The Story of Emmie-Rose

Happy Sweet 5th Birthday Baby Girl

2011-07-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Note: Picture from July 15, 2006

Today you would have turned 5. You would have started Kindergarten this year. You would have been swimming in the pool with Z, M and B this Summer. You would have been riding your bike, swinging on the Swings at the park and eating tons of Ice Cream. You would have been at Vacation Bible School with them as well this week. All the "Would Have Beens" just makes Me sad to think about.

Anyways, on a Lighter Note: I know you are having an Awesome time in Heaven!!! I bet you were ecstatic when You saw Nana's Face :) She missed you so much...she would read you Bible Stories at the Hospital all the time, whether she was holding you reading or Papa holding you while she read, or standing by your bed...she was faithful in reading to you always. I am so glad she is with you but We miss her so much as well.

We all miss you Emmie-Rose Girl and Wish You a Super Sweet 5th Birthday in Heaven!!!

Emmie-Rose Payton J.B. Yannella

July 15, 2006-Sept. 19, 2006

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Z, M and B

Rest in Peace Sweet Baby Girl

Happy 4th Birthday Baby Girl!!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

Today, You turn 4 yrs old. I cant believe its been that long since You were born. You were absolutely amazing the second You were born and remained that way your "whole" life. When the Doctor laid you on My tummy, I just couldn't believe how small, fragile and truly beautiful you were. We are so very thankful that We were able to love, hold and adore you for 66 days while You were here on Earth. We know You are in Heaven looking down on Us now, and one day We will see you again. Its super hard though as We miss you soo much and think of you always!! You would have been at Vacation Bible School this week with Z, M and B. having a great time. :) You would have been playing in the water at Splash Park, Swinging at the Park, Eating Ice Cream Cones, riding your tricycle and just having a blast with your Sisters and Brother.
We all miss you dearly and cant wait for the day when We see your Precious Face again!!!!

R. I. P.

Emmie-Rose Payton J.B. Yannella

July 15, 2006-Sept. 19, 2006

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Z, M and B

Rest in Peace Sweet Baby Girl

(Picture from 7-16-06)

Update on Emmie-Rose's Headstone

2009-11-09T10:31:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!!

It seems like forever since I have posted up here....

As I was reading through My email last night, I came across a Website where everyday people make other everyday peoples Dreams Come True. As most of You know Our Baby Emmie-Rose has been gone for 3 yrs now. Unfortunately, after Placing an order for her Headstone and putting a down payment on it, We havent been able to add anymore to it in order to have them install it. Until it is paid in full, they will not actually order it and place it. They are only able to place them in the Spring/Summer usually (or before or after the ground thaws). We feel horrible that We are unable to afford the Headstone for her and would love to see one there one day.

For those that come from the Wish Upon a Hero Website, please feel free to read through the Blog. One nice person brought it to My attention that there is a post stating We ordered the Headstone and they were going to place it in the Spring. That was Our true intention but again due to finances, We were unable to make the payments like We thought. If you have any questions, Please feel free to email Us and We will definitely get back to each and every person!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read Our Blog!
Love,

Stephanie, Chris, Z, M and B

Can't Believe Its been 3 Years!!!!

2009-07-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today You would have turned 3! You were/are the Strongest person I have ever met in My life. You were a true FIGHTER and didnt let anyone tell You otherwise! You took everything so graciously and without complaint. You surpassed everyone's "time frame". Even though it was said You should go and You were withheld Your basic needs (Mommy and Daddy Fought Hard) You lived for 16 more days! Emmie-Rose, You are My Hero!!!!

