Happy Birthday Carson and Harper!

Wednesday, January 30, was the 34 week mark. It was a daycircled on the calendar, hoped for, prayed for, and dreamt about over the pasteleven weeks.  It was a lofty goal andone, I’m sure; our doctors never thought we would make it to. When Becca wasadmitted to the hospital they told us it would be between 7 and 19 days untildelivery. She made it 75. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone thatthose babies decided that they weren’t staying in there one single day past 34weeks! I left work Wednesday morning after a series of frantic text messagesand within three hours I was standing in the NICU as a team of doctors andnurses worked over Carson and Harper making sure every vital part of their littlebodies worked properly. Carson Malone Calvert was born at 10:45 a.m. weighing4lbs 13 ounces and measuring 18 ½ inches long. He came out kicking and screamingand it was a relief to hear his cry after months of worrying about him. HarperElizabeth Calvert was born at 10:50 a.m. weighing 5lbs 10 ounces and measuring18 ¾ inches long. She wasn’t sure she was ready to make her grand entrance andput up quite a struggle on the way out! Its crazy how many nurses and doctorswere in the room during the delivery, with each baby having their own teamwaiting to receive them.  Within 5minutes they were rushing Carson to the NICU without even stopping to show himto Becca.  They took time to weigh Harperin the room and took her around the table to show her to Becca before hertaking her back to join her brother. I was taken back to the NICU with them andbasically stood with my back against the wall as they went to work. I wasn’tallowed to get near Carson nor take his picture. It was clear that somethingwas wrong and the doctors were extremely concerned about his lungs. When Beccawas finished in recovery they took us through the NICU to see the babies on theway to her room.  Carson and Harper areon opposite sides of the NICU and while Harper has done better than expected,Carson has not. Carson has been without  amnionic fluid for the past 11 weeks. Hislungs have been a concern from the beginning, but with each passing week wegrew more optimistic that things would be fine. I guess you can’t fully prepareyourself to see your 4 pound baby fully sedated, hooked up to a ventilator, andabout a dozen other tubes and iv’s. It’s been a hard few days. Carson has tearsin both of his lungs and an open valve in his heart. He needs time to heal. Thechallenge is keeping the rest of his body in balance and working order longenough for the valve and lungs to repair themselves. We’ve not been given anytime lines. In fact, it seems to be a subject the doctors avoid during everyconversation.  For now, we are taking itone day at a time, and continuously praying for a miracle. Carson has alreadyproven himself to be a fighter. He made it over 75 days without any fluid inthe womb. If he hadn’t held on for so long his sister wouldn’t be as healthy asshe is and we would have two babies fighting for their lives. Becca was allowedto touch him with one finger tonight. Even though sedated, he squeezed her finger,kicked his leg, and moved his free arm up near his face. He needs time andplenty of prayers for healing. We have very conflicting emotions right now. Ifeel like we have both the sickest and healthiest babies in the NICU. We leaveCarson’s bed in tears and then go and feed and love on Harper. Harper is doingfantastic. She is beautiful. She is already eating fairly well and even thoughthe doctors haven’t said, I’m sure she won’t be there long. She is in a regularbed and eating half of her food from a bottle and the other half through afeeding tube. Once the tube is gone I’m sure she will be heading home.  We will do our very best to keep everyoneupdated as often as possible. We are so thankful for our friends and family(and even strangers) who have joined us in praying for these babies. When allof this is over we have a lot of favors to return. Actually, more that we couldever repay but we’ll save that for another post.  Jordan and Nathan are anxious to meet Carsonand Harper, I pray it’s not too long before they do.

 

Carson, our little fighter....

 

We do not know what tomorrow holds but we do know thesebabies were fearfully and wonderfully made. We know that ALL things work togetherfor good, for those that love the Lord. We know He heals. We know He givespeace that surpasses all understanding. We know that Jesus will never leave usnor forsake us. We are clinging to His promises and His word tonight.