Early Arrival

What a whirlwind week for us! It started with Jeremiah's first day of kindergarten on Monday. The day started like any other day, except Grandma F was here and Daddy went in late to work so that we could all accompany Jeremiah to his first day of Kindergarten. He was SO excited to go. I was having a variety of emotions—joy, relief, anxiety, hope. But mostly, I was feeling like crap. I had been feeling pretty yucky all weekend, and had attributed it to IBS. So, we walked Jeremiah to school and put him in the very capable hands of his new teacher. He had the biggest smile on his face--no tears were shed on this first day! Daddy went to work and Marian, Alayna, and I went home. Marian took Alayna swimming and I was ready to start my routine, but my body had other plans. I was just so uncomfortable. At around 10am on that Monday the 13th, I started feeling contractions. They started in my lower back and then rattled my uterus intensely. They were about 6 minutes apart. So, I lied down, like my doctor advised me, to see if they would go away. They didn't. In fact, by noon, they were 4 minutes apart and the intensity was more severe. So my Mom-in-law drove me to the hospital. After a few minutes of waiting, a "prenatal triage nurse" took me to a room and examined me (whilst asking me about a MILLION questions). She then informed me that I was 8-9 cm dilated. For those of you who don't know much about the labor process, this is VERY close to the time when the mom starts pushing. So, they paged my doctor and called Peter at work and got ready to deliver me right there in the triage area. It was going to be a drug free, vaginal birth. Then, the ultrasound gal came in to check the baby's position and discovered that the cord was "prolapsed", which means that it preceded the baby and could cause all sorts of complications. The doctor tried to get the cord back behind the baby's head, but to no avail. So, they wound up doing an emergency C-section at 2:15pm. I won't go into the gruesome details of what happened, but it was very painful and traumatic. They didn't have time to do an epidural, so they gassed me up and pumped me with demerol and I was asleep for the delivery. It happened so fast, Peter was not allowed in the room. And Ezra was so small that they rushed him to Intensive Care to get ready to transport him to another hospital via a helicoptor. They had to transfer him because the hospital I delivered at doesn't have a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They didn't take him until after I woke up and got to see him, around 4pm. Then, I was doped up on morphine for the next 12 hours. By Tuesday morning, I was still very sore, but finally aware of what was going on. Its been a whirlwind week since. God bless my mother-in-law because she postponed her trip back to CA till Sunday so that she could stay and help out this week. She's been a GODSEND!!!

Ezra is still in the NICU and will remain there for at least another 4-6 weeks. He's on a ventilator and feeding tube. Please pray for him! That he gains strength and weight and makes a full "recovery" from this early delivery. He's stable now, and that's a good thing. As for us, we need prayer for encouragement, rest, and peace. We know we serve a Sovereign God, who is willing to lay down His life for us and we are faithful. But, EVERY prayer and good thought counts!

Oh yeah! His stats are as follows:

EZRA JAMES
AUGUST 13, 2007
2:29pm
3 lbs, 6oz
15 ¾ inches long




So, yes, everyone, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. He has a long way to go! And I guess we do too!