I remember so well the day You were born! I knew You werent due yet but I was having "labor pains" which wasnt right. You were only 24.5 wks at the time. We called the docs and went into the L & D to find out what was going on. Eventually they figured out that You wanted to come today (LOL, You were in a hurry to see the WORLD). Everyone prepped and We delivered in the OR to be closer to the NICU. There were all kinds of people there to greet You when You made Your Grand Entrance! My Doc put You on My chest and You were the Most Beautiful, "Perfect" Little Girl (along with Your sisters, :) ) that I had ever seen! Truly amazing! You were 1.5lbs of Joy! I had never seen a Baby so small but soo beautiful all in one! A few minutes later, You were whisked away by the NICU Docs to give You the Support You needed for Your tiny little body to function better. My Doc made sure I was okay and finished taking care of Me before moving Me back to My room. Then We had to sit and wait... How hard was that, You may ask.... It was one of the hardest and longest waits of My life. I just wanted to hold You and make everything okay! I didnt want You to have to carry that heavy burden. You were too little to have to carry all that yourself. Its a blur how long it took before We could come into the NICU to see You! I do have to say, I was totally freaking out. Chris pushed Me up to Your bed after We washed up, and told Me I could open the porthole and touch Your Sweet little hand. I have to admit, I was really scared, I had him touch You first. When I did touch You that first time, I NEVER wanted to let You go!!! You had wires and tubes all over You and heat to keep You warm. The Nurses would explain what was going to happen next and what they were going to do throughout the day etc. The hardest thing to hear was I couldnt hold You yet. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days and then I had to be released. That was hard knowing I had to walk out of that hospital without My Baby Girl with Me. We visited everyday and there were always changes whether good or bad. Daddy called all the time to check on You when We werent there. We were always in contact with the Nurses/Docs to make sure You were getting the Best Care and We were always in the Loop of Care. As the days went on, there were setbacks but there were improvements as well. We were told when You stabilized that You would have to be transferred to another hospital due to Insurance. We were really sad about this situation as We were getting comfortable (loosely used) at the first hospital. So on the Upside of things.... You improved enough to be tranferred, You had Your first ride in a vehicle (and LOVED IT), and got to be "outside" the 4 Walls of a Hospital for a little while. We followed right behind You the whole way. We were soo happy when We got there and they told Us You had a "blast" in the Ambulance. :) You definitely experienced Michigan Bumpy Roads for sure!! LOL Anyways... after You arrived, and We talked to the Staff, We were told We wouldn't be able to see You for a long time. We were super upset about that. They stated that they had to do tests on You (that had just been done at the previous Hospital but..) and We had to just wait. A LONG time passes and they finally allowed Us to see You! Unfortunately, You contracted E Coli twice from this hospital due We feel to unclean work practices. We helped give you "bath(s)" in Your bed and helped change your bedding. Daddy changed a few diapers which was really cool! :) At one point You were off of IV's and most meds, You still had Your breathing tubes because they hadnt tried to hard to wean You off and Your lungs were still trying to develop. You also had a feeding tube due to the breathing tube, but that was it. What an accomplishment. In two months You had thrived so much! We were soo excited about your progress though We knew "We" werent out of the Woods just yet. We knew there could be a million more obstacles along the road ahead but We were completely fine with that. Then One day the We were given extremely horrible News You had contracted Necrotizing Enterocolitis(NEC for short)(Please check out this pdf file for full explaination of this condition: http://www.greenhosp.org/pe_pdf/women_NEC.pdf). We had NO CLUE what they were saying to Us except that You were in Grave Condition and things didnt look good. :( One day You were doing well and on Your way to growing and getting better and the next You weren't going to survive. We were totally stunned NOT understanding what happened, not knowing how You contracted it and realizing that You had made a HUGE turn for the worse after all Your fighting. So they told Us what they were going to do and that they would wait a few days to see if the swelling went down, if not, they would do surgery to see how intestine was salvagable. I begged and begged them on the second day to do the surgery to catch any "live intestine" before there wasnt any left. They didnt listen and did surgery on the third day. At this point, Daddy and I were "living" at the Hospital, so We were just across the hall from the NICU. We sat downstairs waiting for You to come out of Surgery. We went back upstairs for a bit waiting for You to return to the NICU, when the Surgeon came in and told Us, it was too late. Supposedly there was not enough intestine to save. They gave You 2 days! Daddy and I couldnt believe it. We totally lost it that day not knowing at what point, We would lose You or what could have been done to prevent this awful condition from occurring). So for two days We sat and I held You and looked at You and told You how much Mommy loved You and how I always would. The Docs/Nurses decided they would only do "pallative care" (which is NO CARE). They decided that She would no longer receive TPN, Blood Transfusions, or Platelets (which You had since birth, so it wasn't anything new or different). So 2 days passed and You were still going strong though You werent receiving "anything". The Docs/Nurses were "Baffled" in their words NOT knowing why You were still with Us. So they started asking Us to take You off the Breathing machine (which AGAIN, You had been on since birth and they never really bothered to wean You off) and Our answer was always "No, God will take You when He decides). They wouldnt take No and God for an answer, so they got the ethics committee involved. The committee ended up stating that "We can tell her if We decide to do so". I WAS LIVID!!!! We started sitting with You as much as possible to make sure they were not doing anything wrong to You. So You fought and We fought all day everyday for them to just let God decide when Your time was up. You made it 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 more days with the amazement Im sure of alot of people, wondering why this Baby Girl who was given two days to live, continued on for another 16 days. Talk about Miracles!! God is Truly Amazing! You went to peacefully in My arms that evening. That day was amazing, We got there in the mid morning and I held You, looking at Me with those Beautiful Baby Eyes and as content as could be in Mommy's arms. You always seemed to feel better (Your stats perked up) when Mommy was holding You. Then towards the early evening, Your stats had started slowing going down and not coming back up. Which usually they would go up and down all the time but not like today. So I sat and held You and rocked You and talked to You looking into those eyes again. Then the stats just slowly fell to 0 and I held You in My arms and You were so at peace. It was beyond amazing how peacefully You went to Heaven that night. A few Family Members came to say Goodbye to You that night. We held You, We cried and then We had to leave for the last time visiting. Im not sure You exactly know how proud of You Daddy and I are. You gave 66 days a Run for their Money!!! :) I surely look up to You. Your strength, You attitude, Your Love and Hope You shared with others. Through You I hope people have learned alot of things about themselves and their beliefs. Even though Z, M and B only got to meet and see You a few times, there aren't many days that go by without a mention of Emmie-Rose girl!! :) They love You and miss You sooo much, there are times they cry and laugh, and visit You at the Cemetary. They love singing to You and We always say prayers with You! :)Angel, I hope You know that I love more than Life and that I can't wait to see you in Heaven! To hug You and hold You and know You aren't suffering anymore. My Love for You will NEVER die and there will always be a missing piece of My heart til We meet again.

