Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A Church Service

Sunday, September 14, 2014

The day we found about our boy's potentially fatal condition, our pastor and his wife were by our side.  They came to Riverside Hospital to pray with us, and they were at my parents house later that evening to cry, pray, and grieve with us.  I can't tell you how much that meant to us.  We didn't know what we needed at that time.  It was just enough to have them there and sit with us as we cried.  We are beyond thankful for Lee and Whitney Davis.

The next day, Lee sent out an email to the entire church family informing them about our devastating news.  The email was also sent to us, and it was surreal reading it.

"Is this really about us?  Is this horrible news real life and are we really going to loose our baby?"

When we arrived at church the next morning, we were immediately greeted with hugs, peoples tears, people sharing truth with us from God's Word.  We felt loved right away and knew we had an amazing support system around us.

As Lee started the service, we told everyone that his normal sermon in Genesis was going to be put on hold.  He felt that with all that happened with us over the weekend, he couldn't simply pick up where he left off.  His "sermon" that morning was from Romans 8.  He directed the entire sermon to Justin and I.  He used our names.  He looked directly at us as he spoke and shared God's promises with us.  He also spoke to the church body as a whole; how to respond when things like this happen in the body.  It was gut wrenching, yet exactly what we needed.  To be honest, I was not looking forward to hearing a sermon from Genesis.  Sorry Lee!  I needed to know that God loved us, that He was holding us up, that He would never let us fall.  That's what we heard.

At the end of Lee's sermon, he had Justin and I, Justin's parents, my parents, and my sisters all come forward.  The elders prayed over us.  After that, he had the entire church family come forward to love on us.  So, one by one, everyone in attendance that morning made a long line and came forward.  Each person hugged us.   Grown men that I've never seen shed a tear had tears running down their face.  Each person whispering sweet words in our ears....

"We love you.  We are so sorry."
"If there is anything you need, call me."
"God has you.  He has you."
"Cling to Jesus."
"We are praying for a miracle."

And on and on.

Each person not only greeted Justin and I, they greeted our entire family.  I've seen my Dad cry one time in my 33 years of life...and it was a kidney stone.  That morning was the second time.

A couple days later, our family was reflecting on that service.  My sister Beth said...

"I will never forget that service.  What love our church family displayed and how Lee changed his entire line up just so that he could minister to us....I'll never forget it.  That was special."

Exactly.  I'll never forget how loved I felt that day.  I'll never forget the faces that looked back at me, tears in their eyes, saying how much they loved us and were there for us.  I knew that we had a great support system at NorthPointe Baptist Church, but now I KNOW that we are NOT alone in this.  The body of Christ came together in a very special, real, raw way to help us carry this load and to not let us suffer and grieve alone.

NorthPointe Baptist Church, we love you.  We are so thankful for your love for the Savior which overflows in your love for Justin and I.  Thank you for walking through the fire with us and reminding us to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.


Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The Day That Changed Our Lives

September 12, 2014

Today is the day we go to my regular OB to check on baby Luke and see what's going on with this whole lack of fluid thing.  My appointment is for 9:40 that morning and my mom is going with me.  Justin had a busy day ahead of him at work, so he didn't come along this time because we were sure everything would be fine.

The nurse calls us back for the ultrasound.  I lay down and she applies that freezing cold, blue gel across my belly and begins.  She's quiet.  She does confirm that yes, the fluid around the baby is low.  Really low.

"Let me go get Dr. Mellilo and let him take a look."  Not a good sign I thought to myself.

The doctor comes in, takes ahold of the doppler and is squinting at the screen.  I can tell by the look on his face and his lack of conversation that something is wrong.  He lets out a long, slow breath.

"It looks like there is virtually no fluid at all."

"Is that bad?!  What does that mean?!"

"Well, it could mean several things.  What I think I'm seeing is, is a problem with his kidneys.  Kidneys produce urine, and that urine from the baby is what makes up the fluid around him."

"Can that be fixed?"

"I'm not sure yet.  I'm going to have you to go Riverside Hospital and see the high risk doctor over there.  If it is what I think it is (lack of kidneys), it's not good Katie."

I loose it.  So does my mom.  This can't be happening.  We've waited for 5 years for this child.  God wouldn't take him from us.  Right?

