I truly think that patience is a four letter word to most Christians. Think about it, how many sermons do you hear on the subject of patience? Sure the pastor may talk about and use the concept of patience to support a point, but patience is usually never the focal point of a sermon. Truth is, patience is hard on us humans. We are inundated with so many commercials that brain wash us into thinking that having patience is the old way of doing things. We were originally sold on the idea that credit cards were the answer to the problem, or taking out a 2nd and/or 3rd mortgage on the house, but in the end that has gotten most of us nowhere. In fact, most of us are worse off than when we started.
I speak of all this because Holly and I are enduring a little dose of patience with our daughter Karis. She is so close to coming home from the NICU, but it seems that every time we get a little excited about what could happen in the next couple of days, those hopes get deflated by one thing or another. The latest round was centered around the feeding tube. One of the prerequisites for her coming home is doing 100% of her feeds by bottle or nipple. For a couple of days we would feed her a little bit by bottle until she fell asleep and then they would put the rest down her feeding tube. So on Wednesday, Karis' 3 week birthday, Karis pulled out her feeding tube and the nurse said she wouldn't put a new one in unless she proved that she needed one. The good news is that she showed she didn't need it, but tonight while Holly and I were visiting she had a little relapse. Now my definition of relapse is that she spit up a portion of her feed. It wasn't enough to get up in arms over, but enough to become frustrated. Our hope is that when she starts to do something that she will continue on in this upward trajectory toward "normalcy", whatever that is. The truth is Karis is a preemie and all of our best intentions, and plans for her to progress need to happen in the right time. We don't need to bring Karis home and then have to take her back to the hospital a few days or weeks later.
So we need to exercise a little patience. We have to trust that Karis is in God's hands and that she will progress in the right time and while we are so ready for her to come home, she needs to come home when she is ready. So please pray for us and our little dose of patience. I will leave you with Paul's description of the fruit of the Spirit, what we are to model as we become more and more like Christ.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The life of Jared
Trying another name for this update thingy.
The week that was:
Not much went on last week. My time in the office was spent on preparing to speak to our youth after a few weeks absence and preparing for class on Saturday. I thought class went really well. Our topic was on Salvation/Sanctification and I think I helped to clear up a few misunderstandings/bad definitions that had been thrown around to my students. Every time I read John Wesley I am more and more disappointed at how we have twisted his thoughts and intentions. But I guess we do the same to the Bible, so why should Wesley be any different.
My in-laws flew in for the weekend too. We had a great time with them, even though it was short. They got in around 11PM on Friday and after we picked them up at the airport we took them to the hospital to see Karis. I taught on Saturday so Holly took them on Saturday to the hospital and then we went again after class was over. They went again on Sunday morning as I had to come to church so that I can still collect a paycheck. They flew out Sunday afternoon and then Holly and I spent the evening just hanging out. I love having downtime with Holly. She usually falls asleep and I watch TV or read, but I love just being close to her.
The week that is:
Pretty much nothing new this week either, except that Karis may come home later in the week. If she continues to take all of her feeds by bottle and shows that she doesn't need the feeding tube anymore, then they will consider sending her home with us. Holly and I will be happy when that whole ordeal is over. We both hate leaving her at the hospital, especially if she's awake. But we understand that she is getting the best care there right now.
We have a middle school event on Friday night that I will attend unless Karis comes home and there's a little thing called the Super Bowl on Sunday. I would love to watch that with Karis in my arms.
What I'm reading:
I have started reading "Missional Church" by Darrell Guder and others, for my class. I'm only part of the way through the 1st chapter and can already tell that I'm going to like this book. I'll post some thoughts as I work my way through it.
What I'm listening to:
Right now I'm listening to Shane and Shane, all of the albums that I have. I don't know why, I'm just in that kind of mood. Those guys are really talented and I especially love worshipping with them in person. They led one of the sessions at YS this year that was amazing.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
Other than Karis, there's not much on my radar. Can you tell that I want her home?
The week that was:
Not much went on last week. My time in the office was spent on preparing to speak to our youth after a few weeks absence and preparing for class on Saturday. I thought class went really well. Our topic was on Salvation/Sanctification and I think I helped to clear up a few misunderstandings/bad definitions that had been thrown around to my students. Every time I read John Wesley I am more and more disappointed at how we have twisted his thoughts and intentions. But I guess we do the same to the Bible, so why should Wesley be any different.
