Monthly Archives: August 2013

Did I mention his name means “Champ”?

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

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This will be somewhat brief because I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.

But…

1) I’m writing this from HOME.   As I mentioned last time, Nolan was starting to fall behind in size. Not only was he behind, but the discordance had grown from 17% to 25% to 35% over the last few weeks and he just wasn’t growing nearly enough.  (Thus the Doctor’s fear that we were on our way to losing him.)  Her expectation was that gap would continue to grow, but we weren’t sure at what rate.   If that gap held or barely grew today, we would try to monitor him and hold on until Sept 4th.  If that gap grew at an alarming rate, or if other indicators showed he wasn’t thriving, we would deliver today or tomorrow.

The gap lessened.

Nolan took a cue from his mama and packed on some weight.  In fact, he knocked the gap down to 25%.  Less important than the exact percentage is the fact that he gained weight in general.  He demonstrated that he IS still growing.  In addition, he nailed all of his other checks.  We saw a strong heartbeat, active limbs and reflexes, and even saw him practicing taking breaths.  All in all…he showed us he’s still fighting.

The doctor was so pleased she entered the room with some fist pumps.  🙂  She also said…if he’s going to show us he’s fighting and growing…let’s try to give them more time.  And with the understanding I am to take it easy and pick up the monitoring (kick count, NST, etc), we were allowed to return home.

2) The new plan is for me to be on modified bed rest.  She didn’t give me specific hours to be off of my feet, or give me specific restrictions, but I’m not returning to work, and will be “taking it easy” as much as possible.  We will monitor both boys as indicated above, and return to Columbus on Sept 11th.  We’ll take packed bags once again…only this time we are going in to it knowing that if Nolan has continued to fight…we will once again get to come home for a few more days.

We have a scheduled C-section now.  Sept 17th at noon.  That puts us right at 34 weeks.  There’s still a concern that on the 11th she’ll say…”let’s do this now”.  There’s also a chance that due to fluid or other issues I’ll go in to labor sooner.   But as long as the boys will let us…we’re trying to make it to Sept 17th.

J and I couldn’t be happier.   We are holding out hope that there can still be a little progress in their brains.  And giving them more time feels good.  We are also happy that as we add time in utero, we lessen some of the typical preemie risks.  Breathing and feeding will still be early goals, as with any 34 week baby.  But we like that we’re giving them every chance we can to grow and develop a bit more, and giving God a little more time too.

3) This was a LONG day.  I’ve been up since 4:00 am and haven’t stopped.  In addition to an ultrasound and DR visit we met with pediatric neurology, neonatal, and toured two NICUs.  There were some tough, long, but informative conversations today.  We felt prepared for the tough side of that, and felt they did a good job explaining and answering questions.  That’s all we can ask for now as we continue this waiting game.

In summary…our prayer warriors are amazing.   Landon is continuing to play the role of “big” brother.  Nolan is proving to be a little fighter.    And we couldn’t be more proud.

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Prayer Update

27 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Prayer, twins

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I know I just posted about prayer, but I wanted to share two big things that have happened during the last week.

I’ve added several states based on your feedback on here and facebook.  We know of people in 25 states praying for our boys.  This map gives me chills.

Prayer States 25

In what might be one of the kindest and most empowering gestures I’ve ever seen, my coworkers put together a prayer calendar.  Listed on that calendar, starting on August 22nd and for each day afterward, are the names of people who have offered to pray for us on each particular day.  In presenting it to me, a group gathered around on a work day morning, and talked of a recent excerpt heard on KLove.  How if Joshua had stopped after 6 times, the walls of Jericho would not have fallen.   If Naaman had bathed in the river only 6 times, he would not have been healed.  In both instances, persistence, patience, and faith were required.  Then right there, in the midst of our computers, spreadsheets, and filing cabinets, my supervisor led the prayer for August 22nd.

I had no sufficient way of thanking them, or relaying how much all of this meant to me.  But I will say on here what I shared with them:

We have a lot of unanswered questions rolling through our heads, but J and I have talked a lot and know without a doubt why God chose this timing.  This town, these coworkers, these friends, this church, this support group (both near and far)…YOU were the ones we would need.

Prayer

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Prayer, pregnant, twins

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Many of you have commented or emailed about prayer.  About its power, about how actively you are praying, but also that you aren’t sure what to pray for at times.

I understand that. 

I’ve worked hard throughout this journey to have an honest dialogue with God.  There is a long list of things we pray for, including things like:

  • Peace as we go through this.  Peace for us, for the boys, for our families.
  • The right medical team to guide us, especially as we make tough decisions.
  • The ability to trust God, and find comfort and understanding in His will, even if it is not our own.
  • That something good will come of this…that the pain and heartache will not be in vain. 
  • Healing.  Complete and total healing.  A chance to look back at this and proclaim loudly from every avenue that I can that there is clearly only one explanation because medically it was impossible… God healed our boys…

That last one is the one I get stuck on.  It’s what my heart really wants.   And He knows it. 

We continue to be overwhelmed by the amount of people letting us know about their diligent prayers for our little family.  Every facebook message, email, text, phone call, or other note means so very much.  We are so thankful for that, and I think YOU are helping me find peace and comfort in this…even though for now, I’m often stuck on prayers for healing. 

I thought it might be nice to take note of all the prayers that are going up for Landon and Nolan.   Here’s a look at the states that I know of.  If you are praying from a state I haven’t highlighted, let me know!  In the meantime, please keep praying, feel free to share our story and feel free to let your church, family, friends, etc know.   In case you missed it in a comment on another post, there’s a sweet little four-year old boy in WV who has no clue who we are, but who is praying “for the baby twins who are sick in someone’s belly”.   I was told yesterday there was a church here in town (not even ours) where the pastor mentioned our family, only to realize the rest of the church had heard about us and was already praying as well.   Thinking of these things makes me smile. 

Prayer States

God is hearing about Landon and Nolan from far and wide.  So you are part of our large and growing prayer team, no matter where you are.   Please keep going!   There’s one more thing that I’ve been praying for. 

  • That God would bless all those who have taken part in this story.  That those who are caring, praying, and hoping for the best could realize how much they have already blessed us, and that God would help us return the favor.