Theoretical turned Actual

Last week at 3 AM in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), I found myself praying that God would be Glorified in the life of my newborn son, however short it may be.

It was odd that I was praying for God’s glory more than Jonathan’s healing. But it showed me how God has worked in my life. Isn’t not my greatest desire that I would be able to have a healthy son who will grow up to love Jesus. I do desire that, more than I desire to eat or sleep. But it was my greatest desire that Jesus would be glorified in Jonathan’s life.

Last January we had a miscarriage. It was incredibly hard. We mourned for a long time. And when I talk about it today, I get a lump in my throat and sometimes my eyes start to feel watery. But I know that God was glorified in the short life of that tiny, unborn baby. I can only hope for the same with Jonathan, that God would be glorified in his life.

It’s not that losing a child, born or unborn, is easy. It’s not that it doesn’t hurt or that you don’t cry and mourn the loss of that life. And it’s not that you aren’t supposed to love your children. Of course you are. Those things are still hard. You are still supposed to mourn. You are still supposed to hurt. That is why you hurt when they are hurt and well up with joy when you just look at them. But that love for your child should be overshadowed by your love for Jesus.

Today we’re still mourning the loss of our unborn and celebrating the life of our first born.

But the mourning and hurting is temporary. This life is temporary. And while we’re here, our main goal should be to Glorify our creator, the God of the universe, who loved us so much that he sent his son to save us from our sinful selves, to reconcile us to Himself. We don’t come to Jesus for a “better way” or for “wisdom” or even to be forgiven from our sin. We come to Jesus to glorify his name, to praise our creator, and to worship the one and only God who has blessed us with the life of his Son, while we’re still sinners who don’t deserve it. We glorify His name because He is the only one worthy of receiving glory.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

A Thank You.

Thank you to our church family for praying for us over the past few days. We’re so excited to be home and know that Jonathan doesn’t have any infection anymore.

Since we were in the NICU, we couldn’t really have visitors while in the hospital. So for those of you who missed out on visiting us then, we want to give you that opportunity over the next 3 days.

Sunday 1/24 thru Tuesday 1/26, we’d like to invite you to visit us at our home between the hours of 10AM and 6PM to meet Jonathan. We do ask that you observe the same precautions that the hospital recommends for newborns’ visitors: healthy adults only.

The Care Team has already started bringing us meals and we are so thankful for that blessing!

Update: Day 3

On my way back to the room with breakfast this morning I passed our nurse, who was on her way home. She stopped to let me know that Jonathan’s CRP level is below 5!

Praise God! Thank you to all of you who have been praying.

There are two last hurdles we’ll have to get through before we can go home. Please pray for the following:

• Pray that Jonathan could be circumcised soon and that it would all go well.
• Pray that Jonathan would wet a LOT of diapers, to prove that he’s not dehydrated (a minor concern they had).

I’ll keep updating here as the day progresses.

An Update on Jonathan

Today we moved into a room where Jonathan can stay with us. Praise God!

Though we’re not home yet, it’s a huge improvement. The room is a little larger than our closet, but with all three of us in there at the same time, it’s just right.

Jonathan gets to come out of the NICU and stay with us in this room. He still has to go back to the NICU nurses for his antibiotics, tests, and regular vitals. But other than that, he gets to stay with us, in our room! (like naps being wasted on the young, babysitting is wasted on us, the new parents)

With Jonathan in our own room, I was able to video chat with some family in Florida and spend the day relaxed with Jonathan napping on my chest.

Tonight, around 4 AM, they will run another batch of tests on Jonathan. If his CRP isn’t at 5 or below, we’ll be staying another night. If it is at 5 or below, we’ll talk with the doctor on duty about circumcision and see how quickly we can get home.

One last phenomenon to mention. Before Jonathan I had never changed a diaper. It’s not like I was avoiding the experience. I never really get offers to change diapers and I have never been in the situation where the child needed a diaper change and their parent wasn’t there to change it. So yesterday was my first diaper change. Since then, I’ve changed a few. I don’t get the hysteria that surrounds changing a diaper. It’s not like it’s hard or disgusting.

From what I’m told… that will change once he starts on baby food.

Here’s how to pray for us:

• Pray that God would be glorified in Jonathan’s life.
• Pray that he would grow up to be a man who honors God with his life.
• Pray that his CRP falls from 11 to 5 tonight, before the tests and we would be able to come home quickly.
• Pray for Stephanie, that she can get some sleep on the pullout chair/bed we’re sleeping in tonight.

Lastly, here’s a picture from today. It’s still in the NICU, but we had so much fun sitting together. We talked about the Bible, Jesus, friendships, relationships, how much I love Stephanie, politics, foreign oil, how the internet works, and life in general. He’s a great listener.