My in-laws flew in for the weekend too. We had a great time with them, even though it was short. They got in around 11PM on Friday and after we picked them up at the airport we took them to the hospital to see Karis. I taught on Saturday so Holly took them on Saturday to the hospital and then we went again after class was over. They went again on Sunday morning as I had to come to church so that I can still collect a paycheck. They flew out Sunday afternoon and then Holly and I spent the evening just hanging out. I love having downtime with Holly. She usually falls asleep and I watch TV or read, but I love just being close to her.
The week that is:
Pretty much nothing new this week either, except that Karis may come home later in the week. If she continues to take all of her feeds by bottle and shows that she doesn't need the feeding tube anymore, then they will consider sending her home with us. Holly and I will be happy when that whole ordeal is over. We both hate leaving her at the hospital, especially if she's awake. But we understand that she is getting the best care there right now.
We have a middle school event on Friday night that I will attend unless Karis comes home and there's a little thing called the Super Bowl on Sunday. I would love to watch that with Karis in my arms.
What I'm reading:
I have started reading "Missional Church" by Darrell Guder and others, for my class. I'm only part of the way through the 1st chapter and can already tell that I'm going to like this book. I'll post some thoughts as I work my way through it.
What I'm listening to:
Right now I'm listening to Shane and Shane, all of the albums that I have. I don't know why, I'm just in that kind of mood. Those guys are really talented and I especially love worshipping with them in person. They led one of the sessions at YS this year that was amazing.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
Other than Karis, there's not much on my radar. Can you tell that I want her home?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sanctification
So I'm teaching a class on Saturday where we are covering the way of salvation and sanctification. The latter idea is a big distinctive of the tribe that I belong to, but as I'm doing research on what John Wesley taught and believed I'm finding that we are way off. In fact, the way that most people are starting to think of sanctification is more in tune with Wesley than the way that I remember it being taught to me.
The argument conversation basically boils down to process. Wesley argued that we are cleansed from sin and then begin a process whereby our love is perfected into the love of God, or we are made into the imago Dei. In the early 1800's a woman by the name of Phoebe Palmer started convincing people that they could have the whole kit and caboodle at one time. No need to wait, just come to the altar, pray through, believe, and bam your sanctified. The latter began to emerge as the standard view of the process of sanctification and I believe led many to a state of spiritual apathy. You see, Wesley was very intentional about teaching that we were not through after the moment of sanctification. We were still to grow in grace and in learning how to love God and neighbor perfectly.
I am perceiving that the Wesleyan view is once again taking hold in light of the many shift in thinking thanks to postmodernity. Now if only we would stop preaching felt needs, self help sermons, etc and get back to a strong conviction of our tribe.
The argument conversation basically boils down to process. Wesley argued that we are cleansed from sin and then begin a process whereby our love is perfected into the love of God, or we are made into the imago Dei. In the early 1800's a woman by the name of Phoebe Palmer started convincing people that they could have the whole kit and caboodle at one time. No need to wait, just come to the altar, pray through, believe, and bam your sanctified. The latter began to emerge as the standard view of the process of sanctification and I believe led many to a state of spiritual apathy. You see, Wesley was very intentional about teaching that we were not through after the moment of sanctification. We were still to grow in grace and in learning how to love God and neighbor perfectly.
I am perceiving that the Wesleyan view is once again taking hold in light of the many shift in thinking thanks to postmodernity. Now if only we would stop preaching felt needs, self help sermons, etc and get back to a strong conviction of our tribe.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Church as the New Humanity
I've been thinking over Rob Bell and Don Golden's new book lately as I listened to it as I drove down to TN before Christmas. The name of the book is "Jesus Wants to Save Christians." Like most of Rob's teaching, it stretched and challenged me a lot. I'm going to quote a little bit from the last chapter to hopefully spark some discussion among us. But before I begin, I totally recommend this book.
