Lauren is of course going to be our family's best medicine to get through all of this. Such a sweet child.
I picked her up from pre-school, got some pizza with her and Nana & then brought her to the hospital.
She was very happy to see her mommy.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Best Medicine
Click picture to enlarge
Lauren is of course going to be our family's best medicine to get through all of this. Such a sweet child.
I picked her up from pre-school, got some pizza with her and Nana & then brought her to the hospital.
She was very happy to see her mommy.
Lauren is of course going to be our family's best medicine to get through all of this. Such a sweet child.
I picked her up from pre-school, got some pizza with her and Nana & then brought her to the hospital.
She was very happy to see her mommy.
James Michael Herrick
We decided on a name for our son: James Michael Herrick.
Its a family name that means a lot to both of us.
James was baptized yesterday. The priest said a very special prayer. I don't remember the exact words, but he asked God to take James into heaven and make him our guardian angel.
My mother said that she thinks that James started protecting us when we rushed Erin to the hospital. She thinks he realized that he couldn't survive without resulting in the loss of his mother so he sacrificed himself for us while he still could.
Its a family name that means a lot to both of us.
James was baptized yesterday. The priest said a very special prayer. I don't remember the exact words, but he asked God to take James into heaven and make him our guardian angel.
My mother said that she thinks that James started protecting us when we rushed Erin to the hospital. She thinks he realized that he couldn't survive without resulting in the loss of his mother so he sacrificed himself for us while he still could.
Safe Night
Erin had a safe night.
She is recovering at a good rate. They had her sit up and stand up last night.
The nurses are very impressed with her progress. They are taking great care of her.
We are learning more about how serious the situation was yesterday. Luckily, Dr. Guinn acted quickly and set a plan into motion to get her to interventional radiology and into surgery with the surgical specialists Erin needed including Dr. Guinn, Dr. Buckmaster, an oncologist, and a urologist.
We didn't know it at the time, but the doctors hoped that when they took her to interventional radiology that they could control her bleeding and somehow buy her enough time to carry our son a few more weeks where he could have a chance at life.
Unfortunately, the interventional radiology stuff wasn't enough to stop the bleeding so they had to proceed with the surgery to save Erin.
They also hoped that they would be able to save Erin's uterus, but her placenta bleed so badly during surgery that they couldn't.
There was a 10 minute period of time that things were very scary. The nurses brought me our son and told me that the doctors were working very hard on Erin. It was terrifying. Thankfully, the time passed quickly and they checked the operating room again and the surgeons had things under control.
Erin's OB stopped by Erin's room last night and did say that what occurred is typical for how emergency c-section & hysterectomy typically go. There is so much blood flow to the uterus that the surgeons only have minutes to do their work.
As the fog clears from the events of yesterday, we are very thankful that the outcome was quick and clear. We are glad that Erin's body and our baby gave us such a clear warning sign and that we got her to the hospital so quickly and the doctors did their jobs so well. This of course isn't the outcome we wanted, but things could have been so much worse.
She is recovering at a good rate. They had her sit up and stand up last night.
The nurses are very impressed with her progress. They are taking great care of her.
We are learning more about how serious the situation was yesterday. Luckily, Dr. Guinn acted quickly and set a plan into motion to get her to interventional radiology and into surgery with the surgical specialists Erin needed including Dr. Guinn, Dr. Buckmaster, an oncologist, and a urologist.
We didn't know it at the time, but the doctors hoped that when they took her to interventional radiology that they could control her bleeding and somehow buy her enough time to carry our son a few more weeks where he could have a chance at life.
Unfortunately, the interventional radiology stuff wasn't enough to stop the bleeding so they had to proceed with the surgery to save Erin.
They also hoped that they would be able to save Erin's uterus, but her placenta bleed so badly during surgery that they couldn't.
There was a 10 minute period of time that things were very scary. The nurses brought me our son and told me that the doctors were working very hard on Erin. It was terrifying. Thankfully, the time passed quickly and they checked the operating room again and the surgeons had things under control.
Erin's OB stopped by Erin's room last night and did say that what occurred is typical for how emergency c-section & hysterectomy typically go. There is so much blood flow to the uterus that the surgeons only have minutes to do their work.
As the fog clears from the events of yesterday, we are very thankful that the outcome was quick and clear. We are glad that Erin's body and our baby gave us such a clear warning sign and that we got her to the hospital so quickly and the doctors did their jobs so well. This of course isn't the outcome we wanted, but things could have been so much worse.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Maternity Ward
Erin got transferred to the maternity ward a few hours ago. I'm writing this from her room.
My mom is here.
Lauren is at her friend Hannah's for a sleep over.
Erin will recover here for the next few days. Sounds like the earliest she will get out of the hospital this Friday.
We have gotten to spend a lot of time saying good bye to our son. Its incredibly heart breaking, but definitely something we wanted to do.
Thank you all for all your well wishes - they really really help. It is good to know that your friends share your pain and truly care.
The nurses gave us some good booklets to read. Its sad, but true. I think that the booklets will help us find the miracle in this some day. A sample excerpt:
Our joys will be greater; Our love will be deeper; Our lives will be fuller; Because we shared your moment
Its hard to see getting over this. I don't think we really ever will. And I think thats is eventually going to be ok. But right now its awful. Especially for Erin.
