Part Two

Well, it isn't that night, the next day, or even the next...we're just too busy I guess. Let's finish this up if we can.

I had had a fitful night's sleep due to my blood pressure, the medications, the baby, and generally just due to being in the hospital. The next day they continued to monitor me and discussed the fact that I would probably be spending the next 10 weeks bedfast in the hospital. I was against that - I had a toddler at home! Little did I know that I would not be seeing my little Kelsey for quite a while. The did two ultrasounds each lasting 30 minutes to check the number of breaths Jonah took and how many times he would move. Each time the ultrasounds showed that he was not breathing and not moving. The ultrasound also showed that I had no amniotic fluid left in my body. The nurses asked me if I had been leaking fluid - I asked if that was something I would be aware of (ha, ha) and they very seriously said yes! Well, needless to say they were concerned that my body had just absorbed this fluid. Not only was he not moving or breathing, it was completely dry in there! Darrel was not really aware of any of this yet and was planning on leaving so he could be at the annual chicken dinner fund raiser. The doctors quickly stopped him and informed him that things had changed drastically. We would be having a baby before the night was over.

I was so worried - I knew it was way too early for this child to be born. A million things went through my mind. The nurses assured me that there were worse weeks for him to be born - 30 weeks was relatively good. They gave me two shots to help mature his lungs and then the preparations for an emergency C-section began. I was not able to deliver him naturally due to the absence of amniotic fluid and due to the fact he hadn't breathed or moved in over an hour. I don't remember much about the rest of that night. Only that things were moving very fast. I remember after enduring a painful epidural the nurses congratulating the student doctor on her very first epidural. YIKES! Would I even be able to walk again? I remember the nurses telling Darrel to put on the paper scrubs, much to his dislike. I remember him walking out looking like the Incredible Hulk because they had ripped. I remember Darrel trying to squeeze his 5x body into 2x doctor's scrubs. He looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Then I remember being in the operating room and a nurse showing me a little tiny body for 1 second.

When I woke up the next morning, my parents were there and my sister Debbie. The toxemia had gone with the delivery of the baby. But my blood pressure was still high and the magnesium sulfate they were giving me was making me...um, how do I say it...oh yeah...mean! I was beginning to panic. I couldn't remember what my baby looked like and no one was giving me any information. The polaroid they had given me made Jonah look like he was deformed. Darrel convinced the nurses that the best option was for me to be able to see the baby. But doing that without getting out of bed was impossible. Those dear nurses took Jonah's isolette out of the NICU and wheeled him down to me. I couldn't hold him or touch him, but I could see him for myself. I was allowed to leave the hospital after a week. Jonah, however, was going to have to stay. We drove an hour to and an hour from the hospital every day for four weeks. Our church ladies were upset because I had caused Darrel to miss the chicken supper. There were no meals brought to us, no one to meet us when we came home, and no one to help a distraut mama who had to leave her little man in a cold hospital each night. They expected us to continue with our pastorly duties each day. We were not allowed to find outside jobs to help with expenses. We were not helped by our church with these expenses. If it hadn't been for our parents and grandparents, we would not have had the money to drive each day. Gary and Lois had taken Kelsey back to Missouri with them. The stress of daily hearing all that could be wrong with Jonah, trying to keep faith that he would be fine, facing an uncaring congregation, and having our family temporarily torn apart was quickly taking a toll on us.

Not being able to hold Jonah was the worst part for me. He was progressing nicely and shocking the doctors with his improving health. There were no side affects from the blow-by oxygen he had received. His lungs were good but he still had a little apnea going on. Still, I was not allowed to hold him for more than a couple of minutes a day. He couldn't be touched a lot. It was torture. I looked at this little man and felt like he was somebody else's baby - the nurses' baby or the doctors' baby. Not mine. My milk would not come in (as with Kelsey) so I could only get a tablespoon or two to give Jonah a day. I was so tired. Then one day, a nurse came in and gave me the best news of my life - I was going to get to do "Kangaroo Care" that day. They unbuttoned the top of my shirt and took Jonah out of his isolette without blankets on. They placed him skin-on-skin on my chest. It was one of the best days of my life and I will never forget it. We finally bonded after weeks of being apart. Tears coursed down my cheeks as I rocked and rocked and rocked my precious Jonah. I finally felt like he was mine. Even the nurses cried with me.

There were many tense times as the doctors told me he would be mentally retarded or physically handicapped in some way. But each day the doctors were proved wrong. He continued to improve daily. After four long weeks, we were blessed to be able to bring him home. It had been a long time since our family was together. Lois came back with Kelsey to stay for a while and help me. She was a Godsend. Jonah's sleeping schedule was turned around and he rarely slept at night. He cried a lot - a whole lot. Kelsey, at 23 months of age, no longer recognized me as her mother figure. Things were going to get a lot harder before they got any easier.

I'll try to finish today...but don't count on it - ha!

Has It Really Been Eight Years?

My blogging schedule is a little off...you've probably noticed that. School is taking me a little longer this year. As both children progress to higher years their work load grows, too. The kids are doing good with just a few cranky days. This week commemorates a special event in our lives. Our Jonah-boy turned eight years old on October 4th. Today we are taking him and two of his buddies to Springfield for an afternoon at Incredible Pizza Company. Of course he is up bright and early today, ready to get dressed and have his shower. As a tribute to him, every year I try in some form to tell his story. I promised God that I would talk about that time of our lives to bring glory to His name and to tell of His wonderful deeds in the midst of darkness. This is also for Amanda Sue, who just brought her own little man into this world for the glory of God.