A church is where peace has been made. Because in the Eucharist, in Jesus' body and blood, everything has been reconciled to God. Paul calls this the "new humanity." The Eucharist is about the new humanity. People who previously had nothing in common discover that the only thing they now have in common is the one things that matters. People who had previously found themselves on opposite sides of a wall find out that the wall has been distroyed. People who had fought over an endless array of issues realize that peace has been made and there is nothing left to fight about.
In the new humanity, you hear perspectives you wouldn't normally hear, you walk in someone else's shoes, you find out that the judgments you had previously made about that group of people or that kind of men or that kind of women or all of those kids simply don't hold up because now you're getting to know one of "those" and it's changing everything. You learn that your labels for different people groups are insufficient, because people are far more complex and unpredictable and intelligent and creative.
You used to have a rigid stance on a particular issue, but now you've heard the other side and it's impossible anymore to categorize them all as stupid and uninformed and heartless, because you realize that they have thought about their position and they have weighed the consequences and they have good points that you must consider.
In the new humanity our world gets bigger, our perspective goes from black and white to color, our sensitivities are heightened, we're rescued from sameness and uniformity, because the wall has come down and peace has been made. A church is the new humanity on display. She's in graduate school, and he's in his nineties; and one couple has a million dollars, and another doesn't have enough money for dinner; and he arrived in this country three years ago with a small suitcase, and they've never been out of the country; and they have a son fighting in the war, and they're going to a war protest later today; and he's got serious doubts about what he was taught growing up, and she's just decided that God might even exist.
All of these people-who are divided, who never sit down and listen to each other- in the new humanity, in the church, they meet, they engage, they interact, they begin to feel what the other feels, and the dividing wall of hostility crumbles. In the new humanity, them becomes us, they becomes we, and those become ours.
Sounds a lot like being generous doesn't it? Is it possible for our protestant churches in this day and time to look like this? Especially established churches? I'll post a few more quotes from this chapter in the next few days.
A church is where peace has been made. Because in the Eucharist, in Jesus' body and blood, everything has been reconciled to God. Paul calls this the "new humanity." The Eucharist is about the new humanity. People who previously had nothing in common discover that the only thing they now have in common is the one things that matters. People who had previously found themselves on opposite sides of a wall find out that the wall has been distroyed. People who had fought over an endless array of issues realize that peace has been made and there is nothing left to fight about.
In the new humanity, you hear perspectives you wouldn't normally hear, you walk in someone else's shoes, you find out that the judgments you had previously made about that group of people or that kind of men or that kind of women or all of those kids simply don't hold up because now you're getting to know one of "those" and it's changing everything. You learn that your labels for different people groups are insufficient, because people are far more complex and unpredictable and intelligent and creative.
You used to have a rigid stance on a particular issue, but now you've heard the other side and it's impossible anymore to categorize them all as stupid and uninformed and heartless, because you realize that they have thought about their position and they have weighed the consequences and they have good points that you must consider.
In the new humanity our world gets bigger, our perspective goes from black and white to color, our sensitivities are heightened, we're rescued from sameness and uniformity, because the wall has come down and peace has been made. A church is the new humanity on display. She's in graduate school, and he's in his nineties; and one couple has a million dollars, and another doesn't have enough money for dinner; and he arrived in this country three years ago with a small suitcase, and they've never been out of the country; and they have a son fighting in the war, and they're going to a war protest later today; and he's got serious doubts about what he was taught growing up, and she's just decided that God might even exist.
All of these people-who are divided, who never sit down and listen to each other- in the new humanity, in the church, they meet, they engage, they interact, they begin to feel what the other feels, and the dividing wall of hostility crumbles. In the new humanity, them becomes us, they becomes we, and those become ours.
Sounds a lot like being generous doesn't it? Is it possible for our protestant churches in this day and time to look like this? Especially established churches? I'll post a few more quotes from this chapter in the next few days.
A peek into my world
Still not sold on the name of these posts. I will gladly take any suggestions.
The week that was:
I went back to work last week which was somewhat of a bummer. Doug was out sick the first couple of days so other than braggin on my baby I didn't have too many people of too many subjects to talk about. Holly's mom left on Tuesday to go back to TN and will return when Karis comes home. Holly went to the hospital twice each day and I went mostly once since I had to be in the office. We are still trying to adjust our schedules to Holly pumping which I think will help us once Karis does come home. I just think that we will be more responsive to a baby crying as opposed to an alarm clock going off.