We really are glad that we tried our best to make this work. Erin was the best patient imaginable. We took risks, but were not reckless. We'll never wonder what could have been. For us, that is going to help a lot.
My mom is here.
Lauren is at her friend Hannah's for a sleep over.
Erin will recover here for the next few days. Sounds like the earliest she will get out of the hospital this Friday.
We have gotten to spend a lot of time saying good bye to our son. Its incredibly heart breaking, but definitely something we wanted to do.
Thank you all for all your well wishes - they really really help. It is good to know that your friends share your pain and truly care.
The nurses gave us some good booklets to read. Its sad, but true. I think that the booklets will help us find the miracle in this some day. A sample excerpt:
Our joys will be greater; Our love will be deeper; Our lives will be fuller; Because we shared your moment
Its hard to see getting over this. I don't think we really ever will. And I think thats is eventually going to be ok. But right now its awful. Especially for Erin.
We really are glad that we tried our best to make this work. Erin was the best patient imaginable. We took risks, but were not reckless. We'll never wonder what could have been. For us, that is going to help a lot.
Update
I met with some of Erin's surgeons and they were happy with how the surgery went.
I'm relieved we acted when we did. They said that if we hadn't acted, we would have had to rush her into surgery later.
They had to give her a hysterectomy and take 1 of her ovaries. This will be ok with Erin.
She did need 2 units of blood and they recycled 2 units of her own blood.
She is in surgery recovery now (not ICU). Hopefully I will get to see her soon.
Sadly, I met our baby after he had died. He truly is beautiful. He weighs just 1 pound and is 11 inches long, but already had the beginnings of black hair. I got to hold him and talk to him. I'm glad for that. Erin will get to hold him when she recovers a bit.
The nurses and doctors really know what they are doing here - I'm glad somebody does.
I'll update this later on tonight or tomorrow with an update on how Erin is doing.
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.
I'm relieved we acted when we did. They said that if we hadn't acted, we would have had to rush her into surgery later.
They had to give her a hysterectomy and take 1 of her ovaries. This will be ok with Erin.
She did need 2 units of blood and they recycled 2 units of her own blood.
She is in surgery recovery now (not ICU). Hopefully I will get to see her soon.
Sadly, I met our baby after he had died. He truly is beautiful. He weighs just 1 pound and is 11 inches long, but already had the beginnings of black hair. I got to hold him and talk to him. I'm glad for that. Erin will get to hold him when she recovers a bit.
The nurses and doctors really know what they are doing here - I'm glad somebody does.
I'll update this later on tonight or tomorrow with an update on how Erin is doing.
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.
Sad Conclusion
Sadly, I'm writing this from the waiting room at the hospital.
Erin had another bleed tonight - much more than the previous ones.
Her doctors said that Erin's health is now the priority.
Her main doctor - Dr. Buckmaster came into the hospital to make sure that he concurred with the recommendation to deliver tonight - he did.
Sadly, the baby is just 23 weeks old today. He isn't old enough to live.
Erin is with the interventional radiology team now.
After that, they will take her into surgery where they will do a c-section and likely a hysterectomy.
I will get to hold our baby before he dies and they will make a memory book for Erin that she can have when she wakes up from the surgery.
This isn't what we wanted to happen - its very sad. I'm very sad that I'll have to say good bye to our son, but am glad that I will get to meet him.
I just want to get Erin through this. They are hopeful that she will be fine, but with the previa and accreta there could be complications.
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Erin had another bleed tonight - much more than the previous ones.
Her doctors said that Erin's health is now the priority.
Her main doctor - Dr. Buckmaster came into the hospital to make sure that he concurred with the recommendation to deliver tonight - he did.
Sadly, the baby is just 23 weeks old today. He isn't old enough to live.
Erin is with the interventional radiology team now.
After that, they will take her into surgery where they will do a c-section and likely a hysterectomy.
I will get to hold our baby before he dies and they will make a memory book for Erin that she can have when she wakes up from the surgery.
This isn't what we wanted to happen - its very sad. I'm very sad that I'll have to say good bye to our son, but am glad that I will get to meet him.
I just want to get Erin through this. They are hopeful that she will be fine, but with the previa and accreta there could be complications.
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Lauren
We put it off as long as we could, but we just told Lauren that mommy was going to the hospital Wednesday.
Erin found a coloring book on the topic named Mommy and the Hospital. We read it to her and then told her that her mommy is going to the hospital.
It was a bit of a tear jerker to say the least.
But she seems to understand. The two thin mints (girl scout cookies) seemed to help ease the pain temporarily :)
Nana (my mother) is in an airplane right now to help. This is going to be quite the transition.
We hope we have the happy ending that the coloring book has.
Erin found a coloring book on the topic named Mommy and the Hospital. We read it to her and then told her that her mommy is going to the hospital.
It was a bit of a tear jerker to say the least.
But she seems to understand. The two thin mints (girl scout cookies) seemed to help ease the pain temporarily :)
Nana (my mother) is in an airplane right now to help. This is going to be quite the transition.
We hope we have the happy ending that the coloring book has.
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