R. I. P.

Emmie-Rose Payton J.B. Yannella

July 15, 2006-Sept. 19, 2006

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Z, M and B

Rest in Peace Sweet Baby Girl

66 Precious Days here with Us!!!

(picture 1: Day of Funeral)

(picture 2: Day of Birth)

2 Years Ago Tonight

2008-09-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, So 2 yrs ago today You went away.

Since then, I havent been the same.

I think of You constantly and wonder

what You are doing in Heaven!! I know

You are having a wonderful time and I am

so glad your not in pain. You accepted all the

pain and suffering with a True Angel's heart.

Z, M and B talk about You all the time and Wish

You were here. They miss you terribly and want You

to "come home".

You were too young to leave this world but the Lord

knew what He was doing. I dont question Why and never

will. Though I would love to know why He chose You that day,

right now is not the time. I will see You again one day in Heaven

so "leave the light on" :)

You went peacefully in My arms that night and never made a fuss.

You endured so much without a single complaint.

Emmie-Rose Payton J.B. You are Mommy's HERO and Always have been and Always will be!!!

Please Watch Out for Us down here!

My love for You will NEVER DIE!! You are My Sweet Baby Girl forever!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Z, M and B

RIP Sweet Baby Girl

7-15-06 to 9-19-06

66 Precious Days here with Us.

Gone NEVER forgotten!

(picture taken on 9-19-06)

HAPPY 2nd Birthday Baby Girl

2008-07-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today You turn 2!! I wish I could see how much you have grown, how many words You can say, the Beautiful Smile on Your face. I miss You so much Baby Girl. The past few days have been VERY HARD on Mommy. I tried to be so Strong for Everyone but its been hard lately. I know You are in Heaven looking down on Us. I Iknow You have a Great Life but I miss You soo soo soo much Sweet Baby.

