Extraordinary For It’s Ordinariness
2007 at 3:54 pm | by Nicole WhitacreFiled under Fun Stuff Baby Watch
I have reached the point in my pregnancy where I’m counting the weeks until the due date instead of the weeks that I’ve been pregnant. Only four to go!
With the delivery drawing near, I want to humbly request your prayers. As I’ve shared before on this blog, my delivery with Jack was followed by serious complications. We were reviewing the events last night at dinner with my family….
On Friday morning, February 21, 2003 I was induced. By mid-afternoon, my labor was regressing instead of progressing. Jack’s head was stuck and the doctor determined he was experiencing some distress. So, she performed a cesarean section. By God’s grace, he was a healthy little boy.
My recovery appeared to be going so well, they actually discharged me from the hospital on Sunday morning. On Monday afternoon, however, I stood up from the couch and felt a horrible pain in my abdomen.
The next three days were a blur. If I sat still for an hour or more, I could almost feel normal. But to move at all was excruciating. Between a one and a ten, something close to ten. Steve, and Janelle (who’d come to help because Mom had to stay with a sick Chad) cared for Jack and me heroically. It was assumed that I was, well—there’s no way to put this delicately—constipated, and that things would soon right themselves. But the pain only got worse.
Finally, on Wednesday I was admitted to the hospital for observation. Thursday morning, after the second CAT scan showed my condition deteriorating, emergency surgery was performed.
When I woke up, Steve told me that my colon had ruptured and subsequently been repaired, and that my appendix was inflamed and had been removed. I had an infection. In many ways this was only the beginning of the trial. The recovery was long and arduous--I won't bore you with all the details. It included many days in the hospital, loads of antibiotics, and numerous complications. After being discharged from the hospital, Steve, Jack and I lived with my parents for several months. My mom nursed me full-time and she and Janelle took turns getting up with Jack in the night. Finally, in June a second surgery was required to complete the repairs and I began to mend.
We still don’t know for sure what happened. There are half a dozen plausible theories. My current favorite is something called “Ogilvie Syndrome” which can occur following various types of surgery, including cesarean section.
The good news is that there are treatments (both medicinal and procedural) to prevent my colon from rupturing a second time. The much better news is that my health and my life are in God’s hands.
The plan for this upcoming delivery still has not been finalized. I hope to know more after my doctor’s appointment next week. If Tori’s head is not too big, the doctor would like to try to deliver the baby naturally. But a cesarean may once again be necessary.
Recently, I was speaking with my dear Aunt Betsy, and she told me that she was praying that my delivery would be extraordinary for it’s ordinariness. I liked the sound of that. So that is my prayer request—for my physical body anyway. Most of all, please pray that, “the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in [me] and [I] in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 1:12.
Thank you, my friends.
