Sara's Story
Many of you have probably heard what has been going on in Jared and I’s life for the last bit but I know that there are also many of you who are wondering what is going on…
In December of ’07, when I was about 20 weeks pregnant, we went for our routine ultra sound with our first child. We were so excited to see this little person! We saw the baby, got some pictures and were thrilled that it was really happening, we were gonna have a baby! I had been feeling great through out the pregnancy, no sickness or anything. Two days later, we got a call from our doctor saying that things didn’t look right so he sent us for an appointment at the fetal assessment unit in Winnipeg the following week. We were really concerned because we were going through all the different possibilities in our heads as to what could be wrong with our baby. My doctor called me a few days before we went in and said he wanted to meet with us one more time before going to see the dr in wpg. When we were there, he said he wanted to be honest with us and let us know before we went that things did not look good, from what he could see it was pretty serious and they were going to check better in wpg. In wpg, we got the same thing, it did not look good. They told us that we could decide to induce labor now, any time throughout the next few months or wait until term to have the baby. We left there very down, and not sure what to do. This was the first grand child on my side and the second on Jared’s side. Everyone was so excited and now, less than two months later, we were telling them that the doctors didn’t think there was much of a chance of survival after birth. They thought that the symptoms were of Meckel-Gruber Syndrome. The baby’s kidneys were full of cysts and didn’t work, that means the bladder was tiny from not being used and there was little to no fluid around the baby which is what the baby uses to learn to breath. That was the kicker, our baby was ok inside of me but when it is out and has to breathe, the lungs are not mature enough to use. We all started praying right away and word spread pretty fast. There were a few prayer chains at other churches even praying for us and our little baby. Over the next few days, we decided that if we were praying for a miracle to happen that we would continue the pregnancy to full term and that’s what we did. Many people heard while we were pregnant that things didn’t look too good. It was hard to know if I should tell everyone that asks how things were going even though I was glad they were asking. If things had been going well, I would have wanted people to be interested.
As we got closer, I was able to be at home and it was nice to not be around a lot of people at the bank, where I work. I was able to get rest and get a bit more excited about the possibility of bringing our baby home. It was an emotional rollercoaster, wondering if we would get another chance with the baby. We decorated the room and got it all set up. We also had a friend of ours come and take maternity pictures of us. They turned out super.
I had thought all along that we would have the baby late so I was really surprised on Tues April 8, 2008 (5 days before my due date) when after many days of cramps, I finally had enough strange feelings and more persistent ‘cramps’ to get to the doctor, I was told that I was fully dilated. Then they said I would not make the trip to Winnipeg’s HSC as was the plan. I was scared and upset that it wasn’t how we’d been told and planned for. I was also scared that if the baby was born and needed some help that we wouldn’t have the help we needed in the Portage hospital. My sister in law Elyse had driven me in and quickly called Jared and their mom to tell them that I was in labor and they had to come soon. My nurse, who was one of my mom’s bridesmaids was working and called my mom for me while Elyse called Jared. He was there a bit later at 11:30am and I was getting ready in the room. All our parents were there waiting in the waiting room by 12:20 and they finally let me start pushing around 12:30. It was really strange because it was all backwards of what the pre-natal classes had said. My contractions were really far apart and it was hard to know when to push because I couldn’t really feel the contractions. They were still about 10 minutes apart so I was sitting there in between wondering when the next one would come. I was happy that they weren’t painful and my body seemed to know what it was doing so that was really good. I’d been trying to relax from these ‘cramps’ all morning but turns out that they were the real thing! J The baby was still breech from a month or two earlier. We had hoped the baby would turn but it was still breech, another reason they didn’t want me at Portage. At 1:40pm our baby girl was born (we thought we were having a boy for sure, oops!). I got a couple stitches and we focused on our baby. She looked really good, better than the doctors had said she would look and better than she seemed to look in the ultrasounds. The chest was to be smaller because the lungs weren’t developing and the tummy was to look bigger. I thought maybe she was ok because she looked normal…. she tried to take a breath every minute or so but she didn’t cry or even move really other than that. After about 15 minutes, she stopped trying and the doctor said she was gone a bit later when they checked for a heart beat. Her heart beat was so strong all along, the one thing that I could count on to be good news and make the doctor visits seem more normal. It hit me really hard when he said it wasn’t there anymore… I was really going to miss hearing that! I was so thankful that we got those minutes with her, I had really hoped for that! We spent some time together, just the three of us and then the family came and saw her and held her. It was good that we had her in town because everyone was close and people got to see and hold her too. It was amazing to look at her and touch her skin and to see Jared get to finally hold his baby girl like he’d been looking forward to for nine months. He was a natural.