Your Big Sis went to Camp on Sunday and stays til Friday evening. This is the first time She has been away from Family for that long. I miss Her tons as well. She is having a great time though and I am really happy for her.

Your Middle Sis is doing well. She is learning new things all the time. Loves the Computer, playing Nick Jr. and Webkinz. She starts Kindergarten in the Fall and can't wait. She is super excited.

Your Brother is starting Preschool in the Fall (though not as excited as Middle Sis). He would rather stay home and be Mommy's baby for awhile longer!

Daddy is doing very well!! He got a new job as a Computer Engineer again (after 8 long yrs). He loves it and works with really nice people. Praise the Lord! He is doing much better with his health as well.

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Girl!!!

2 yrs ago today You came into Our Lives
We fell in Love with You from the start
You brought so much Joy to Everyone
It was so hard to let You Go!
You fought so hard to be okay
But God told You to Come home.
We let You go so Peacefully
And know You are so Well Today.

Z, M and B always ask about You all the time and miss You soo very much. They just want You to come home. Its hard for them to understand that You are in Heaven.
Mom and Dad always talk about You and We miss You alot! We can't wait to see You again one day. We keep going for Your Sisters and Brother as they need Us more each day.

Sweet Dreams Baby Girl! We love You Forever and Ever!

Gone but NEVER Forgotten!!!

RIP Baby Emmie-Rose 7-15-2006 to 9-19-2006

Love Forever and Always,
Mommy, Daddy, Z, M and B

October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

2007-10-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

TODAY, at 7:00 pm in all time zones, families around the United States will light candles in memory all of the precious babies that havebeen lost during pregnancy or in infancy. Too many families grieve in silence, sometimes never coming to terms with their loss. If everyone lights a candle at 7 p.m. and keeps it burning for 1 hour, there will be a continuous wave of light around the world.

(note: This was sent in one of the Groups I am in)

Please light a Candle in Memory Our Precious Baby Girl Emmie-Rose :) We know She is in Heaven watching all of Us.

Take Care!

Miss You Baby Girl!!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Z, M, and B

Sept 19th A Year Gone By

2007-09-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today's the day You went away

To be with Jesus up on High

We cried and held You Forever that night

We didnt want You to leave Our sight

We love You more than life itself

And know one day We will see Your Face

But for now, We will think and dream of You

Til We see You again to Hold You near

Our Love for You will never die

and one Day soon We will see you on High

(written By Mommy)

Baby Emmie-Rose,

We miss you so very much. We can't believe its been a year since Jesus called You home. We had You for a precious 66 days and
loved every minute of it. You went through alot and never complained at all. You endured so much and had the Sweetest Spirit
ever. We are sooo proud of You and Very Proud to call You Our Daughter. We know You are pain free now and are playing with
your siblings, Grandma, Great Grandparents, Great Aunt and Cousin Shannon too. There's never a minute of the day that goes
by that We don't think about You and wish You were home with Us. We know God had a reason to bring You here and then take
You home. You touched lots of people's lives and Blessed so many by Your courage and strength. You are a Wonderful and TRUE
example of what a HERO really is all about.

Gone but NEVER Forgotten!!!

RIP Baby Emmie-Rose 7-15-2006 to 9-19-2006

Love Forever and Always
Mommy, Daddy, Z, M and B

Happy Birthday Emmie-Rose 7/15/07

2007-07-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Happy First Birthday Emmie-Rose!

It’s amazing to think that one year ago you came into our life.
Your kind heart, strong spirit, and your willingness to overcome
all obstacles will be forever with us.

Instead of cake and candles and a big party, we brought you a
bouquet of balloons while brother and sisters blew bubbles.
We came to play with you for a while then packed up the van to
head to Lake Michigan. Your siblings have never seen a real beach before.

We are looking forward to a picnic lunch on the beach tomorrow.
We know you will be there with us.

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Z, M, B.

Mar 6, 2007 - Start of spring in 14 days.

2007-03-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Only 14 days left until the start of spring!

I’m hoping the groundhog was right and that the warm weather is on its way soon.

Everyone is doing well. We have made it thru Z’s, M’s and B’s birthdays as well as Stephanie’s. I’m the exception to every rule in our house with a birthday in October.

