LATEST WORD FROM BABY NICOLE'S DADDY

#1 · June 11, 2004, 3:02 am

Quote from Forum Archives on June 11, 2004, 3:02 am
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Friends:

Obviously, as you might suspect, neither of us slept much last night. It's 9:00 am here (1:00 am CDT). Jo Ann hadn't slept at all when we were up at 5:00; I had slept a couple of hours. Then I got two or three afterward, and Jo Ann got one or two. But, we're up for the day. She told me this morning at breakfast that she was glad we had a busy day so she wouldn't have to talk to people too much and start crying.

She also mentioned how, throughout the night, songs kept coming to her mind and, at one point, she began "silently singing"

    Bless the Lord, Who reigns in beauty;

    Bless the Lord, Who reigns in wisdom and pow'r.

    Bless the Lord, Who fills my life with so much love;

    He can make a perfect heart.

That's what we're praying for Nicole, along with the other potential problems Jim describes below. We hope you'll do the same.

You might like to know that Jim, Misha, and Anya arrived safely in LaGrange, Jim went to see Deanna, and then headed home to get some sleep before going to St. Louis. Before he went to bed, he took time to write an update that give more information as to the possibilities concerning baby Nicole's situation. As Jim said, it's all speculation without verification at this point, but it gives us all an opportunity to be specific in our praying.

FYI, Deanna and Jim talked and prayed a great deal prior to deciding to try to have another child. Deanna will be 40 in November, so they knew there were some risks involved. But, they believed in their hearts that this is what the Lord wanted. The fact that she was able to get pregnant at this point in her life was further verification.

We are indescribably proud of them both for their trust in the Lord, their wisdom and maturity, and their commitment to hold fast to God's Word. They illustrate the character and lives of all our children.

We know that, whatever the mental and physical condition of Nicole may be, and however long she may be entrusted to them, Jim and Deanna, along with Michael and JoyLinn her big brother and big sister, they will still cherish, love, and serve baby Nicole.

Read through Jim's note below. It's not likely that we'll need to send anything further for a few days unless some dramatic changes take place.

Some have asked about Jo Ann's health problems, and I realized we'd not been very good at keeping folks informed. While we still don't know why her blood pressure was fluctuating the way it was a few weeks ago, it has stabilized. And, it was apparently not related to the pain in her back and stomach. After an ultrasound, an endioscopy revealed a duodenal ulcer along with significant blemishing and scarring that indicated she'd had this problem for a long time. It had been caused by a continuous bacterial infection that causes ulcerating activity.

So, she's on a rigid regimen of very strong anti-biotics and other medication, some of which she'll probably take the rest of her life. So, other than the situation with baby Nicole, she's back to her perky and personable self.

Thanks again for praying. Now Jo Ann gets to change her e-mail address to grandma12! She asked me this morning to do that.

Bob and Jo Ann

--------------------

From Jim:

At 12:51 Nicole unexpectedly arrived. Sonograms early that morning revealed some stress on her and during the non-stress test, Deanna had a Braxton Hicks contraction. Nicoles heart rate dropped really low and so the decision was made to take her by C-section.

She is 4 pounds, 7 ounces and has dark curly hair and is 16 inches long.

She was stabilized by the doctors here, then flown to St. Louis.

Drs. There say the heart defects are still there but MAY be not as bad as their original estimates while still in the womb.

However, Drs. Here have also prepared me (Im not sure how much of this Deanna understands) for the possibility of chromosomal abnormalities. In addition to the heart defects and the structure in her brain that they could not find by sonogram (which are both common among babies with chromosomal problems) she also shows other signs of such slight webbing of a couple of fingers and toes, and a couple of other minor things.

If she indeed has any of the chromosomal defects described to me, her long term outlook is not good. Many babies with these particular chromosomal defects dont survive their first year. And, if they do, there is often profound mental retardation.

It is IMPORTANT VITAL that you understand SHE HAS NOT BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ANY OF THESE THINGS YET. The drs. Simply prepared me for this possibility and rather than have all that come out of the blue to all of you, I thought I would cover it here.

PLEASE keep praying for her. Weve already experienced both in our lives and in hers the miracle of your prayers and the answers to your prayers. We remain confident and trust our Lord. He is the perfect father that loves Nicole and the rest of my family more than we can imagine. At this moment, He shares everything with us except the anxiety.

I leave for St. Louis in the morning after I (hopefully) get some sleep. Will write more when I know more but probably not until tomorrow night.

We love you all and thank you all.

I said this morning in the car to a friend, Ive recognized that PART of the reason Im pretty calm right now is that the hard part will be when shes actually out of the safety of the womb when shes lying in a hospital somewhere and Im in a waiting room. Ladies and gentlemen, the hard part has begun. I only pray that our gradually building faith is enough for these next days.

Keep praying.

