Baby Emily Update – June 30

Hey everyone, first off Kim and I want to thank all of you out there for all the prayers, phone calls, and comments you’ve left for us. We are so encouraged that we have such a huge group of friends that are holding us up in prayer and supporting us as we go through this. Thank you all.

Second, here’s the latest on Emily. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to post this yesterday but I didn’t really have a clear answer (or a clear head) enough to warrant an update. Anyway, here’s the latest in our journey. Yesterday (Sunday) I got a chance to go over to the hospital and visit with Kim and Emily for a few hours thanks to the Mills who took care of Rachel and Matthew while I went over to hospital. That was really nice for me because I hadn’t had a chance to hold Emily since friday night when we took her into the hospital. While I was there they had to remove her IV because her hand had started to swell up. So inorder for them to continue the antibiotics treatments that they’re giving her they needed to get one back in but they didn’t have many options since they had collapsed most of the normal veins they would use to put the IV in the first time they tried to get it in because she is so small they had alot of trouble getting it in. The first time it took four different people to get it in after a few tries by a few different people this time they still had trouble and still couldn’t get it in. So they came in and told us that they may have to shave her head and put the IV somewhere in her scalp. That was no good. They told us that they had called one more nurse from another floor to come up and try one last time before they would have to do that though. So that stressed Kim out to no end to the point where she became nauseous. So we began praying (as you can imagine) that this nurse would be able to do it and they wouldn’t have to shave her head. And ya know what? The nurse was able to get it when she tried. Thank God that my little girl still has hair. One funny thing that we found out later was when a nurse came in later she told us that they looked at her head for an easier option for an IV and they couldn’t find one there because she had way too much hair and even if they had shaved it they still would have had trouble finding it and getting it in. That made us laugh… The Estrada baby afro came in handy. So back to treatment. The IV is in and they are continuing the antibiotic treatments.

The other part of whats going on is probably the hardest and most confusing thing: The question of when Emily will be able to be released from the hospital. I guess this is the best place to remind everyone that right now the doctors can’t find anything wrong with her and she isn’t showing any symptoms of any sickness. You would think that is a good thing (and normally it is) but the problem that they’re having is that they don’t know what caused the fever the other night so until they find that out or wait a safe period of time (they’re telling us a minimum of 10 days) then they will not release her because she is so young. Thats probably the hardest thing because we have no idea how long this is going to last or anything. The funny thing is that every doctor tells us the same thing and gives us a false hope of being able take Emily home but then a new doctor’s shift starts and we’re back to square one. So we’re trying to be patient but it really has been and is difficult for Kim and I. I would honestly say that it’s been the hardest on Kim because she’s there all the time away from home and not sleeping because of a mix of doctors and nurses coming in around the clock, treatments, and having to nurse Emily. Please be in prayer for her because she is so exhausted over there and doesn’t really know when this’ll be over.

So here are some ways to be praying for us in this whole thing:

- Keep Kim in prayer for rest while she’s at the hospital taking care of Emily. You can also pray for her physical health just as far as the delivery and healing from that is involved. And you can also be praying for her as I know she is really struggling with the doubt that calling taking Emily to the hospital was the best thing. Oh and from her being away from Rachel and Matthew and Me. The Kids have only seen her for about 2 hours since friday night.

- Rachel and Matthew as they have to put up with their dear ol’ dad taking care of them and missing their mom. That and all the craziness that have been going on is really affecting them.

- For Me, you can just be praying for patience and understanding of all of this. This has been really hard on me and as more and more times passes it becomes increasingly difficult. Last night as I left the hospital I had a mini breakdown knowing that I was leaving the hospital without my wife and newborn. That was tough and what makes it even harder is not knowing when this’ll end.

- And of course for the doctors and nurses as they treat Emily and make decisions as to when she’ll be coming home.

Thank you all again for all your prayers and support. Words can’t even express how much of an encouragement your emails, messages, calls and everything else means to us. Thank you.