We get an appointment made for a few hours later.  We go outside and sit at the very same table we sat at when Megan and Aric found out about Blake's condition (spina bifida).  It was dejavu.  Weren't we JUST doing this?  Sitting here crying our eyes out, calling everyone we knew to start praying?  I called Justin at work and told him he needed to come ASAP; that there was something really wrong.  Mom called my dad and told him, and he rushed over as well.  We called my sisters and my in-laws, and everyone started making their way to Riverside Hospital.

Finally, it was time to go see the high risk doctor.  We fill out paper work and sit and wait for our turn.  In the waiting room is my parents, my in-laws, my sister-in-law Callie, my sisters Megan and Beth, our pastor and his wife, and my dear friend Paige.  We all sit in a circle and pastor Lee prays.  We beg God for everything to be ok with Luke.  We were confident it would be ok.

They call my name.  Justin and I go back.

The nurse, Carol, begins the ultrasound.  We can see our little guy on the screen.  He had hiccups.  She's pointing out that the brain, heart, spine all look perfect.  I'm patiently waiting for her to say, "Oh, ok there are those kidneys!"  She doesn't ever say that.  She can't find them.

"He's still so small, it's just hard to say.  I don't see them though.  Or a bladder."

After several more screen shots and various views of his tiny body, she ends the scan.  She tells me she's going to go get Doctor Fox to come in and take a look.  A few minutes later, he walks in.  He looks closely at what pictures she took of Luke and turns the machine off.  He then says...

"Let's go into my office and talk."

Oh God, no.  We know what this means.  This isn't good.  Justin breaks down.  I hug him and say...

"We don't know for sure yet!  We don't know for sure yet!"  Tears streaming down my face.

We walk out of that room and make our way, with our parents, to his office.  I suddenly can't catch my breath.

"I can't breathe...I can't breathe!"  It felt like the oxygen had been sucked right out of me.  I was so scared.

We walk into his office, sit down, and he begins to explain what was wrong with our precious boy.

"Your baby, from what I can see, does not have kidneys or a bladder.  Because of this, and because kidneys make urine, he is unable to produce the fluid that should be around him.  Because there is no fluid, his lungs are unable to develop.  Amniotic fluid is what allows the lungs to develop.  Unfortunately, your baby would not be able to survive once he is born."

I had never experienced pain in all my life, like what I was feeling at that moment.  Justin wept.  I wept.  Our parents wept.  The doctor went on in more detail what exactly was wrong and how there was nothing that could be done.  He was very gracious and kind even though he was delivering such heartbreaking news.  Our baby boy would not survive.  How could this be happening?

The thoughts that ran through my mind as I sat there was:  I can't do this.  I can't survive this.  I'm not strong enough to do this.  I can't imagine delivering my son for him to live but mere moments.  How am I going to get through these next 5 months knowing he's not going to live, and have to deliver my child and hand him over to be put in the morgue?  God, hold me up, I'm going to collapse.  God, please be near.

We left the doctors office and joined my sisters, Paige, and Callie in a separate waiting room they were in.  We all just wept together.  Wept for our little boy.  My Dad prayed.  Now what?  Where do we go from here?  We decided to go back to my parents house and be together there.

On our way home, we stopped by Worthington Christian (where Justin works) to let his boss Kevin know our news.  We told him and he stopped and prayed with us and told us how sorry he was.  We are beyond thankful for Justin's boss and all of those around him there.  A true blessing from the Lord.

We got to my parents house, and Lee and Whitney came to be with us (our pastor and his wife).  We shared more details about what Dr. Fox told us, and they cried with us.  I asked Lee if he'd be willing to officiate my son's memorial service.  Did I just ask that?  Is this truly real life?  He said of course he would.

As Justin and I went home that night, we were still in shock I think.  Numb.  We walked in our front door and immediately see reminders of our little boy. An empty guest room, ultrasound pictures on the fridge, pregnancy journals, the clothes we bough just a few days before, a sign in our closet I made for Justin that said "You're going to be a daddy!"  We broke down.  What do we do with all this stuff?  Throw it away?  Store it?  We left it alone.  We didn't want to "put away" our boy.

