It was a day for laughing and for crying...

Crying...

Today I heard news of a good friend from work that made tears swell up in my eyes. The news was of a co-worker Shannon who recently left on maternity leave to deliver she and her husband's first born, a son they would name Andrew. I remember she liked the name because people could call him Drew or Andy or Andrew (I vividly remember this conversation all of two weeks ago). Well, she was a week overdue so they decided to induce. Bring on the Pitocin... right Ruby... the delivery process was going smoothly until she got to the point where she was trying to push the babies head out he turned and his head became stuck. They tried vaccumm extraction and then moved on to metal forceps. When the forceps alone did not work they tried forceps with nurses physically on top of her pushing on her abdomen tring to get the baby out.
Three deep cuts to Shannon and three hematomas with blood coming out of Andrews head later the baby was delivered. 8lbs 3oz 21 3/4" long. The baby coded on delivery was taken immediately to the NICU. Intubated and on a respirator. The prognosis was poor but the next 24 hrs would be critical.
Currently the baby is doing much better. He's extubated now. Breathing on his own (lungs are the last system to develop in utero). Peeing which means his kidneys are functioning. The baby is even drinking from a bottle. However the baby is showing signs of brain damage on the EEG. The plan is to wait and see if when the hematomas and the swelling go down if the intracranial pressure resolves. Lord willing at that point brain wave activity will stabilize and Andrew will be okay. Shannon has asked for everyone to be in prayer for her baby so I thought I would share the new with her family members in Christ who read this blog.
The whole situation made me think and be thankful for all of my friends who are new mothers and for the gift of life to their children. Praise God from whom these little blessings flow. I stopped where I was in the middle of the chaos of the nursing station and prayed for Sabrina Hannah Barrett today. Life is a precious gift granted only by God's grace.

Laughing...
I don't think anyone would call Ele's and my relationship the normal way to go about things. Fall in love, get engaged, plan a wedding, word of deployment, postpone wedding, get deployed, replan wedding, await arrival home with much anticipation. I have to just laugh sometimes. We're doing everything with such inginuity. I love that my husband-to-be wants to be as helpful as possible even from Iraq after long 12 hour days at least five or six days a week. I am thankful that God has grown us closer together through this time in our relationship. It would be easy to grow apart through this time of separation but were learning to lean upon one another more than ever before.
Our current project is our wedding registry. I went this past Saturday with mom to register and then e-mailed Ele a list of honeydoos to look at on things I was unsure of and wanted his opinion on. Things as simple as a shower curtain. It would be nice to have his opinion. I don't want to pick out anything too feminine, my man is a manly man, but I want it to have style. Knives, I know nothing about them but Ele who loves to cook is so particular about them. A knife set was definately on Ele's honeydo list.
My birthday was a week ago my sweetman tried for two hours after to work to call but the phone lines were down. I received an e-card the next day explaining the situation and few e-hugs and e-kisses to go with it. Heard from him a few days later when he had access to a phone. I cherish our phone calls. One week and two days later after being lost in the mail my birthday present arrived. An outfit picked out by my sweetie from White House/Black Market a dress complete with earings and a clutch. I'll have to post pictures. I never knew an outfit, a package, a phone call or even an e-mail could mean so much. I praise God for this trial.