I want to thank everyone that keeps checking in to see how things are going. Its pretty amazing the number of hits a week we receive to this site.

For all our new readers, Welcome!
This site started out as a way to tell our family how things were going with the birth of our new baby Emmie-Rose. I was home watching our other children while my wife was at the hospital. After taking so many phone calls I was like, there has got to be a better way to get the word out.
I’m in the IT field so a blog made perfect sense.

What started out as a family web site has grown into something amazing.

What has been going on?
We went a few weeks ago and picked out and ordered Emmie-Roses headstone. Sometime in the spring/early summer it should be in place.

I was talking with my instructor at school this week about everything that’s been going on so far and he was like, “I can’t imagine everything your family has been thru. You have certainly changed from all you have been thru. You’re not the same person I interviewed at the beginning of last year.”
I was kind of taken back a step by that.

Stephanie and I are trying hard to hold strong. There really has not been any closure yet with everything going on at Uncle Steve’s office. I’m normally a brain stormer, someone always dreaming up new programs or solutions for IT problems. Anymore it’s like I was hit by a ton of bricks and I don’t seem to have the energy and enthusiasm I once had. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been cooped up in the house all winter and need to run around in some warm weather.
Maybe I just miss the fact that my child would be 8 months old this month.
I can picture her playing with her brother and sisters. Each of them taking turns pushing her around in a stroller, like they do with their dolls now.
B still walks around the house with his hands in front of him saying
“I ‘m holding Emmie-Rose, give her a kiss Mommy and Daddy”
Her love still lives on as demonstrated by our 3 year old. She touched so many different hearts in so many ways.

Our hearts and love go out to all the families with children born before their due dates.

Jan 15 2007 - Happy New Year

2007-01-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone!

I finally got a moment to put my thoughts down.
The holidays are over. Woo Hoo! (All parents are cheering)
The kids made out like crazy with the toys as usual.
The business of rotate the toys is in full swing at our house...
The old toys are getting Freecycled out, and the new toys are
where they need to be in the house.

New Years eve everyone stayed up to watch the ball drop in Times Square.
Goodbye 2006.... Stephanie and I had tears of joy for the upcoming year
and tears of saddness for everything that had happened.

We went out to visit Emmie-Rose this weekend. Our 6 Year old took these
pictures with the new camera we got for Christmas.

I finally switched web counters for the site. Jellycounter was hacked and
taken down a while ago. It had been around for years. It was sad to see
that site go. Hooked up with sitemeter so will see how this works out.

Uncle Steve and I had a nice long chat last week.
He and his office are doing well.

Tonight was just a bunch of random thoughts plunked down into the blog.
Sorry for any gooder Engligh. lol

Thank you so much for everyone stopping by to see how things are going!

All our love,

Chris & Stephanie

Dec 13th - Whats been going on.

2006-12-13T03:42:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone.

Last week the lawyers went in and closed up the original case we started
back in September to give Emmie-Rose a fighting chance. As you know
she passed away the night before court.

From what we have heard, everyone involved with Emmie-Rose's care
is scared of more legal stuff coming.
You got your answer in court last week. Game on U of M!

Can't say much more than that because as we all know....
Uncle Ed and his team of Grinches at the U are reading this blog as well.

Emmie-Rose, My Entire Family, Stephanie, and I should have never have
had to go thru everything we did.

On a brighter note:
The family spent some time at the cemetery over the weekend.
Emmie-Rose has a beautiful wreath with a huge red bow for her grave
blanket. I could not believe some grave sites had fully decorated
trees at them. I had never seen anything like that before.

I hope to post some more pictures and some video of Emmie-Rose
over the holiday weekend. I have 5 days off 22nd Thru 26th that
I'm looking forward to.

Baby Ava (Emmie-Rose's sister from another mother) got to go home
the week of Thanksgiving. That was awesome news to hear!
You grow baby Ava!
We keep you guys in our prayers and are thinking of you often.

Keeping in touch....

Love,

Chris and Stephanie

Nov 18, 2006 - Thinking of you.