The amount of love and support has been so incredible and you guys have been such a huge part of this whole experience, the good and the hard parts. Thanks for your prayers and love and concern. We are doing well considering, and we are so thankful that we were prepared as much as we were. Thank you so much from both Jared and I, we couldn’t have gone through this with out each other, our faith that God has a plan, and you guys. Thanks and we love you. ~J&K
In December of ’07, when I was about 20 weeks pregnant, we went for our routine ultra sound with our first child. We were so excited to see this little person! We saw the baby, got some pictures and were thrilled that it was really happening, we were gonna have a baby! I had been feeling great through out the pregnancy, no sickness or anything. Two days later, we got a call from our doctor saying that things didn’t look right so he sent us for an appointment at the fetal assessment unit in Winnipeg the following week. We were really concerned because we were going through all the different possibilities in our heads as to what could be wrong with our baby. My doctor called me a few days before we went in and said he wanted to meet with us one more time before going to see the dr in wpg. When we were there, he said he wanted to be honest with us and let us know before we went that things did not look good, from what he could see it was pretty serious and they were going to check better in wpg. In wpg, we got the same thing, it did not look good. They told us that we could decide to induce labor now, any time throughout the next few months or wait until term to have the baby. We left there very down, and not sure what to do. This was the first grand child on my side and the second on Jared’s side. Everyone was so excited and now, less than two months later, we were telling them that the doctors didn’t think there was much of a chance of survival after birth. They thought that the symptoms were of Meckel-Gruber Syndrome. The baby’s kidneys were full of cysts and didn’t work, that means the bladder was tiny from not being used and there was little to no fluid around the baby which is what the baby uses to learn to breath. That was the kicker, our baby was ok inside of me but when it is out and has to breathe, the lungs are not mature enough to use. We all started praying right away and word spread pretty fast. There were a few prayer chains at other churches even praying for us and our little baby. Over the next few days, we decided that if we were praying for a miracle to happen that we would continue the pregnancy to full term and that’s what we did. Many people heard while we were pregnant that things didn’t look too good. It was hard to know if I should tell everyone that asks how things were going even though I was glad they were asking. If things had been going well, I would have wanted people to be interested.
As we got closer, I was able to be at home and it was nice to not be around a lot of people at the bank, where I work. I was able to get rest and get a bit more excited about the possibility of bringing our baby home. It was an emotional rollercoaster, wondering if we would get another chance with the baby. We decorated the room and got it all set up. We also had a friend of ours come and take maternity pictures of us. They turned out super.
I had thought all along that we would have the baby late so I was really surprised on Tues April 8, 2008 (5 days before my due date) when after many days of cramps, I finally had enough strange feelings and more persistent ‘cramps’ to get to the doctor, I was told that I was fully dilated. Then they said I would not make the trip to Winnipeg’s HSC as was the plan. I was scared and upset that it wasn’t how we’d been told and planned for. I was also scared that if the baby was born and needed some help that we wouldn’t have the help we needed in the Portage hospital. My sister in law Elyse had driven me in and quickly called Jared and their mom to tell them that I was in labor and they had to come soon. My nurse, who was one of my mom’s bridesmaids was working and called my mom for me while Elyse called Jared. He was there a bit later at 11:30am and I was getting ready in the room. All our parents were there waiting in the waiting room by 12:20 and they finally let me start pushing around 12:30. It was really strange because it was all backwards of what the pre-natal classes had said. My contractions were really far apart and it was hard to know when to push because I couldn’t really feel the contractions. They were still about 10 minutes apart so I was sitting there in between wondering when the next one would come. I was happy that they weren’t painful and my body seemed to know what it was doing so that was really good. I’d been trying to relax from these ‘cramps’ all morning but turns out that they were the real thing! J The baby was still breech from a month or two earlier. We had hoped the baby would turn but it was still breech, another reason they didn’t want me at Portage. At 1:40pm our baby girl was born (we thought we were having a boy for sure, oops!). I got a couple stitches and we focused on our baby. She looked really good, better than the doctors had said she would look and better than she seemed to look in the ultrasounds. The chest was to be smaller because the lungs weren’t developing and the tummy was to look bigger. I thought maybe she was ok because she looked normal…. she tried to take a breath every minute or so but she didn’t cry or even move really other than that. After about 15 minutes, she stopped trying and the doctor said she was gone a bit later when they checked for a heart beat. Her heart beat was so strong all along, the one thing that I could count on to be good news and make the doctor visits seem more normal. It hit me really hard when he said it wasn’t there anymore… I was really going to miss hearing that! I was so thankful that we got those minutes with her, I had really hoped for that! We spent some time together, just the three of us and then the family came and saw her and held her. It was good that we had her in town because everyone was close and people got to see and hold her too. It was amazing to look at her and touch her skin and to see Jared get to finally hold his baby girl like he’d been looking forward to for nine months. He was a natural.
The amount of love and support has been so incredible and you guys have been such a huge part of this whole experience, the good and the hard parts. Thanks for your prayers and love and concern. We are doing well considering, and we are so thankful that we were prepared as much as we were. Thank you so much from both Jared and I, we couldn’t have gone through this with out each other, our faith that God has a plan, and you guys. Thanks and we love you. ~J&K
posted by jaredandkristin @ 2:44 PM
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