More Waiting

Our new baby is here, praise God! Mom handled delivery wonderfully, and baby is doing fine. However, this certainly hasn't been playing out the way we had longed for. Originally, mom was going to room by herself. Baby and I were going to be in another room. Well, Avery had the cord around his neck during delivery, so his temperature was up a bit. This means that he has been in the nursery since his birth, and we've not held, fed, or changed him yet.

Don't get me wrong, I am praising God that he came out just fine and healthy. It's just tough knowing the little guy is there and not being able to do anything. What a rude welcome into the world! I'm not a fan of hospitals and "official protocol" of any sort, so this is especially challenging for me. Not to mention, I didn't give birth to him myself, and he's not officially ours...yet. So, I'm not as comfortable dealing with things as I would be under normal circumstances. How is it that he's our baby, but we can't do anything? It's very frustrating.

On the other hand, he is so darned cute! Unfortunately pictures will have to wait until I am home. I have my laptop at the hospital with Internet access through their WI-FI connection, but I have no way to upload my pictures on this computer. It looks like we will not come home before tomorrow, Thursday, so you'll just have to wait until we get settled to see his cute, little face.

Please send up a few prayers for me that I will have patience and make the right decisions in regard to his care, and pray for Amie that she will make it through this process a stronger and wiser person. Thanks, everyone.

The Details:

Avery Thomas

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

7:07 p.m.

7 pounds exactly

21 inches long

...with a nice head of dark brown hair!

Pat's Dad

Well, tough times are here. Pat's dad is in the hospital, and it's worse than we thought. About two months ago they found cancer the size of an egg in one of his lungs. Pat's dad is a smoker big time. As soon as he found out he quit smoking to prepare for surgery. They needed to increase his lung capacity in order for him to be strong enough to withstand the operation.

Quitting smoking wasn't enough, so they did physical therapy. That didn't work either. Surgery was put off. This past week they decided to take a biopsy of the lump and went in to get it. Like I said, his lung capacity is down and it collapsed. It was terrifying. From then on it has been artificially filled. They tried to plug it the other day and let it keep itself inflated, and it collapsed again.

We don't know how much more his body can stand. He is not doing well at all. His memory is shot, and you can tell he's scared. It seems to bother him most that he cannot remember things as opposed to the health issues that he is having.

Please keep Pat's dad, Ervin, and his family in your prayers. This is a real tough time for everyone. Pat and his siblings have been taking turns staying the night with his mom to get her back and forth to the hospital and make sure she is alright. I know this is tough on everyone. Your prayers are appreciated very much.