Holly had a baby shower on Saturday with some people from the church and we got a lot of great outfits to Karis and other odds and ends and also the jogging stroller that we registered for. That is huge. Thanks ladies. While Holly was at the shower I took a good friend of mine, Petey as I call him behind his back and with Wendy and sometimes Doug, down to the NICU to see Karis. Petey and I used to have offices next to each other and developed a great relationship through deep discussions and working through sermons together. I really miss our rich conversations over theology and what is going on in the church, especially since he brought a conservative reformed background to the conversation. Anyways, we had a great time catching up on life and the craziness of his families life in response to him being let go from our staff. We also got to see Karis at one of her most alert times which was fun. Hang in the Petey, God is not through with you yet my friend.
The week that is:
Not much going on except for class on Saturday. I'm really behind on my reading and preparing for class so I've got to get busy. This session we are talking about salvation and sanctification so it should be very interesting. Other than that my days are going to be at the office and a part of the evening will be in the NICU. Man, I can't wait for Karis to come home!
What I'm listening to:
I listened to a great sermon by Rob Bell today. He is working through a series on Philippians and he did a sermon as Paul speaking to his congregation. It was really great. It was the sermon from Sept 7th if you are interested. Other than that I'm using the genius feature on iTunes which means that random things are popping up.
What I'm reading:
Stuff for class. Nothing special right now. I will be doing a review of a book that will be released in March sometime in Feb. Should be interesting.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
Tomorrow is the presidential inauguration, no matter what your beliefs are on politics you should be interested in this historic occasion. Today is MLK, Jr. day. I know that I wasn't alive during his time, but what an impact he made on the social landscape of our nation. Hopefully we can continue his work to racial equality.
Karis' world:
Karis is over 4lbs now! She is steadily gaining weight. Hopefully they will begin to work on her suck and swallow reflexes this week. As soon as she can master those things she will be home with mommy and daddy. Let me leave you with a picture of her. She melts my heart.
The week that was:
I went back to work last week which was somewhat of a bummer. Doug was out sick the first couple of days so other than braggin on my baby I didn't have too many people of too many subjects to talk about. Holly's mom left on Tuesday to go back to TN and will return when Karis comes home. Holly went to the hospital twice each day and I went mostly once since I had to be in the office. We are still trying to adjust our schedules to Holly pumping which I think will help us once Karis does come home. I just think that we will be more responsive to a baby crying as opposed to an alarm clock going off.
Holly had a baby shower on Saturday with some people from the church and we got a lot of great outfits to Karis and other odds and ends and also the jogging stroller that we registered for. That is huge. Thanks ladies. While Holly was at the shower I took a good friend of mine, Petey as I call him behind his back and with Wendy and sometimes Doug, down to the NICU to see Karis. Petey and I used to have offices next to each other and developed a great relationship through deep discussions and working through sermons together. I really miss our rich conversations over theology and what is going on in the church, especially since he brought a conservative reformed background to the conversation. Anyways, we had a great time catching up on life and the craziness of his families life in response to him being let go from our staff. We also got to see Karis at one of her most alert times which was fun. Hang in the Petey, God is not through with you yet my friend.
The week that is:
Not much going on except for class on Saturday. I'm really behind on my reading and preparing for class so I've got to get busy. This session we are talking about salvation and sanctification so it should be very interesting. Other than that my days are going to be at the office and a part of the evening will be in the NICU. Man, I can't wait for Karis to come home!
What I'm listening to:
I listened to a great sermon by Rob Bell today. He is working through a series on Philippians and he did a sermon as Paul speaking to his congregation. It was really great. It was the sermon from Sept 7th if you are interested. Other than that I'm using the genius feature on iTunes which means that random things are popping up.
What I'm reading:
Stuff for class. Nothing special right now. I will be doing a review of a book that will be released in March sometime in Feb. Should be interesting.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
Tomorrow is the presidential inauguration, no matter what your beliefs are on politics you should be interested in this historic occasion. Today is MLK, Jr. day. I know that I wasn't alive during his time, but what an impact he made on the social landscape of our nation. Hopefully we can continue his work to racial equality.