Darrel and I had just taken a pastorship in a little town called Potter, Kansas. We were living here in Lamar, Darrel working at the Blue Top Restaurant and I was babysitting three one-year-old girls during the day (including Kelsey!). I was kind of glad for the new adventure. It was during this time that, being the schedule-oriented person I am, Darrel and I had decided to have our second child so that they would be exactly two years apart. We had this thing down to a science. And just like with Kelsey, we conceived with one real try - much to Darrel's disappointment, ha! For some reason, he always hoped it would take lots and lots of practice...

I found out I was pregnant and immediately started making plans for my prenatal care. I had done so well with Dr. Lacy, so I called to make my appointment. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I was going to be moving in a month or so, they didn't want to take me on as a patient. They recommended that I look for a doctor where we were moving. So I began packing and all that moving stuff - puking the whole time. Yep, just like with Kelsey. The good thing about that is you don't always gain a lot of weight! In true Phipps form, we were packed and ready to go around 11pm when Gary suggested we just leave right then! I was kind of planning to get a good night's sleep and then head out in the morning - silly me! So we caravaned the 5 hours to Potter, Kansas. Darrel and Doug in the U-Haul, Gary & Lois in a car, and DeAnn and I driving our van. I did ok for a while, but by the time we reached the Flying J, I had to puke! The rest of the way was spent with my head in a trash bag. All I can say is DeAnn was a trooper - which must have been God because we all know how DeAnn is with puke! We pulled into Potter early the next morning and I had to go directly to bed. I was so ill that all the church ladies and my family had to put all our stuff away for me. I hated that - I'm kind of picky, you know...

Life progressed, as it tends to do, and we were busy pastoring and traveling back home to cater once in a while for extra money. We only made $800 a month and things were pretty tight, even with living in the parsonage. I had finally found a doctor in Atchisson who would take new patients. He was new in town, which made everyone tell us not to go to him. We just had a good feeling about him. I was four months along when I had my first prenatal appointment - a little later than I liked. Dr. Sontheimer took one look at me and called KU Medical Center in Kansas City to make a high-risk pregnancy appointment. Darrel and I thought this was a little extreme. But Dr. Sontheimer's exact words were, "I don't want you coming in here at 7 months needing to deliver and our little hospital can't take care of you." We laughed and assured him that Kelsey had come with virtually no problems except that she was built like a "V" with the biggest shoulders I had ever seen (thus the C-section).

September came and with it came our anniversary. The church sent us to Branson for a weekend. We had no money for Silver Dollar City tickets, so we decided to sit in on a presentation for condos to get two tickets free. We sat through all the talking and then a representative took us on a tour. It was about 150 degrees out and he sets out at a 50 mph pace up the hills to see one of the condos. About half way up, I watched as all the other people rode by on golf carts - why couldn't we have one? Then came the contractions - only Braxton Hicks but still alarming. The man didn't care in the least. He was on a mission. We endured the torture and got our tickets, spending the rest of the day walking up and down the hills of Silver Dollar City in the 150 degree heat. Darrel had booked a catering at the end of September serving 800 or so for Lamar Bank & Trust Customer Appreciation Day. We traveled to Lamar and again stood out in the 150 degree heat serving hamburgers and hot dogs. I had decided to ask a friend of ours to record an ultrasound for me while I was in Lamar - KU Med wouldn't record my previous ultrasound. It was important to me for both kids to have a record of being in the womb - weird I know, but pregnant women are excentric sometimes. I now know that it was God's plan for what would go on in the next week. The ultrasound went well and Jonah was growing good - about 3 lbs. I was in the last weeks of my sixth month and everything seemed to be progressing well. I was showing like I was eight months pregnant, however. I was huge which was weird because I puked all the time.

We returned home to Potter and kept my next doctor's appointment on October 3rd. I had been feeling pretty good. They had monitored my blood pressure and my urine and I had taken two glucose tests (that orange stuff is the nastiest!). That day, however, the office started hopping after I took my urine test. I was just at the start of my seventh month and it seems that they thought the protien count in my urine was too high. They told me to report to KU Medical Center. We left the doctor's office, went to Wal-Mart (just in case I had to spend the night and I hadn't started to get my suitcase packed yet), came home and found a sitter for Kelsey until we could get home later. We showed up at KU about three or four hours later. They were practically in hysterics - I couldn't understand why they were so upset that we were a little late getting there. We had no idea just how severe the situation was. They immediately put me to bed and tried to start an IV. The next thing I remember is blood shooting out of my arm as my vein blew. My blood pressure was 200something over 119 or something like that - it was stroke level anyway. They kept tapping my arms and legs with that reflex knee thing and I kept jerking and jumping. It was weird. Things were moving so fast, and the next thing I heard was that I would have to stay in bed for a while. I couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom. Well, I knew that wouldn't work - I had to get home to Kelsey plus our church's annual fried chicken supper was the next night. It was the biggest fund-raiser the church ladies had each year. Well, I consented to stay the night and Doug & DeAnn came down be with us. Gary and Lois came later and kept Kelsey.

Sorry to leave you hanging, but a little boy's birthday party calls and showers have to be taken and treat bags have to be bought...

I'll write again tonight!