 2 years later, almost to the same date that we discovered our first pregnancy we found out that God had indeed blessed us again!
Labor & Delivery...
Fast forward 9 months... who can remember what contractions felt like two years before? Not this girl! I began having contractions 5 days before Mr. W came into our life- on a regular basis... 4 times we got excited and went to get checked only to be sent home with instructions to come back if things progressed further and the last time the Dr even put me on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy (granted this was a short lived rest, but YUCK!). After the last check up I told my sweet hubby that I was not going back until my water broke (I ended up eating those words!). On Sunday I had no pains, although was running a fever and followed my bed rest instructions and had a relaxing day. Around 2:35 am that night I woke up with the same kind of contraction pains that I had experienced earlier in the week. I went to the rest room and laid back down to have the urge to go again hit me less than 5 minutes later- sweet hubby woke up this time and knew that something was up. Labor had started... fast... furious... and QUICKLY! Within just a few moments we made the call that it was time to go to the hospital again, he called them while I called his Aunt to come stay with our oldest son. I didn't want to leave the bathroom- and struggled to put on clothes (and made the discovery that he was coming faster than we had anticipated- that's a little graphic for the blog, but trust me it was a little scary!). Aunt got here and we left to go to the hospital (a little over 7 miles away)- hubby was driving and I was in the passenger seat- bracing, hands on the back of hubby's seat and the side of the door frame- trying my best not to push. We made it to the hospital, I walked in the emergency room and scared the poor lady behind the counter when I said I was in labor and I needed to get to the 2nd floor-quickly. She raced the maze to the elevators and thankfully one was waiting on us... we rolled off the elevator and I said "he's coming" and the nurses whisked me into Room 222 (next door to where 1st child was born)... I think I managed to get my pants off and don't really remember laying down - nor do I remember pushing - and less than 2 minutes AFTER WE ARRIVED TO THE HOSPITAL our son was born at 3:22 am! Not only was the, shall we say speediness, of his arrival unique- his method was as well. Mr. W was a caul baby, meaning that my water never broke and he was born in the placenta (which occurs in only 1 in 80,000 births!) - needless to say he caused a little excitement for that shift! Dr. H (who had delivered no. 1) was on call that night and strolled in after everything was done and told us that he'd done such a good job teaching us the first time, we didn't need him the 2nd! We were warned that because his birth was so fast, which caused him to bruise that he was at an increased risk for jaundice and they let us go home the next day with a pediatric appointment scheduled for the next day. His biliruben test came back elevated and we placed him under a biliblanket and had his numbers checked every day for the next 5 days when finally his numbers began coming down, and he got to come out from the light!
Right Place at the Right Time...
Little W got to stay out of the blanket for a little over a day, we noticed that he seemed really lethargic and he had cut way back on his eating and he started looking yellow again. We were able to get him in with the Dr that had seen him over the weekend and she had us put him back under the blanket and bring him back the next morning. We never dreamed what would occur during this visit but know that the Lord was with us then and in the days to come. We didn't know it at the time, but we came dangerously close to loosing our sweet son. We didn't know that his body was giving up it's fight and was starting to shut down. We only knew that we trusted our Dr and the sweet nurse who saw us first thing and worked together to do what they could to save our son. Dr. B had never had a baby with jaundice whose numbers jumped back up after dropping so, nor had she ever seen one who had developed a purplish/blue band where the blanket had been, she went ahead and ordered blood work and sent the sweetest nurse in to check his vitals--- Little W's heartbeat was down in the low 90s (normal range close to 140) and his temperature had dropped to 91 degrees, his body was in the process of shutting down to protect his vital organs. Dr B had already called an ambulance and the NICU to let them know we were coming and I remember the sweet nurse hugging my neck and letting me know she was praying for us... I remember the staff stopping what they were doing and praying--- and I remember a peace as I prayed over and over the prayer of "Lord, please put your healing hands on our son, please be with the doctors and help guide them to the answers they need, and please be with us and give us the strength and courage to get through this." To see this infant car seat strapped down to a gurney being pushed through the halls was humbling. Some say ignorance is bliss, and I can testify that statement was true for me during the hours to come... looking back its almost a blur as we sat outside of the room that W would call home for the next 6 days in the NICU (because he had been home, they had to confine him to a space so they could protect the other babies- the hospital has a circ. room in the NICU and that was his room). We sat there and watched as they stabilized our 9 day old son. I remember Dr. W (the NICU doctor) and his staff working in those close quarters and one of them looking at us and saying that if we hear alarms on the machines or hear them shouting orders for us not to panic, that they were having to hook up and unhook different things so that they could evaluate him. I'm not for sure how long we sat there- and Dr. W telling us that there could be a couple of different things causing this- an infection or a birth defect and his asking if either of us knew of any family histories of liver problems and that the tests would give them the answers that the needed, although they were going ahead and starting antibiotics for both a viral and bacterial infection. We stepped out of the room when they began doing the x-rays and ultrasounds to check his liver and vital organs to go get a bite to eat (since we really hadn't eaten since supper the night before). And we began the wait to see what they would discover.... thankfully a defect or an issue requiring surgery was ruled out fairly quickly and we realized that we could stay at this hospital- on the 2nd floor, where we'd spent so much time and made so many friends over the last 9 months, the hospital in which we almost felt like family because of how much they care about their patients. They assigned W a private nurse stationed to his little makeshift room, they were all so nice and so good to B and I as we came and went and did what we could. The hospital also let us board in an empty room so that we could be close by (another blessing). One of the things the blood work showed was that W's platelet count was low- with only 7,000 at it's lowest levels (below 10,000 can cause swelling and bleeding on the brain and cause long term effects), note that normal levels are between 150,000-300,000- our little fellow needed a transfusion. They sent to Charlotte to the blood bank for the platelets, and it seemed like it took forever for them to get there (this was during the DNC and traffic was a nightmare!). And we waited and watched to see how he responded. His levels improved but he had to have another transfusion the next day to give him the extra "bump" he needed. We watched these, and his eating, and his body temperature regulation so closely over the next few days as our little boy began to heal. He was discharged on a Tuesday and we went back to have his platelets checked at the Dr's office the next day. The sweet nurse from the visit the week before gave him a hero's welcome and loved on him (his counts were up to 95,000) and we went back for a follow up visit on Wed. of this week and he was up to 215,000! The nightmare was over, and for the first time we can say we have a healthy baby boy!
Each and every time B and I talked about what we were facing, and how hard W was fighting- we recognized that the Ultimate Healer had his hand on us all- God is so GOOD! Looking back its amazing how amazing the power of prayer is. As we sat in the hospital praying- there were family and friends, their family and friends, churches, and communities around the world praying for this little infant- this sweet little blessing from God, our little W- praying a similar prayer to that that played over and over in our heart. I can never say thank you enough for the prayers or say thank you to those who worked so hard to save his life but I can help be a messenger of the testimony of God's love and peace and the power of prayer. Our prayers were answered- ten-thousand fold as we have a healthy baby who there is nothing to foresee any long term effects from his illness. and we thank Him for putting us where we needed to be and when we needed to be there with the people we meet for His work to be done.
May God's peace be with each of you as you go through the joys and struggles of your life.
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