Karis' world:
Karis is over 4lbs now! She is steadily gaining weight. Hopefully they will begin to work on her suck and swallow reflexes this week. As soon as she can master those things she will be home with mommy and daddy. Let me leave you with a picture of her. She melts my heart.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A Peek into my world
Be careful peeking into my world, this has been a crazy week.
The week that was:
I became a father on Wednesday!!!! Does anything else top that? It was a crazy ride that brought Karis Olivia into the world which you can read some of my ramblings about that situation on this blog. Karis is doing well but in the NICU at Bryn Mawr instead of being home with Holly and I. Holly came home from the hospital on Sunday and now we are heading down to the NICU a couple of times a day to see our baby.
The week that is:
I came back to work on Monday, which I wasn't too happy about. I think I'm going to like being a stay at home dad when that happens. Holly has been going down to the hospital around 11AM to be there for that feeding. Then she and I plan to go for either the 5PM or 8PM feeding. They do this thing called cluster care where every three hours they change her, take her temp and feed her. We get to be hands on during that process as they want to make sure we know what we are doing when she finally gets to come home with us. Another cool thing is that we get to do what's called kangaroo care. It's where we hold Karis skin to skin for about an hour. It helps her to adjust to life outside of the isolette and also helps with bonding between baby and parents. Holly and I have been alternating doing this and it's great!
What I'm listening to:
With the craziness of last week I didn't listen to much. I did listen to a little Dave Matthews when I would go back to the apartment. For some reason their music calms me.
What I'm reading:
Stuff for class mainly. I'm also working through Wesley's "A Plain Account of Christianity" for class. Our next session is about salvation/sanctification. Should be fun!
What I'm keeping an eye on:
My baby of course! Plus football season is reaching it's peak towards the Super Bowl. There's this team up here that has exceeded most people's expectations. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Most people were crying for some sort of change all through the season, but I doubt that one will come now. Also Carolina has lost their first two ACC games. I don't know what's going on there but they better turn it around.
What's new in the world of Karis:
This is a new category that I will be adding. Well she was born so that's new. She's doing well and it was great to see them take off the CPAP machine so we could see her full face. The nurse last night said that she'll probably progress alot in the next few weeks as her IV is taken out and she moves to a regular crib and then the slow process of growing and learning how to eat and breathe at the same time become the focus.
The week that was:
I became a father on Wednesday!!!! Does anything else top that? It was a crazy ride that brought Karis Olivia into the world which you can read some of my ramblings about that situation on this blog. Karis is doing well but in the NICU at Bryn Mawr instead of being home with Holly and I. Holly came home from the hospital on Sunday and now we are heading down to the NICU a couple of times a day to see our baby.
The week that is:
I came back to work on Monday, which I wasn't too happy about. I think I'm going to like being a stay at home dad when that happens. Holly has been going down to the hospital around 11AM to be there for that feeding. Then she and I plan to go for either the 5PM or 8PM feeding. They do this thing called cluster care where every three hours they change her, take her temp and feed her. We get to be hands on during that process as they want to make sure we know what we are doing when she finally gets to come home with us. Another cool thing is that we get to do what's called kangaroo care. It's where we hold Karis skin to skin for about an hour. It helps her to adjust to life outside of the isolette and also helps with bonding between baby and parents. Holly and I have been alternating doing this and it's great!
What I'm listening to:
With the craziness of last week I didn't listen to much. I did listen to a little Dave Matthews when I would go back to the apartment. For some reason their music calms me.
What I'm reading:
Stuff for class mainly. I'm also working through Wesley's "A Plain Account of Christianity" for class. Our next session is about salvation/sanctification. Should be fun!
What I'm keeping an eye on:
My baby of course! Plus football season is reaching it's peak towards the Super Bowl. There's this team up here that has exceeded most people's expectations. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Most people were crying for some sort of change all through the season, but I doubt that one will come now. Also Carolina has lost their first two ACC games. I don't know what's going on there but they better turn it around.
