We did not start our Easter Sunday as we would have hoped. Mandi and I were resting comfortably in our own bed, the first in about week, when the ring tone sounded. Everyone knows the feeling when your phone rings unexpectedly, especially first thing in the morning. The heart beat automatically increases and your senses keenly focus. It took me less than half a second to think of all the things this call could be about. What the heck was going on? I listened intently to Mandi’s voice as she spoke with the nurse practitioner about Baby Claire. I could tell by her response that it was not positive news, but at the same time, there was no sense of complete urgency. We found that Baby Claire’s oxygen saturation had dipped below acceptable levels over the night and the protins had been started to keep her Ductus Arterious open until a shunt could be placed into this small blood vessel to keep just the right amount of blood flowing to her small lungs. There was in stark contrast between the joyous atmosphere most Christians were sharing on this resurrection morning and the melancholy mood on Fieldcrest Ave.
We were hoping that baby Claire was going to make it without needing the first of three typical surgeries for hypoplastic left ventricle, but it is pretty apparent that her little body will need this surgery. I think back to our conversation with Dr. Weller the day before where he mentioned that he is always cautious when the first surgery is not completed. It decreases the unknown factor before we would take baby Claire home.
After the conversation with the nurse practitioner, we decided to get up and make our way towards Childrens to visit with Baby Claire and hope to talk with Dr. Weller again. It was difficult waking up Colton because we knew that he was not feeling well. Not only was he not feeling well, we knew that we were going to be dropping him off with his Mimi and would not see him for the majority of this Easter morning.
The drive was fairly pleasant. Beautiful sunny morning, crisp air with a bit of a chill, not too cold and not too hot. We made note of the flowers springing up all over the countryside and committed that next year we were going to plant some bulbs. It was a rather quiet drive and I imagine a lot of reflection both from the driver’s and passenger side seats in the CRV. We got to the parking lot at Polaris and dropped of the sick little buddy. He did pretty well and waved to us as we drove away to see our other sick little buddy. I know that running through both of our minds was, what the heck is happening to our family? To ease the silence, Mandi turned on the radio. At first it was just some background noise and someone talking and I was not really listening. A very familiar song was the next to be broadcasted. Mandi and both started singing the song, just like we had done many times at church. We continued through the first verse and then came the chorus and we both had an instant rush of emotion leaving us unable to sing the words. “Savior, he can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, he is mighty to save. Forever author of salvation, he rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.” Very powerful moment in our time of need.
We had a wonderful visit with baby Claire. We did get to talk with Dr. Weller and found out that the team of Doctors will meet on Monday. We will likely have the first of three heart surgeries on Tuesday or Wednesday.
We took a little break from baby #2 to enjoy some Easter traditions with baby #1. We made our way to the Martin’s and had an egg hunt with Colton. He kept saying “Found another one” as you picked up one after another. Great meal and good times with our family.
Now we are back at Childrens to spend the rest of our Easter Sunday with baby Claire. She is snuggled up with her mom. We are sure that she wants to eat but the Doctors have decided to cut out the feeds for now because of the medication and the malrotated bowels.
We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. We know that they make a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment