Leah

The week prior to Walter’s birth I was an absolute wreck and couldn’t imagine why God hadn’t sent Walter to us sooner.  I worried about how big he would be and imagined all the reasons why I should have my way on the issue.  After all I thought 9 months of pregnancy is enough, what possible reason could there be to delay?  In the nights where I couldn’t sleep I read Elder Uchtdorfs talk on Patience to help me acquire a more humble attitude.

Then our little Walter was born and subsequently rushed off to the NICU in Everett. Suddenly it all became clear that my seeming adversity was really a blessing to make it possible to bear the greater adversity ahead.  Shane and I both felt sheepish as we began to comprehend God’s wisdom in ALL things.

Here is a little glimpse of God’s wisdom.  Because Walter was 5 days late my sister Mimi arrived the night I went into labor and was there to take care of the kids from the second we rushed to the hospital to when he could breath on his own.  We knew we could be with our boy in his hardest hours without having to worry about the kids.  Walter had a strong big body that made it easier for him to recover quickly from the trauma of being born.  He responded to medication like an older child and not a newborn making it easier to treat him.

It was not until I had studied, prayed and listened to the spirit that I received the faith I needed to bear the trial ahead.  Those extra 5 days gave me the spiritual preparation time I needed to have sufficient faith in God and Christ to deliver me through the coming trials.

Lastly I got a glimpse of the depth of my husband’s love for his children that I will treasure forever.  The tears in his eyes as he saw our boy suffering.  His anxious hovering around Walter’s bed to comfort him during those first few days and his video taping Walter breathing on his own just touch the surface of how special a father Walter has.

Now our boy is home and I value every breath and every moment with him so much more.  I have also learned a lesson I hope not to forget, the adversities we have often give us the strength we need to bear the greater burdens ahead.  So instead of questioning the Lord’s will I need to trust it more, appreciate it and pray for strength as Alma did (Alma 14:26) to be delivered when the time comes through my faith in Christ.

I spent all day in the NICU with Walter to help care for him, keep him company, and try to get him nursing while Shane went to church with the kids, Aunt Mimi and baby Jacob.  It was a quiet day, but very tiring.  Walter is still sleepy after all the stress he has been through so he only nursed a little before falling asleep from all the work of nursing.  It is also hard to relax when holding a baby attached to a hundred lines that come loose and set off alarms.  After a diaper change or putting him down Walter would wake up nuzzling again and I would bottle feed him.  The Doctor changed his feedings to on demand feeding and today we will try exclusive breast feeding on demand.  When I was leaving they were going to try to put an IV line in which would cut down significantly on the amount of stuff he is attached to making it easier to nurse him, and enabling us to actually dress and wrap him up.  He only needs the line for receiving his anitibiotics.  Today we will be discussing going home and getting all our questions answered about that.  I just can’t wait and I am so glad that Shane has been able to take these two weeks off.  We never knew how much we would need them.

We arrived at the NICU this morning to find Walter’s name on his room door and he was wrapped up and resting.  He really likes to be wrapped up (i.e he is really mad if he is not) so the nurses devised a way to wrap him up and still have access to all his tubes.  His nurse Margaret showed us around and helped us with everything that was kind of forgotten in the worry of stabilizing Walter yesterday.

The EKG showed that he does not have a heart defect, but he does have pulmonary hypertension caused by something clogging up his lungs.  This makes his heart have to work extra hard to get oxygen into the blood stream.  They added nitrogen to his oxygen to help him absorb the oxygen better which they think will help him have to work less  and hopefully recover more quickly.

The testing has shown that he probably got an infection, perhaps from asprirating liquids right after he was born.  The plan is to give him a spectrum of antibiotics since the NICU wasn’t able to get a blood culture before he was started on antibiotics.  Hopefully the antibiotics will reduce the matter in the lungs helping him recover his ability to breath on his own.

Tomorrow they will be getting a sample of Walter’s spinal fluid to see if the infection entered into his spine and to help assess how serious an infection they are dealing with.  He will probably be in the NICU 14-21 days.  All that said I got to hold him today for 15 minutes (thanks to our dedicated nurse), which made both of us very happy. We are so thankful for your prayers and love from a distance. 

My brother Ryan and his wife Ann came to visit over the past weekend with their two kids.  Our kids were very excited to have their cousins to play with and stayed up really late when the arrived Friday night.  The next day we made hoagies and packed up our cars for a trip to Deception Pass Park.  The weather was pleasant and the kids raring to go play.  Although the water was cold they enjoyed throwing rocks and gazing through binoculars at all the passing boats.  Oliver and Issac spent the most time in and by the water.  Peter stayed close to Daddy and Emmanuel went for a hike with his parents.  Once we got home it was play time in the sand box while we made dinner.

On Monday we had another picnic at Flowing Lake park.  The water was nice and warm and the kids played for a few hours.  Peter stayed close by me and dug in the sand while I cooled my feet and managed to burn my knees.  Emmanuel was always ready for adventure.  It was funny to see how different personalities the kids have.  That night we had pizza and tearfully said goodbye in the morning.  Thanks so much for coming to visit us.  It really helped pass the time we are spending waiting for the little guy to come. Click here for more pictures.

For a long time I have wanted to obtain portraits or pictures of Christ to give to each child to have as their own.  My taste leans rather towards the old masters and I found a surprising lack of pictures available to buy at the church stores that I thought were pretty much staples.  The old masterpieces having been replaced by, in my opinion, much inferior Kinkadesque versions.

This past week though I decided to try my hand at copying an old master painting in conte and pastels.  The picture is my result, which I don’t think is too shabby after six years of only a handful of art projects.  This is going to be Marie’s Christmas present and with luck I will draw another picture for Oliver before the baby is born.  I have to be careful though, art is rather addictive.