What's new in the world of Karis:
This is a new category that I will be adding. Well she was born so that's new. She's doing well and it was great to see them take off the CPAP machine so we could see her full face. The nurse last night said that she'll probably progress alot in the next few weeks as her IV is taken out and she moves to a regular crib and then the slow process of growing and learning how to eat and breathe at the same time become the focus.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Truly amazing
So today I went to visit Karis in the NICU at the hospital. She was in the hard plastic, incubator thing but I found myself just staring at her. A nurse and a doctor came over to talk to me about her situation and to say that she was doing great. They use big words, abbreviations and what seems to be a bunch of random letters when trying to explain her situation. Anyways, as I was talking to the nurse I said that I couldn't wait to hold her, especially because I thought it would be around a week or so before we could do that. The nurse then informed me that if I came back at 1:45 they would get her out for us to hold. So Holly, my mother in law Brenda, and myself went to the NICU today and held Karis for about 30-40 min. Holly went first and I will never forget the way that she teared up. I can't imagine all that went through her head at that moment. I know what went through mine but I wasn't carrying Karis around and having to deal with the complications that we experienced for the past couple of days. About 5 min before we had to leave Holly let me hold Karis and I finally really started to feel like a real dad. I held my baby today. I held my baby today! I HELD MY BABY TODAY!!!!!
In case you can't tell I'm pretty excited about that.
In case you can't tell I'm pretty excited about that.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Life's unexpected surprises
So I had hoped to have a great number of posts done on a few of my favorite things and random things that I thought about on my 13 hr trek down to TN for Christmas alone. I'll still get around to them, but I have to reflect a bit on the craziness of the past few days. For those of you that don't know, or haven't seen my facebook status update on the right column, my daughter was born today at 10:01 AM 8 weeks premature. Before I tell you how great she is doing and how adorable she is, let me tell you a bit about our journey to this place.
Holly woke up with kidney pains at midnight on Saturday. These have been fairly normal throughout her pregnancy as she has to use the bathroom quite a bit with a living thing growing inside of her. Around 2 AM I finally snapped out of my sleeping funk and we called Holly's OB who suggested that we come to the hospital. So we loaded up the car and drove to the hospital while Holly's pain grew more intense. We got here and they took us to a labor and delivery room where they hooked up a fetal heart rate monitor to Holly to keep an eye on the baby and figure out what was causing the kidney pain. During the course of the next few hours while Holly was being questioned about health history, drugs she was taking, history of the pregnancy, etc, one of the nurses noticed that the baby's heart decelerated for a few minutes. So we waited and a couple of hours later, it happened again. Then again a couple of hours later. Each time when it happened the nurses came in and Holly had to roll around on the bed in order to get the baby to move so they could find the heartbeat. The first really bad episode happened while I was on my way back from running to the apartment to pack an overnight bag.
So Sunday was spent trying to figure out what the heck was going on and trying not to freak out with the fact that our baby's heartrate was slowing down for no apparent reason. I'm glossing over quite a bit of details for the sake of my wife, but this was a pretty stressful day. (If only we knew.) Holly's mom flew up on Sunday evening to be with us and help out with trying to keep us both sane and also in case anything happened. I was very thankful for her presence as it gave me the opportunity to not be on the edge all of the time. From my memory, Sunday night was filled with more decells and the rolling over and such at ungodly hours of the night. The worst part about Sunday night was the possibility that in the midst of one of these decells that they might have to do an emergency c-section to get the baby. Luckily, our baby came out every one looking great according to the monitor and so the docs weren't too on edge about it.
Sometime early Monday all of this craziness stopped and Holly started dealing with contractions. We had a consult with the perinatologist (high risk pregnancy) and neonatologist (premature babies doc) which didn't really help matter too much. The perinatologist wasn't too concerned about it because the baby tested great on every ultrasound and the heartrate monitor, except for the decells. The neonatologist came in to just describe what would happen if the baby was delivered in the next few days. Through another ultrasound, they figured out that's Holly's kidney pain was because of a spasm that forced urine from the bladder back into the kidney. They gave her some medicine that helped that out and we had a great afternoon. In fact we went 14 hours without a decell and thought that we might actually get to go home and forget this whole ordeal.