2006-11-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

Good morning baby Girl. Was thinking of you sooo much.
Was thinking of all the people you have touched.

Thanks to all the Staff and Students at Agape Christian Academy
that sent us a huge folder of letters of support.
Many of your letters touched our hearts while reading thru them.

Thank you everyone for all your love and support!

Keep checking in... Other chapters to be told later on.
=+=+=+==+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

I started going thru the daily pics we have.
The Fuji FinePix 1300 Camera we have is on its last legs.
We have taken hundreds of pictures with it.
Its been capturing some really poor pictures recently.
The original, of the above, was pretty distorted
and very red. I tried to clean it up the best I knew how.

Daddy is looking at another reliable Fuji or something in the Cannon line.
The Cannon would be nice because you have so many choices for lenses.

Question:
What are you using to shoot your DIGITAL pictures?
What do you like/dislike about your camera?

Nov 10, 2006 My Due Date

2006-11-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

HI Everyone,

Please light a Candle today for 66 minutes in Memory of Our Sweet Emmie-Rose!! In Her short life She impacted alot of lives that She will be a Forever Memory in those Hearts.

Long time no talk I see. Okay, here I am , Today "is" My Due Date. Emmie-Rose Payton J.B. Yannella is the name We chose for Our Fourth Precious Angel. She weighed in at 1 pound 5 ounces and was 11 3/4 inches long. Beautiful head of dark hair and pretty button nose and cute little lips to match.

As most of You are aware, Our Precious Sweet Emmie-Rose was born way before Her time. She was the Sweetest Baby Girl a parent could ask for. She fought and fought and fought and never complained a bit when the Nurses had to work with Her. She endured ALOT of stuff in Her short little life that She led. God brought Emmie-Rose here early for a reason and through Her alot of lives have been touched. She was such an enjoyable Baby Girl. She would squeeze Our fingers, She would look up with those adorable baby blue eyes, and would suck on Her "Binkie" for a few minutes loving every minute of it. She enjoyed eating alot. She loved laying on her Tummie and trying to crawl out of Her "crib". She also loved Mommy holding Her. If She was having a not so great day, Mommy could hold Her and She would feel better.

The Day You went away
Was a very sad day
It hurt beyond belief
To know I couldnt hold You again
To be without You for evermore
To never see You grow up
To hear You cry Your first cry
To hear You laugh Your first laugh
To see You play with toys
To watch You crawl around
To see You eat "real" food
To hear you say " I Love You Mommy"
Baby Girl, I Love You soo very much
I miss You more than words can say
I will Never Forget You Sweet Princess
Love Always and Forever, Mommy
Rest In Peace
11/10/2006

Oct 19th - Feedback

2006-10-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

A certain hospital is having another closed door meeting soon.
The meeting is about Emmie-Rose for all the people that missed
the first closed door meeting.

I'm sure they would love to get your feedback.

Oct 13, 2006 Lord Help Us

2006-10-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well here I am again...... I havent posted in a long time due to time and energy. As You all may have read in the previous post.. On Oct 10th, We lost My Grandmother!! :( To tell You the truth, Im not sure how much more I can mentally take in My life right now. As I sit here crying, I feel the need to at least post and let You all know We havent forgotten about You and will keep updated the blog as time permits Us to do so. We lost My Grandfather back in 1999 and in 2000 Our Precious Z was born, so We know that God gave Chris and I her as an Angel of Papo's and We are forever grateful for that. We still miss him daily. We know the Lord has a plan for Ganky (thats what the Grandchildren call her) and that She is holding Emmie-Rose right now and taking care of her. We know She is so happy seeing Papo (Husband) again and Aunt Kim (her daughter) and Shannon (Granddaughter), Emmie-Rose (Great Granddaughter). We started Visitation last night, tons of People came to pay their respects.

Please pray for Us during this time as this is just a HUGE BLOW to Our Family as Ganky was Our "Head of the Family".