We finally made our way to bed, after a long emotionally draining day.  My eyes were swollen from all the tears that day held.  Before we laid our heads down, Justin prayed.  He prayed for Luke, for a miracle.  He prayed for our hearts, that we would make it through this.  He prayed for sleep, that we would find sleep that night.  I slept for a little while.  I awoke around 2am, and sat on the edge of my bed and just sobbed.  I cried out to the Lord.  I expressed my anger, my hurt.

"Father God, not my little boy.  Please not my little boy.  I want him here with me.  I want him."

Justin woke with me and we sat on the edge of our bed, and cried.  We cried for a good 90 minutes together and held each other.  I needed Justin now more than I ever had in our 6 1/2 years of marriage.  I needed my Savior now more than I ever have in my life.

We made it through that first day.  How would we survive the next?  We promised each other that we'd take one day at a time.  That's all we could do.  When that seemed too hard to face, we started saying to each other "moment by moment."  When one day seemed too hard to face, we told ourselves we'd face things one moment at a time.  Literally.  Maybe that's a tattoo waiting to happen? Moment by Moment.  Shhh, don't tell my dad that.

Friday, September 12, 2014.  The hardest day of our lives.  The saddest.  Yet, the one that will forever mark our lives as the day that brought us closer than ever to Jesus.  To each other.  The day that precious Lucas Kent changed our lives.  We love you, sweet boy.

Boy or Girl?!

This day was huge.  Not huge as in "ginormous", but huge as in "I can't believe we will find out our baby's gender" huge.  What would be an exciting yet typical ultrasound for the normal couple who had a couple kids, who didn't struggle with infertility for the past 5 years, who got pregnant at the drop of the hat, wasn't a typical ultrasound for Justin and I.  I could hardly sleep the night before.  My mind was racing and my stomach was flip-flopping each time I thought about it.  Heck, I even had one of the biggest throw-ups on record in the Starbucks bathroom before hand.  So much for that iced coffee getting baby active and moving!  The appointment was at 11am and we had our entourage of friends and family coming along.  To say we were excited would be the understatement of the century.

It's time.  We all walk into a dimly lit room with a huge flat screen TV so that everyone has a great view of what the tech is seeing on her screen.  I am laying on a super comfy bed-like table and Justin is sitting next to me, tenderly holding my hand as we await the news: boy or girl?!  The tech begins the scan, and it seems to be taking a LONG time to find those tiny parts.  A long time.  Like, 40 minutes long.  She then says something that made my heart skip a beat.

"Have you had an ultrasound yet?"

"Yes, we have.  At 8 and 10 weeks."

"Ok.  The reason I'm having a hard time finding the right parts is because the fluid around the baby is pretty low."

"What does that mean?"  {my heart is now beating out of my chest}

"Well, it could mean several things.  Your doctor would need to determine that."

"Ok."

At this point, I can't really focus and enjoy the ultrasound because I am overcome with fear at what this could mean.

Finally, the tech found those little parts she'd be trying to find: IT'S A BOY!  Justin and I were beyond thrilled.  We both were secretly hoping it was a boy.  But, in the midst of happy tears, my heart was pleading with the Lord, "God, please let everything be ok."

We all went to lunch at Panera afterwards, and talked about what life would be like with little Lucas Kent (Luke) in our lives.  But, I could hardly eat my lunch as I was really worried.  Everyone reassured me things would be just fine.  Would they be?

"I'm sure it's an easy fix!"  I wanted to believe them, but had a sickening feeling something was really wrong.  I called my OB right away and scheduled an appointment for 3 days later, Friday the 12th at 9:40am.  I felt better having made the appointment, and felt we could move on with our day.  So, we went to Carter's and dropped some cash on a bunch of adorable baby boy clothes that Luke would wear.  We talked and envisioned him in them.

September 9th, 2014 was the day that started this trial.  What we thought would be a day of celebrating and daydreaming of our little boy, was marked, for me, with fear, worry, concern, and prayer....that the Lord would protect and cover our son with His grace, protection, love.  I knew that whatever the cause of this lack of fluid around him couldn't be a good thing, but we knew God was in control and He was sovereign and we could trust Him no matter what.  Right?  That would be put to the test in 3 short days.