Needless to say that didn't happen. About 5 that night the baby started to decell and did so about every 3 hours through the morning. We did another consult with the perinatologist, on Tues morning, who discovered that baby had the chord wrapped around her neck. Which is not uncommon because 1 of every 3 babies born have that occur. The difference is that certain movement that our baby made caused the chord to compress and thus slow down her heart. Luckily for us our baby is a fighter and she always responded beautifully from each of these episodes but after Tuesday, which we will call the night from hell, we were all spent emotionally, physically, you name it. (I think I also forgot to mention that Holly's dad flew up on Monday evening as well.) Tuesday night consisted of a decell at about every 2-3 hours. Some of them were very long and at least once we thought that they were going to take Holly back to get the baby.
So on to this morning. We were visited again by the perinatologist who was not acting too serious about the situation until he discovered that the baby had decelled 14 times in a 24 hour period. After a consult with him and one of the OB/GYN's from our practice we decided to schedule a c-section to get the baby out. She appeared strong and healthy and no one wanted to chance another day with that many decells. So in a matter of 45 min I found myself in an OR holding my wife's hand while our baby was born via c-section at roughly 32 weeks!
I will never ever forget our baby's first cry. It was such a huge relief because she sounded normal and gave a really strong cry. Holly and I both started to cry ourselves as the whole experience had finally come to this incredible moment that we will forever share as husband and wife. We had created a living human being! Amazing is the only word that comes to my mind.
Now on to the truly amazing things. Our baby was born 8 weeks premature. One of the last things to develop in a baby is the lungs and so it's usually pretty touch a go with a newborn at the stage in development. Luckily, Holly was given 2 steroids shots to help with that development and I'm glad that was able to take hold. Our baby weighed 3 lbs 14 oz which is fairly big for that stage in development, or so I'm told. She measured 17 1/4". She is breathing with very little assistance and for the most part on her own. Every test that they have done on her shows that she is actually a little ahead of her development. I've seen her twice but not been able to hold her as of yet. She will be in the NICU for about 3-4 weeks depending on how she continues to develop. Hopefully three weeks though.
We have named her Karis Olivia. Karis is the greek for grace, although it's spelled with a ch, we liked the K better. Olivia just seemed to flow with it. I can't believe that I could love something more than I do that little one. We had a lot of scares the past few days, but now we are on a journey of excitement and more of the unexpected. I believe that Karis is going to be alot like her mom. She's moving just as much now as she was inside the womb. She's fiesty and ultimately I think that is what brought her through this whole ordeal. Well that and the faithfulness of our awesome God.
Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us in past 3 days or so. The community of God's people are an amazing bunch. All of the encouraging texts and those that went out of their way to pick up my in laws (Doug and Pegge, Darren and Ashleigh), do our laundry (Doug and Mear) and those that lifted us up in prayer. Sorry to those that I wasn't able to contact in the madness, I hope that you'll understand. I have so much more to say, but I think I'll stop here.
God is good.
All the time.
All the time.
God is good.
Thank you God for your grace and the gift of this precious little one in our life.
Holly woke up with kidney pains at midnight on Saturday. These have been fairly normal throughout her pregnancy as she has to use the bathroom quite a bit with a living thing growing inside of her. Around 2 AM I finally snapped out of my sleeping funk and we called Holly's OB who suggested that we come to the hospital. So we loaded up the car and drove to the hospital while Holly's pain grew more intense. We got here and they took us to a labor and delivery room where they hooked up a fetal heart rate monitor to Holly to keep an eye on the baby and figure out what was causing the kidney pain. During the course of the next few hours while Holly was being questioned about health history, drugs she was taking, history of the pregnancy, etc, one of the nurses noticed that the baby's heart decelerated for a few minutes. So we waited and a couple of hours later, it happened again. Then again a couple of hours later. Each time when it happened the nurses came in and Holly had to roll around on the bed in order to get the baby to move so they could find the heartbeat. The first really bad episode happened while I was on my way back from running to the apartment to pack an overnight bag.
