updates galore

we've had a pretty eventful weekend. we'll start from the beginning.

Thursday morning, i could barely sit in my chair at work. i ended up going home to rest. it wasn't easy to rest, and i believe i may have even written a blog entry that day complaining about how uncomfortable i was. Thursday afternoon and evening were so incredibly painful for me that i didn't sleep at all, and couldn't get any rest either.

we had a doctor appointment in Peoria on Friday morning that Wendy was going to drive me to. i was in so much pain that Reid decided to come with, just in case something was wrong. good thing he came with, because after we arrived in the ER at St. Francis in Peoria, we found out that i'd been in labor. by the time we got to St. Francis, i was 6 cm dilated. 25 minutes later, i was 9 cm dilated. the doctor decided that it was too risky to try to stop the labor and performed a c-section immediately.

the surgery was probably the easiest part of the whole day. i just wanted our baby to be alright and i wanted to stop feeling the pain that i'd been feeling for the last day.

Raef Garrett Young was born at 10:38am on February 6th, 2009. Raef weighed in at an incredible 2lbs., 3 oz., and was 15 inches long.

because of the severity of Raef's birth defect, he was carefully whisked away before i could really see him. the only thing i could see was a huge purple belly that i could only imagine was my baby boy. luckily, Reid was able to be right by my side throughout the whole process. i'm not sure what i'd do without him.

the doctors drained Raef's bladder, and he was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit. we're told that this NICU is rated 3rd in the world. what a blessing that it's so close to Bloomington.

family and friends made appearances all weekend, and we were so lucky to have such a great support system during this difficult time.

this morning, without any visitors here, we went down to the NICU together and i was able to take Raef's temperature. it felt so good to be able to provide some sort of care to our little angel. i was able to take it again this evening before we had dinner. i can't wait to hold him. he's such a little miracle.

Raef is impressing his doctor with his lung function, and with the fact that his kidneys are working. he's producing urine, and he's able to take some of my breast milk for nutrition.

if you're reading this, you're loved by us. we can't thank everyone enough for their prayers and support. we'll need more of that because Raef is not nearly out of the woods, and will require surgeries, and extra care.