A stressful but blessed two weeks with number 14!

  On the 18th of April at about 11pm  my wife went into labor with our fourteenth child! Before we married we were discussing how many children we wanted. She said she figured we'd have twelve kids and I countered with "Oh I think were gonna have fourteen like my mom." When we reached twelve she thought that would be the last  one but lo and behold, little Angelina Kate came along and made thirteen. We thought for sure she would not have another child so you can imagine our surprise when four years later she became pregnant with number fourteen.
   And now our midwife was telling us we needed to transport to a hospital because my wife was having complications. We quickly loaded up the necessary supplies and headed to the nearest hospital two hours away.  Our midwife all along had told us the baby would be small, at about five to six pounds according to her measurements. The doctor gave her a sono-gram and told us the baby was only three pounds and that we needed to be in a special hospital three hours further away. Here, another doctor examined the information given us by the previous doctor and concluded Norine needed to take a drug that would stop labor and allow the baby's brain to develop for at least five days. Norine refused and asked them to take their own sono-gram and they would see that the baby was not premature but full term. This upset them a little to question their authority but they finally did and found the baby to be four and a half pounds and that she needed an immediate cesarean. All this time (two days) I was out in the waiting room on a hard seat biting my nails impatiently. But this was a womans only birthing hospital and no men were allowed in except during a two hour window each day. We had all of our babies naturally and my wife did not like the idea of a cesarean but she finally relented and they wheeled her into the operating room. The doctor then remembered to ask her when she had last eaten. "Just a little while ago," was the answer. "Well, we can't operate for another nine hours," said the doctor slightly upset.
   My wife now had time to think about what was happening and she said a little prayer that if it was not meant to be that she had a cesarean, she would go into labor and have it naturally. Five minutes later, she started regular labor pains every five minutes. Now in the hospital she met a doctor who had lived with her cousin for three years in San Diego, so he was almost related to her! He was very helpful and went out of his way to see that she was comfortable. Five hours later, little Travis was born naturally and weighed in at five and a half pounds! Just to save face, the doctors still insisted he was premature. But our midwife had been right all along. The next morning in came the doctor who was to perform the cesarean quite upset. "Why didn't you have a cesarean, why didn't you?" she questioned angrily. "How many kids have you had?" asked Norine. "None," was the answer. "Well, I went into labor and I've had thirteen kids and I know what my body can do," said Norine.
    A day later, after x-rays and sono-grams, they gave the baby a clean bill of health and sent us home rejoicing. Five days later, little Travis started vomiting and started turning blue all over his body. This made the hair stand up on the back of our heads because this was the tell-tell sign that our daughter Amanda had when she needed major heart surgery. We headed to another hospital three hours away and the doc took an x-ray and said the heart was swelling and we needed to go see a heart specialist at once. We figured Salt Lake was our best bet since that is where Amanda had her operation, but Salt Lake was 19 hours away and the doctor didn't think we would make it. We drove straight through to Phoenix all night and by then our baby was having difficulty breathing even with oxygen, so we checked into emergency at Phoenix Children's Hospital. After an ultrasound, the Cardiologist (Who just happened to be a relative. Small world huh?) showed us where in his aorta he had a growth or a narrowing that was preventing the blood from passing through to the lungs. He needed immediate surgery to cut out the section of vein and reattach it. Sitting on the chair watching as they prepared our little seven day old child for major surgery was heart wrenching. He was such a tiny helpless little man. It seemed impossible to be able to operate on such a little baby. He was crying as loud as his little lungs would allow as they inserted needles and tubes into his fragile body but soon was still and silent when the drugs took effect.
    We sat in the intensive care unit all alone in agony for two hours counting each minute until at last the doctor came in and told us the operation was successful and little Travis was doing fine and would be back with us shortly. Four days later Travis was released from the hospital and we headed home for recovery. It is incredible that a child can recover from heart surgery that fast. Needless to say, neither of us had any sleep in the last two weeks, but we felt very grateful to have our child with us still. During our stay many thoughts of despair went through my mind but one day as I sat in the waiting room a large family came in heads bowed, all crying uncontrollably. Their eight year old child had just died of a stomach infection. It was terribly sad to see and I thanked God that my child was still with us. It made me realize there is always someone in a much worse predicament and we should always be grateful and never complain.
So my friends, this is why I haven't had time to post anything on my blog. It has been a very stressful two weeks for sure.
And that my friends is fuel for the mind.