The Last Two Weeks

have been absolutely insane!! Hopefully, I will be able to post all of the pics before too much longer to give you a visual to go with the written play by play.

Tuesday, August 26th Drea was admitted to the hospital to be induced. Knowing that she was going from 0-60,we figured it would be a long day so went up to see her in the evening. When we left, we told them to call if anything happened. Well, I woke up at 7:00 the next morning (mark it on your calendars--that never happens voluntarily!!) and couldn't go back to sleep. So, by 8:00 I was up and on the road to Gainesville. As I was pulling off of I-75 and onto Archer Road headed Shands, my phone started ringing. It was Dale saying that somehting had happened overnight, and that Mikayla was in the NICU, which we expected. But, that Drea was in the ICU as well. I hauled butt on down to Shands to find out what the devil had happened. What had happened was that at 4:00 in the morning, they had taken Drea back to the OR as planned for her to deliver. She was completely dilated or effaced, but they had her push anyways with the doctors in the room. She pushed for a very short amount of time when there started to be alot of blood. Her placenta had separted from the uterus. They had to do an emergenct c-section with general anestesia to get Mikayla out quickly and to minimize the blood loss of which there had arleady been quite a bit of. Mikayla was born on August 27,2008 at approximately 4:30 in the morning. She weighed in at 5lbs 6ozs and 19 inches long. In the end, Mikayla spent 3 days in NICU 3 and 4 days in NICU 2. She is now in a regular Pediatric room (which cracks me up. A premature infant in the pedi floor!!) receoving IV treatments for the CMV. She is growing and doing well. We hope to have her down to MRMC before too long for the treatments so we can see her more often. I'll spend my lunch breaks there!! We're still not sure how she will fare in the long term. The pediatrician at Shands is optimistic, but can't make any promises.

The same day that Mikayla was born, Dale was admitted to the heart and vasculare unit here at MRMC. He had his aortic valve replaced on Thursday, August 28. He spent one night in the ICU and then transferred upstairs. We spent another week upstairs trying to get everything back the way it belongs. He was sent home on Friday afternoon after 10 days in the hospital.

I was suppossed to start my vacation in the middle of all of this Saturday before Labor Day. So didn't happen. I finally made it to Daytona on Tuesday night at about 10:00. Joy was scared I wouldn't make it at all. When I did, it was totally worth 4 days of nothingness. The 4 of us took walks on the beach, spent hours at the pool, and just hung out. Friday Hanna decided to put a damper on the outdoor activities with her rather unwelcomed rain. But never fear, three girls can always have a little bit of retail fun in any city, in any weather. Big find of the day... a Vera Bag for $30 and a Rachael Ray Furi knife for $20!! We spent the evening with the Fish family in Ponce Inlet. It was great to finally meet Jaime and Caleb (our very own Micheline Baby). It's so odd to think of our selves as this old sometimes. Saturday we headed back home.

This week the Springs is starting a church wide Bible study called The Story. It is a chronilogical telling of the Bible. I started reading it today. Very interesting. Joe LaCognata e-mailed on Friday and asked if I would be available/interested in leading an on-campus small group for the study. I said sure, as long my work schedule would allow it. Please pray for this! I've never done this before and am already anxious about. I'm not even sure it will work out yet! There are 6 girls and 2 guys in their early 20's (read: all younger than me!!). I've never done anything like this before, but I'm sure it will be good for me. At least that's what my mother keeps telling me...

Sorry this has taken so long! I haven't always had internet access over the last few weeks and definetly haven't had the time to type it all out. And, alas, I am back at work. Saving up my time off for next fall to go back to Brazil for a week. Hopefully I can find an excuse to pack my bags long before next August.

Just a quick update...

Everyone's doing fine. Mikayla made her appearance on August 24,2008 at approximately 4:30AM via emergency c-section (the whole story will come later...). Dale had his surgery on Thursday (the day after Mikayla was born). He's still in the hospital, but should be home shortly. He had a rough start, but is doing better now. Josiah started "big boy" school today. I called him today to see how it went and he said "Wanna talk to Mommy". Code for " I'm not interested in talking to you right now, and would much rather be talking".

The most important tidbit--I'm on vacation!! Yeah!!!!!! I'm so excited. I've already had one amaretto sour and have promises from Brian to make me a margarita tomorrow or Thursday. So, I will update everything and everyone in further detail later. After I finish soaking up the sun. And Hannah... Gosh, these hurricanes need to go away...

An Update

Just a few quick updates...

1.) I am up before 8:00 in the morning, and I didn't work last night!!! It's a miracle
2.) No Mikayla. As of about 30 minutes ago. If nothing by 10:00 then Drea will have a c-section.
3.) Dale heads in at 10:00 for pre-op labs, appointments for tomorrow.
4.) Michael has his first high school football game on Friday night. He's playing on the Freshman team for now as a 1st string center. (plaese don't ask me to explain. I'm learning all of this myself!!)
5.) I have to go buy lots of girly stuff, some boy stuff, some "we don't know yet stuff" for the 3 babies that are about to come into my life, and turquoise and blue shirts. Anyone up for a shopping trip?

I'm heading up to gainesvill for someone's big debut...Hopefully we'll have some pictures before too long...

Trying to Stay Postivie

I try to stay positive. Honestly, I do. It's getting hard. Dale went in for his heart catheterization on Friday. What we thought would happen, happened... He needs his aortic valve replaced. No huge surprise there. What we weren't expecting was for it to happen THIS THURSDAY!!! I thought a month from now, not now, for the love of Pete!! But, this is when it is happening. So, we are dealing with it. The timing of course couldn't be crummier.

Mikayla is suppossed to make her grand entrance on Tuesday. The doctors aren't sure if this is a definet or not. We have to wait for another amniocentesis on Monday to check her surfactant level to make sure her little lungs are ready for this at all. This is still a scary situation that is still as clear as Mississippi mud.

Whatever prayers that can be spared this week are greatly appreciated. We have a tough week ahead of us and we're hanging on by our fingernails trying to get everything ironed out. Prayers and M&M's are greatly appreciated right now!! My little bright spot is that 1.) I'll be an aunt to a niece sometime very soon. Jen and I had lots of fun looking at all of the pink stuff at Target tonight. I want to buy lots of Ladybug stuff for her. Somehow it just fits her so well already. And 2.) I go on vacation next weekend!! Praise the Lord! There should be lots of pictures coming soon...