Sweet friends - many of you know the incredible roller coaster of Porter Kate's arrival on Monday at 8:35 pm. If not, I am not quite ready to relive the details of the last five days, but quickly ...
What happened?
The OBs are still waiting for test results, but either the placenta detached from the uterus during labor or I experienced a very rare disorder called vesa previa. Porter arrived via emergency c-section, lifeless and having lost more than 1/3 of her blood volume. It took nearly 15 minutes to revive her. The damage to her little body's lack of oxygen for an unknown amount of time was serious.
What is going on now?
She has been in the NICU since those 15 minutes. It's been a bumpy week. Praise to God that she was off the ventilator within a day. An enormous praise. There are so many little details of her medical condition, but to make it short and give you an understanding, one of the nurses told James that she is the sickest baby in the NICU. She's also the largest (8 lbs 5 oz and 21 1/4 inches) ... I knew she was going to be big! We had a scare yesterday. She had not shown an signs of seizures - which was amazing and the best sign - and then she started seizing when we were visiting her yesterday morning. Praise God that the MRI and EEG of her brain have come back. The MRI showed no signs of damage. The EEG returned the same as the one they did on Tuesday.
What is the road ahead?
It's going to be long. We do know that. How long? That's up to the Lord and Porter. Her recovery will be slow as they do not want to stress any systems until one is fully recovered. I ache to hold her and am hoping that will be in the next 2 weeks. I am pumping and storing milk for her at the hospital. Another praise is that my milk came in two days ago and I stored so much at the hospital already that they told me just keep it at home now that we're at home.
How is Luke?
He is amazing. Last night after he went to bed, we went back to see Porter. Earlier in the night Luke observed that daddy and mommy have wrist bands with her name on them. The nurse gave me a wrist band for Luke and he is proudly wearing it this morning. He was most impressed with the fact that he doesn't have to take it off for bath time. He knows that his sister came out of mommy's tummy and didn't feel good so she is staying with the doctors until she feels better. We are not taking him up to see her - partly hospital policy and partly because we don't want him to see her with tubes and machines. It's hard enough to see it as an adult.
How can you pray?
1. Pray that the seizures we saw on Friday were an isolated incident and do not return.
2. Pray that her kidneys continue to improve and her urine output continues to rise.
3. Pray that her blood levels - and all levels - improve and return to normal.
4. Pray that Porter has the strength and determination only God can give to keep fighting.
James and I were laying in bed the other night and decided that the story of our daughter makes it easier for us to believe the stories we read Luke from his children's Bible. Yes, David could slay Goliath. Yes, Jonah could be in the belly of a whale. Yes, God can bring out daughter back from death and slowly restore life and perfection to her sweet body.
We've both been "Christians" for many years, but I think that there are times in life when God reveals himself in a mighty way and changes your heart forever ... so that there's no way you can deny the reality of God himself, his son and the work of his spirit. It's undeniable that God intervened to save our daughter on Monday night and continues to do so. We aren't looking back ... Only forward to the day that we bring her home and tell her the miraculous story of her life.
Thank you for loving us and praying for our daughter. We are humbled and thankful for the love and support more than you know. Your emails and text have been our greatest source of encouragement to keep going ... keep believing ... keep strong in the fact that we are not carrying this burden alone.
Sarah
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