I’ve also included a video. Sorry for the 3 minutes of his face and little movement, but that’s what happens with 2-day-old babies…

Jonathan Daniel Gossett

Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Jonathan Daniel Gossett was born. He was 8 lbs, 2 oz and 18″. We are so overjoyed!

How you can pray for us:

• Pray that Jonathan would grow up to be a man who honors God with his life.
• Pray that Jonathan would pass his NICU tests with flying colors, free from all infectons and other reasons to keep him there.
• Pray that Jonathan would be able to come home with us Friday.
• Pray that Stephanie would recover quickly and would not have any complications.
• Pray that our stay at the hospital would be short, sweet, and would glorify God in our interactions with doctors, nurses, and other patients.

How you can help:

• Please pray for us. We covet your prayers.
• Our church is providing meals for the first few weeks as we adjust and Stephanie recovers. If you’d like to join them and you’re on The City (our online community), join the Care Team. If you’re not on The City, leave a comment and I’ll send you the email address of the girl involved.
• Again, pray for Jonathan’s health and our patience.

How you can visit:

Because Jonathan is in the NICU, we’re spending most of our time there. If you came to Norton Suburban, you could meet Stephanie’s parents, see our empty room or if you’re really lucky, run in to one of us. Jonathan is not allowed to leave the NICU, so he can’t have many visitors.

So, we’re going to have visiting hours at our home. Assuming we get to go home with Jonathan on Friday night, we’d like you to visit us during our visiting hours at our home. If Jonathan cannot come home on Friday night, we’ll update our blog to let you know the new visiting hours.

Visiting Times: this Monday – Wednesday from 10 AM- 6 PM.

When visiting, please provide the same courtesies you would at the hospital. They are:

• All adults 18 and older are welcome. Please no children.
• If you are feeling sick or have been sick in the last 24 hours, please abstain from visiting as Jonathan’s immune system is still developing.
• We’d love for you to meet Jonathan. But for his rest and ours, please limit your stay to 20 minutes.
• As always, please wash your hands.

Here’s the story:
Tuesday morning at 10 AM Stephanie’s water started to leak. I came home from the office and worked from home while she kept busy doing just about everything to stay active. She had mild, light contractions about 7 minutes apart. We called the doctor to check in and talk about what was going on. Nothing changed until 11 that night, after Stephanie’s parents arrived from Philadelphia. As we were crawling into bed, Stephanie started to have hard contractions that lasted about 90 seconds and were about 10 minutes apart. We tried to sleep as best we could, waking every few minutes to deal with the contractions and then trying to flop over to sleep for the next few moments. At 6 AM on Wednesday, after 7 hours of hard labor, we called our doula, Leah Morris, to join us. We continued to labor at home until 11:30am and then went to the hospital.

There, Stephanie’s contractions continued to be about 2 minutes long and 5 minutes apart. By 4 PM, after 17 hours of hard labor, we had only progressed 3 cm (for a total of 6 cm since we were already 3 cm at our last Doctors appointment). Stephanie was exhausted from having not slept since Monday night and couldn’t keep anything down (including water) since 9pm the night before, so she was probably dehydrated. Because of extreme fatigue and no food or water to help refuel, she was having a really hard time relaxing with the contractions and so they were hurting her more and more. (I am amazed at how hard she worked and for so long!)

After consulting with our nurse (who was well versed in and preferred natural childbirth), our doctor, and our team, we decided to get an epidural for Stephanie to be able to rest (and rehydrate from an IV). Soon after, the epidural was in and we were all able to regroup. After resting for a while, Stephanie had them turn off the epidural, about an hour or two before delivery, so that she could be back in business for the pushing stage. By 8:30, our doctor said we were ready and Stephanie started to push. Stephanie was so awesome. I will always rember how great she did and how hard she worked.  Jonathan came out completely alert and excited. He cried so loud and healthily, but as soon as he was in Stephanie’s arms and she started talking to him, he stopped and muzzled her. It was awesome. Everyone in the room was overcome with joy, tears, and thankfulness for the baby.

While getting his vitals taken, his temperature registered at 104.3. Stephanie had begun a low grade fever as well shortly before delivery. This could be due to the prolonged time (36hrs) that her water was broken before the baby was born. It opens the uterus up to infection. So as a precautionary step, our pediatrician asked that he be taken to the NICU for testing and observation. We were disappointed but knew that infections can be fatal for infants. I stayed with Jonathan while Stephanie got cleaned up and moved to a new room. It was hard to watch my 30-minute old baby stuck with needles and hooked up to monitors. But at the same time, I was strangely thankful that we were in a place where he could receive such great care.

Since then, we’ve stayed with Jonathan around the clock, switching out so each other could rest or eat. We get to find out tonight, probably around 1 AM, if the 24 hour tests come back negative. If so, we will be able to go home late Friday or early Saturday. If not, there’s a chance he’ll have to stay for up to an additional 7 days to receive treatments.

We’ll keep you updated as things develop.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.