So Sunday was spent trying to figure out what the heck was going on and trying not to freak out with the fact that our baby's heartrate was slowing down for no apparent reason. I'm glossing over quite a bit of details for the sake of my wife, but this was a pretty stressful day. (If only we knew.) Holly's mom flew up on Sunday evening to be with us and help out with trying to keep us both sane and also in case anything happened. I was very thankful for her presence as it gave me the opportunity to not be on the edge all of the time. From my memory, Sunday night was filled with more decells and the rolling over and such at ungodly hours of the night. The worst part about Sunday night was the possibility that in the midst of one of these decells that they might have to do an emergency c-section to get the baby. Luckily, our baby came out every one looking great according to the monitor and so the docs weren't too on edge about it.
Sometime early Monday all of this craziness stopped and Holly started dealing with contractions. We had a consult with the perinatologist (high risk pregnancy) and neonatologist (premature babies doc) which didn't really help matter too much. The perinatologist wasn't too concerned about it because the baby tested great on every ultrasound and the heartrate monitor, except for the decells. The neonatologist came in to just describe what would happen if the baby was delivered in the next few days. Through another ultrasound, they figured out that's Holly's kidney pain was because of a spasm that forced urine from the bladder back into the kidney. They gave her some medicine that helped that out and we had a great afternoon. In fact we went 14 hours without a decell and thought that we might actually get to go home and forget this whole ordeal.
Needless to say that didn't happen. About 5 that night the baby started to decell and did so about every 3 hours through the morning. We did another consult with the perinatologist, on Tues morning, who discovered that baby had the chord wrapped around her neck. Which is not uncommon because 1 of every 3 babies born have that occur. The difference is that certain movement that our baby made caused the chord to compress and thus slow down her heart. Luckily for us our baby is a fighter and she always responded beautifully from each of these episodes but after Tuesday, which we will call the night from hell, we were all spent emotionally, physically, you name it. (I think I also forgot to mention that Holly's dad flew up on Monday evening as well.) Tuesday night consisted of a decell at about every 2-3 hours. Some of them were very long and at least once we thought that they were going to take Holly back to get the baby.
So on to this morning. We were visited again by the perinatologist who was not acting too serious about the situation until he discovered that the baby had decelled 14 times in a 24 hour period. After a consult with him and one of the OB/GYN's from our practice we decided to schedule a c-section to get the baby out. She appeared strong and healthy and no one wanted to chance another day with that many decells. So in a matter of 45 min I found myself in an OR holding my wife's hand while our baby was born via c-section at roughly 32 weeks!
I will never ever forget our baby's first cry. It was such a huge relief because she sounded normal and gave a really strong cry. Holly and I both started to cry ourselves as the whole experience had finally come to this incredible moment that we will forever share as husband and wife. We had created a living human being! Amazing is the only word that comes to my mind.
Now on to the truly amazing things. Our baby was born 8 weeks premature. One of the last things to develop in a baby is the lungs and so it's usually pretty touch a go with a newborn at the stage in development. Luckily, Holly was given 2 steroids shots to help with that development and I'm glad that was able to take hold. Our baby weighed 3 lbs 14 oz which is fairly big for that stage in development, or so I'm told. She measured 17 1/4". She is breathing with very little assistance and for the most part on her own. Every test that they have done on her shows that she is actually a little ahead of her development. I've seen her twice but not been able to hold her as of yet. She will be in the NICU for about 3-4 weeks depending on how she continues to develop. Hopefully three weeks though.
We have named her Karis Olivia. Karis is the greek for grace, although it's spelled with a ch, we liked the K better. Olivia just seemed to flow with it. I can't believe that I could love something more than I do that little one. We had a lot of scares the past few days, but now we are on a journey of excitement and more of the unexpected. I believe that Karis is going to be alot like her mom. She's moving just as much now as she was inside the womb. She's fiesty and ultimately I think that is what brought her through this whole ordeal. Well that and the faithfulness of our awesome God.
Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us in past 3 days or so. The community of God's people are an amazing bunch. All of the encouraging texts and those that went out of their way to pick up my in laws (Doug and Pegge, Darren and Ashleigh), do our laundry (Doug and Mear) and those that lifted us up in prayer. Sorry to those that I wasn't able to contact in the madness, I hope that you'll understand. I have so much more to say, but I think I'll stop here.
God is good.
All the time.
All the time.
God is good.
Thank you God for your grace and the gift of this precious little one in our life.
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