Walk WITH Jesus,

Jim

------------------------

Bob Tolliver
IBC - Hope4Kyiv
lifeunlimited@pobox.com
Subscribe to "Hope4Kyiv" letter
  --  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hope4kyiv-unsubscribe@welovegod.org  

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Friends:

Obviously, as you might suspect, neither of us slept much last night. It's 9:00 am here (1:00 am CDT). Jo Ann hadn't slept at all when we were up at 5:00; I had slept a couple of hours. Then I got two or three afterward, and Jo Ann got one or two. But, we're up for the day. She told me this morning at breakfast that she was glad we had a busy day so she wouldn't have to talk to people too much and start crying.

She also mentioned how, throughout the night, songs kept coming to her mind and, at one point, she began "silently singing"

Bless the Lord, Who reigns in beauty;

Bless the Lord, Who reigns in wisdom and pow'r.

Bless the Lord, Who fills my life with so much love;

He can make a perfect heart.

That's what we're praying for Nicole, along with the other potential problems Jim describes below. We hope you'll do the same.

You might like to know that Jim, Misha, and Anya arrived safely in LaGrange, Jim went to see Deanna, and then headed home to get some sleep before going to St. Louis. Before he went to bed, he took time to write an update that give more information as to the possibilities concerning baby Nicole's situation. As Jim said, it's all speculation without verification at this point, but it gives us all an opportunity to be specific in our praying.

FYI, Deanna and Jim talked and prayed a great deal prior to deciding to try to have another child. Deanna will be 40 in November, so they knew there were some risks involved. But, they believed in their hearts that this is what the Lord wanted. The fact that she was able to get pregnant at this point in her life was further verification.

We are indescribably proud of them both for their trust in the Lord, their wisdom and maturity, and their commitment to hold fast to God's Word. They illustrate the character and lives of all our children.

We know that, whatever the mental and physical condition of Nicole may be, and however long she may be entrusted to them, Jim and Deanna, along with Michael and JoyLinn her big brother and big sister, they will still cherish, love, and serve baby Nicole.

Read through Jim's note below. It's not likely that we'll need to send anything further for a few days unless some dramatic changes take place.

Some have asked about Jo Ann's health problems, and I realized we'd not been very good at keeping folks informed. While we still don't know why her blood pressure was fluctuating the way it was a few weeks ago, it has stabilized. And, it was apparently not related to the pain in her back and stomach. After an ultrasound, an endioscopy revealed a duodenal ulcer along with significant blemishing and scarring that indicated she'd had this problem for a long time. It had been caused by a continuous bacterial infection that causes ulcerating activity.

So, she's on a rigid regimen of very strong anti-biotics and other medication, some of which she'll probably take the rest of her life. So, other than the situation with baby Nicole, she's back to her perky and personable self.

Thanks again for praying. Now Jo Ann gets to change her e-mail address to grandma12! She asked me this morning to do that.

Bob and Jo Ann

--------------------

From Jim:

At 12:51 Nicole unexpectedly arrived. Sonograms early that morning revealed some stress on her and during the non-stress test, Deanna had a Braxton Hicks contraction. Nicoles heart rate dropped really low and so the decision was made to take her by C-section.

She is 4 pounds, 7 ounces and has dark curly hair and is 16 inches long.

She was stabilized by the doctors here, then flown to St. Louis.

Drs. There say the heart defects are still there but MAY be not as bad as their original estimates while still in the womb.

However, Drs. Here have also prepared me (Im not sure how much of this Deanna understands) for the possibility of chromosomal abnormalities. In addition to the heart defects and the structure in her brain that they could not find by sonogram (which are both common among babies with chromosomal problems) she also shows other signs of such slight webbing of a couple of fingers and toes, and a couple of other minor things.

If she indeed has any of the chromosomal defects described to me, her long term outlook is not good. Many babies with these particular chromosomal defects dont survive their first year. And, if they do, there is often profound mental retardation.

It is IMPORTANT VITAL that you understand SHE HAS NOT BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ANY OF THESE THINGS YET. The drs. Simply prepared me for this possibility and rather than have all that come out of the blue to all of you, I thought I would cover it here.

PLEASE keep praying for her. Weve already experienced both in our lives and in hers the miracle of your prayers and the answers to your prayers. We remain confident and trust our Lord. He is the perfect father that loves Nicole and the rest of my family more than we can imagine. At this moment, He shares everything with us except the anxiety.

I leave for St. Louis in the morning after I (hopefully) get some sleep. Will write more when I know more but probably not until tomorrow night.

We love you all and thank you all.

I said this morning in the car to a friend, Ive recognized that PART of the reason Im pretty calm right now is that the hard part will be when shes actually out of the safety of the womb when shes lying in a hospital somewhere and Im in a waiting room. Ladies and gentlemen, the hard part has begun. I only pray that our gradually building faith is enough for these next days.

Keep praying.

Walk WITH Jesus,

Jim

------------------------

Bob Tolliver
IBC - Hope4Kyiv
lifeunlimited@pobox.com
Subscribe to "Hope4Kyiv" letter

  --  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hope4kyiv-unsubscribe@welovegod.org