Dear Ganky,

It's Stephanie, I want You to know that I will Always Love You and Never Forget You!! My Love for You will NEVER die!! I know You are so much happier with Jesus and Papo, Aunt Kim, Shannon, Emmie-Rose and My other two Babies. You have no more pain or sickness and never have to worry again. I want You to know that I am okay and will always be okay, I know You were worried about Me but there's no need. I will get through My situation the Best I can. I the supposed to worry about others, not others worrying about Me. Please tell Emmie-Rose and My other two Babies Mommy said Hello and that I miss them terribly. Please take care of them for Me and Always tell them Mommy Loves Them.

My love to You forevermore!!
Stephanie Jalyn

PS: Please give Kisses to Papo for Me, and tell him I always remember him rattling his pocket change. :)

PSS: Please give Kisses to Aunt Kim and tell her I always remember her white escort and stopping at the store/gas station for Nestle Alpine White candy bars and going to the park (and going to Farmer Jack's for her Crab legs). LOL

PSSS: Please give Kisses to Shannon and tell Her She was So Beautiful in Her Wedding Gown.

To all Our faithful Readers, We want to extend a Special Thank You to You for Supporting Us during this time of sorrow. We are forever Blessed and Grateful for the Love and support You have given to Us.

May God Bless All of You!

Love,
Stephanie Jalyn

Anna L. Wallen
5/8/1937-10/10/2006

May You Rest In Peace Always

Oct 13th - Ganky

2006-10-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

Wallen, Anna L. - Ypsilanti, MI

Age 69, our beloved Gankye, went to be with Jesus, October 10, 2006.
She was born May 8, 1937 in Dwale, KY, the daughter of
Robert L. and Ida (Lafferty) Calhoun.
On January 22, 1952, she married J. B. Wallen, the love of her life, and he preceded her in death April 22, 1999. Anna worked at Ford Motor Company, Rawsonville plant for over 20 years, retiring in 1976. For the last five years, she was employed as a security guard for the Gerald Ford Library. This feisty, beautiful woman loved her family and friends very much. Survivors include- daughters, Pamela (Alfred) Wallen-Brendtke of Ypsilanti and Janice (Frank) Wallen-Pimentel of Belleville; sister, Bobbie Jean (Lawrence) Elkins; five grandchildren, Chad (Amber), Stephanie (Christopher), Jayme (Amy), Tiffany and Hayley; five great grandchildren, Jacob, Zabrina, Alysse, MacKenzye and Brenden; and several nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband, she was met in heaven by her daughter, Kimberly in 1992, granddaughter, Shannon in 2001, great granddaughter, Emmie-Rose in 2006, her parents, one sister, JoEllen and one brother, Woodrow.

The funeral service will be 11:00 A.M. Saturday, October 14 at STARK FUNERAL SERVICE Moore Memorial Chapel with Pastor Jay Chad Brendtke of Maranatha Baptist Church in Denton officiating. Burial will follow in Knollwood Memorial Park. Contributions in Anna’s memory may be made to the family. Envelopes are available at the funeral home.

The family will receive friends Thursday 5-9 P.M. and Friday 1-9 P.M.

Oct 9 - 12:46am It Happens In 3's

2006-10-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Why does it always seem that death comes in 3's?

Stephanie's grandmother(Ganky) was rushed to the hospital tonight
because of an Aneurysm.

So far a drain has been put into her head to help with swelling.
They are going to try and go in with what is called a coil to try and
stop the bleeding. If the coil does not work there may be nothing more
that can be done.

Her condition does not look very good right now.

We will keep you updated on her condition as we know more.

Lord give the family strength thru this all!

Chris

Oct 3 - Evening for reflection.

2006-10-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last night Stephanie and I went to a memorial service at
St Joseph Mercy Hospital. They hold a memorial twice
a year for parents that have lost children.

It was heartbreaking, and in some ways comforting, to attend.
There were many other parents that have already gone thru
the same things Stephanie and I are going thru now.
The next one will be in May of next year.

It was good to hear the stories from other parents.
Both of us were crying so much I don’t think either of us
had the strength to get up and tell our story. Next one.
We had no idea what last night was going to be like.

All in all it was a good evening. Hearing the word
of God, hearing the words from other Parents, and also
talking with staff we have grown close to thru all of
Emmie-Roses travels.
We thank them so very much for everything!

