Hopsital Update

Hello everyone,

First off, thank you for all your support and prayers. Words cannot express our profound gratitude for your nearness. We feel ourselves very much part of the communion of saints and your prayers have been very effective. When we arrived at the hospital all the doctors and nurses thought that Nina would deliver Killian in minutes or hours, but they have been able to maintain the status quo and buy Killian more time in the womb which is invaluable for his development. At this point, just being in Nina's body does far more for Killian than any medicine or technology in the world. That's what only a mother can do for her son.

We have been inundated by phone calls and texts from many caring friends and family members and we have been doing our best to keep you up to date as events unfold. We are grateful for the genuine concern and interest in how everything is going but at times I feel like a broken record repeating the same thing dozens of times; even then, sometimes not everyone hears the news. To make things a little easier for everyone, I hope to be able to post on my blog any updates on Nina's condition in the days to come for those who are interested.

We have been humbled and are very grateful for the outpouring of prayers and support. Thank you!

Just to recap for everyone:

Thursday: Nina woke up about 2:30 am with severe pain in her abdomen. Nothing could relieve the pain. Around 3:00 she began bleeding and we rushed to the hospital. They set her up in a triage and the obgyn on site thought delivery was imminent. Her water had broken and the placenta was abrupted - she was going into labor at 26 weeks and 2 days gestation. They said that for some reason there had been too much water in the womb (the experts still don't know what causes this). Because the sack was too full, it broke early and sent Nina into delivery, at the same time the placenta began to separate from the uterus. That was the pain she felt at home.

They got her on an IV and gave her a high dose of magnesium which serves to slow the contractions and helps the baby in last-minute development. The side effect on Nina was severe nausea and aching. They gave her an epidural in case we had to go to an emergency c-section and took many blood samples for the lab. Nina hates needles so all of that was very difficult for her but she underwent everything necessary to improve Killian's chances of survival with great strength and love. He already has our hearts in his tiny hands; he measures about 13 inches and weighs 1.5 pounds.

The high risk specialist and the neo-natal care specialist met with us in the midst of all this to discuss the situation and potential scenarios. Because he is so premature many of his organs are not sufficiently matured. His blood vessels are still very fragile and could led to bleeding which could cause stroke, cerebral palsy, damage to the nervous system, etc. Also his lungs are not ready to breathe, nor is his digestive system ready, and so on. The list was extensive and sobering for us as we were faced with the mountain our little boy had to climb. But we are in God's hands. They gave Nina a dose of steriods to help with some emergency development of those vital areas and hoped he would stay in the womb for at least a few hours to let them work. Every hour counted.

They were able to stabilize her, and Killian was looking great. Nina was battling the effects of the magnesium and the discomfort of all the tubes and needs in her, along with the contractions. The staff was amazed and pleased with Killian deciding to basically chill out inside Mommy. His heart beat was regular and strong (exhibiting behavior of a 32 week old) and he moved enough to let us know that he was okay but not enough to cause any problems. He seemed very happy to be where he was.

We spent the day waiting and praying. So many factors were at play and they would shift in each direction with the passing of time. The doctors would think delivery was coming soon, then the contractions would ease off and space out, then grow intense again some time later. We waited and prayed and family members from both sides came to visit and be with us. We made it through the day and night came with some much needed rest.

Friday: The sleeping pill helped Nina until about 3am when she woke and couldn't sleep again. At 8am they took the first blood test of the day. At this point Nina was so de-hydrated that they inserted the needle 4 times before any blood would come - Nina was not happy about that! The test results came back showing everything stable and where the doctors wanted it. Everyone's intent was to buy Killian more time in the womb so that the steroids could work, but at the same time being very cautious about any infection developing since the water had broken. It has been a fine line to walk. Again, just a lot of waiting and praying.