If there's one thing in life we can guarantee, it's that the unexpected can happen at any moment. Life can just be happening and all the sudden - WHAM - something hits you in the face. My sister-in-law, Melanie, is 30 weeks pregnant with identical twin girls. Talk about unexpected. We were thrilled to find out Mel was pregnant and absolutely stunned when we found out a few weeks later that it was TWINS! My mouth literally dropped when I saw the first sonogram, and I. was. speechless. Her pregnancy has been relatively non-eventful, minus some nausea in the beginning and doctor's appointments every two weeks. Yesterday, she went in for a routine appointment and in a whirlwind found herself admitted to the hospital . I got a text saying, "Call me. Mel checked into hospital" and began to make phone calls, unable to reach anyone. Panic set in. What was wrong?? I had spoken with her not a couple hours before and she was totally fine. Soon, I found out the doctor noticed something abnormal in her ultrasound. The amniotic fluid was low, Baby A had not grown as expected since the last ultrasound and there was a spot on the bowel.
Nate and Mel were told it could be one of three things: a bowel obstruction, cystic fybrosis or parvovirus (a.k.a. fifth's disease). The doctor began steroid shots in case an early delivery would be necessary in the near future. Countless vials of blood were drawn, to be sent to LA for testing. The only thing for them to do at that point was simply wait, while continually monitoring the babies. In the meantime, there were talks of the babies being delivered in a few days, surgery for Baby A, Mel remaining in the hospital until delivery, etc. Scary stuff.
When Mel told me it was "Baby A", I was a bit surprised. Baby A is Quincy. Baby B, Reagan, is super active and Mel and I have already joked she will be the feisty one. I mean, the name Reagan just sounds like a little bit of trouble. Quincy, the presumed calm one, is the one I have claimed to help take care of. I've joked with Mel that she could still bring the babies to work - She could watch Reagan and I'd be more than willing to watch Quincy. Not that I'm picking favorites already, I just figured I'd go for the easier, calmer of the two. Makes sense, right? All this to say, I'm thinking - Come on, Quincy girl, Reagan is supposed to be the dramatic one. Maybe Quincy just wants her fair share of attention. Who knows?
I went to the hospital this morning and the doctor made her rounds. She pulled in the sonogram machine and began checking out what was going on inside that belly and if there was any change. Surprisingly, things looked better. The bowel looked better, as did the fluid around it. The doctor even went as far as to say that if it were cystic fybrosis, things would not look better. She seemed encouraged and based on the ultrasound, thought it looked like it could be the parvovirus. If this were the case, it would only make sense that the problem would correct itself as the baby got better. That is the best news we could have hoped for today, while still waiting on the blood work. The thing to watch now is the amniotic fluid. If the bowel continues to improve and the amniotic fluid looks good, Mel could possibly go home in a matter of days. If the amniotic fluid does not resolve, Mel would most likely have to stay. Of course, as I said, everything has to be ruled out one by one and this will happen as the blood work comes in. But, I think we all sighed a sigh of relief as we heard the doctor's explanation. She honestly seemed surprised at what she found during the ultrasound.
So, in all of that, I was thinking that this is where our faith becomes real. Do we really believe what we say we do? It's easy to quote off cliches to other people in pain - but how do we react in our own times of trial and disappointment? I was thinking this morning that regardless, everything will be okay. If the babies need to be delivered early, it will be okay. If little Quincy is sick, it will be okay. Why? Because no matter what, this did not surprise God. This is all a part of His plan, regardless if it fits into our ideas of how things should be. So in the end, we have to believe that this situation is indeed okay. Perhaps that seems easy for me to say - after all, this is not my baby or my pregnancy. But, if I believe what I say I believe, then that's the only conclusion I can come to. And, I'm not saying that light heartedly - I say it in full confidence, loving Mel and loving those babies to the core. I have been blessed in the sister-in-law department. I have two very dear SIL's that I do truly love as sisters. Since Mel has worked with me every day for the past 6 years, she has literally seen the best and worst of me. Therefore, she's been there for me during those times, as I desire to be for her. I had no concept when I met Mel years ago while she and Nate were dating that she would not only be my future sister-in-law, but the best of friends.
This morning I wanted to go visit with her and check in on how things were going. Of course, I brought my camera with me to the hospital, noting that we simply had to document this. Don't worry, she agreed, as she has no photos of this pregnancy so far. And don't worry, I did ask permission before blogging about all of this. I told her if she's out of the hospital in the next few days, as we hope and pray, we're doing an immediate photo shoot. We've delayed too long already and she's not getting out of this one (as she somehow did with Maddy). Nevertheless, here's the glory that the hospital is... and beautiful Mel, with her two amazing blessings inside her belly. Hang in there Quincy girl - we're not ready to meet you just yet. In the words of Eli, "Dear God, and Mimi's babies are going to be safe in Mimi's belly. A-men."
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| the hospital. |
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| L&D floor. |
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| the goals. |
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| all hooked up. |
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| Mel in her room. |
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| the belly. okay, so there's no head shots bc Mel was not prepared for a photo shoot :) |
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| the 4 kids having a blast this afternoon. |
1 Comments
Okay, I started reading your first post thinking Mel? Does Dusty call you Mel? WHAT THE heck happened to YOU?!?! So I stopped reading and scrolled down. Ugh, still such a bummer. I hope that it's nothing and the doctors are being super cautious. Guess I better read the update post now...
ReplyDeleteBTW- How do you get amazing maternity pics even with mommy in the hospital. I'm so impressed!