Susan goes to the hospital

Most of you have probably heard at least some information about the events of this week. However, I'll try to quickly summarize the past two and a half days for those of you who haven't heard. On Sunday, February 10, I had gone to church early for a meeting. When Susan got up a little after 8am she quickly realized her water had broke. After making a dash for the bathroom, she gave me a call. I didn't answer because I was in the meeting and didn't expect the call to be so urgent. A few minutes later I got a text message from Susan saying "My water broke!" I called her immediately and headed home. By the time I had arrived, Susan had spoken with the midwife on call. She instructed Susan to come into the hospital, but not to rush. The midwife said Susan should have something to eat and take a shower. We were all in a bit of shock because the baby wasn't due until March 14th. We hadn't even packed "the bag" for going to the hospital. Fortunately, we had done a considerable amount of work on getting the nursery ready last week.

Susan's mom and stepdad arrived at our house by late morning. We got our bags packed and headed for the hospital around 12:30pm, stopping for lunch on the way. Susan wasn't feeling any contractions so we knew there wasn't a great urgency. We arrived at Alexian Brothers Medical Center (ABMC) in Elk Grove Village at little after 2pm. Susan got checked in to the labor & delivery department. The midwife discussed several things that we could do to help stimulate the labor process. However, after consulting with an obstetrician, the decision was made that labor should not be encouraged. We were quite relieved by this decision. Neither of us were mentally prepared for labor. We were also concerned about the baby's health since Susan was only in her 35th week of pregnancy. We spent the first night in labor & delivery (not the most comfortable for either of us), but Susan was moved to a post-partum room Monday morning, since she doesn't require the same level of care as someone in active labor.

Susan is currently on intravenous antibiotics every 4 hours to help prevent against infection, which is the primary concern at this point. She is also hooked up to the baby monitor reguarly to ensure that baby is healthy and happy. As long as there are no signs of infection or other medical problems, the plan is to let the baby stay inside Susan until this Friday (which will be 36 weeks). The longer-term plan for after Friday isn't as clear. The doctor and midwife would support us if we wanted to start the labor process, but they won't force it unless it becomes medically necessary. We want to make sure that Baby is healthy and fully developed, but we also don't like the idea of waiting in the hospital for a month.

Jillian is doing well and very excited about being a big sister. She has been going to school and staying at our house with Susan's mom.

We appreciate all of you who have been praying for us. We know that God is in control of this process. We are also confident that we are in good hands here at ABMC. Susan and I would welcome visits and phone calls. The hospital phone number is 847-437-5500. Currently her extension is 1161, but that could change if she changes rooms. We both have our cell phones with us in the hospital, but our reception is very poor. The hospital visiting hours are 11am-8pm, but they aren't that strict about enforcing them if we are okay with visitors outside of those hours. I took Monday off from work and today was a holiday for me. However, I will need to go back to work while we are in this holding pattern. Susan would especially love to have some visitors during those hours while I am at work. Thank you to all of you who have already stopped by or called! We look forward to sharing more news with you soon (just hopefully after Friday).