Life Happens

Tomorrow, we have our first consultation at Duke with the Maternal Fetal Medicine office there.  We don't expect to learn anything new tomorrow, but we are looking forward to the transfer of care there and to begin meeting the team of doctors that will be watching out for our little Gavin.  We will return to Duke at the end of August to meet with Gavin's team of surgeons, so by the end of the month we should have a better, more in depth picture of what our little guy will be facing when he's born.

In addition to continued prayers for our little guy, Mom and Dad could use a few prayers too.  Two weeks ago, I woke up not really feeling right.  I felt a little off all day and mentioned it at a doctor's appointment I had that day, but it didn't seem to be cause for concern at the time.  I called Chris that afternoon at work and told him I needed him to come home.  According to him, by the time he got home, I was laying on the couch and while I was breathing and had a pulse, I was unresponsive for 20-30 minutes.  Chris called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital.  Luckily, Lorelai was at daycare when this happened and her incredibly sweet babysitter kept her while Chris went with me to the hospital.  I woke up in the ambulance, and spent a couple of hours in the emergency room before I was released.  The baby seemed fine, my blood tests came back normal, but since then we haven't been able to get any answers as to what could have caused the episode.  But we really need prayers that this doesn't happen again....especially since Chris got an official answer yesterday that he will be leaving within a month for a one year deployment.

We are hoping that at the very least, they will delay his deployment date some, so that he will be able to be here for Gavin's birth and his first surgery which will most likely take place within his first 24 hours of life.  Because of the duodenal atresia, we are at risk for preterm labor so if Gavin comes too early, then things are complicated by his lung development and other premature factors that may affect his strength to face surgery.  Most likely, if Chris can't get his deployment date pushed back, he won't make it for the first surgery.  He can request emergency leave for Gavin's open heart surgery, but that's the best we can hope for at this point. 

On the bright side, Chris won't be going to a combat zone.  He's done his three combat tours, had his HUMVEE hit by an IED and has his purple heart.  So while we're not exactly thrilled he's deploying during this difficult time, it has been and always could be worse.  We will have the ability to talk and Skype on a fairly regular basis, and when he comes home from deployment he will be on terminal leave and finishing up twelve years in the Marine Corps. 

To say that the year ahead of us is going to be hard is an understatement.  But luckily for us we have a strong relationship and an incredible support system of family and friends.  We'll adapt to the situation we've been handed and make the best of it.  There are certainly people out there that have it worse than we do, and while we feel overwhelmed at times, we know that we are blessed with many positives and we will continue to focus on those to get through the tough times.