I want to send a huge Thank You to friends and neighbors
that continue to send support and knock on our front door
with food, etc. You know who you are!

We are so blessed to have such great friends and neighbors.

THANK YOU!

Sep 27 - Still Here.

2006-09-27T05:50:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I hanging in there.
Our hearts are aching but we keep going.
Our other little ones need our love and attention too.

The business of living has set in again...
Trips to Sam's Club for groceries, cooking at home,
Lowes for around the home stuff, mowing the grass
and yard work at home, helping Z with homework
etc for school.

I start back to work full time on Sunday morning 10/1/06 after
being off on FMLA for weeks now.

All the things we stopped 66 days ago have started
once again. Seems strange after living
between the hospital and home for all that time.

M and B keep asking Mommy and I when we are going to
bring Emmie-Rose home. I start to cry every time we tell
them she is in heaven now with Jesus.

Thank you sooo much for all the words of love and support.
Emmie-Rose touched the hearts of so many people.

Love,

Chris & Stephanie

Since You went away

2006-09-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Since You went away

My life just isnt the same

I thought I would be okay today

But I guess I was really wrong

It hit Me like a Ton of Bricks

That You arent where You always are

The Lord took You away from Me

But I know there is a reason why

I know Your in a better place

But I wish I could have had more

Though Our time was too short here

One day it will be so much more

Please say Hello to Everyone

And know I am right here

I will never leave You

You can always call back here

Love,

Mommy

9/24/2006

Sep 24 - Baby Girl

2006-09-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Life is filled with hello's and goodbye's.
The hello’s are so much easier than the goodbye’s.

For 66 days I’ve picked up the telephone and
called the nurses to see how you are before
I fell asleep at night. Even though I know
you are in better hands now, I still feel
myself reaching for the phone to call...
to see how you are doing...

Lord I’m just checking in on my baby.
Read to her.
Give her hugs and kisses.
Make sure she is tucked into bed.
Keep her safe and warm.

Baby girl, Daddy misses you so very much.
Sweet dreams little princess...

Emmie-Rose Payton J.B. Yannella Obituary

2006-09-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yannella, Emmie-Rose Payton J.B.Ypsilanti Township, MI

Our sweet Emmie-Rose, age two months, went peacefully Tuesday, September 19, 2006 from the arms of her mommy and daddy to the open arms of Jesus. Emmie-Rose was born July 15, 2006 in Superior Township, the daughter of Christopher J. and Stephanie J. (Brendtke) Yannella. Throughout her short life, our Emmie-Rose had many struggles, which she fought hard to overcome. In addition to her loving parents, she leaves to mourn her passing and celebrate her homegoing- her sisters, Zabrina and Mackenzye and brother, Brenden; maternal grandparents, Pamela and Alfred Brendtke of Ypsilanti; paternal grandfather, James Yannella of Willoughby, OH; great grandmother, Anna Wallen of Ypsilanti; uncle Chad and aunt Amber Brendtke; aunt Dawn and Uncle Bob Cipra; great aunt Jan and great uncle Frank Pimentel; and cousins, Jacob, Alyse, Connor, Tiffany, Hayley, Jayme and Amy. The funeral service will be 11-00 A.M. Saturday, September 23 at STARK FUNERAL SERVICE Moore Memorial Chapel. Burial will follow in Knollwood Memorial Park. The family will greet friends at the funeral home 5-9 P.M. Friday and 10-00 A.M. until time of service Saturday. Please sign her guest book at www.starkfuneral.com.

In Lieu of Flowers, A Memorial Fund in Emmie-Rose's name has been set up.

If you wish to donate to Her fund, please send donations to

Key Bank: 100 South Main, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Attn: Ian Glasford

Sept 20th Mine for Awhile

2006-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

You were Mine for awhile
And Now You are the Lord's
A True Angel since Day One
And now have earned Your Wings

God has a Plan for Everyone

Though We dont know what it is

Just look to Him to Guide You through

And always follow him too

Love Forever,

Mommy

Sept 20th Unusual Kind of Day

2006-09-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Unusual kind of Day

My normal routine is broken

Every since You went away

The Lord hnd more inportant things

For You to do and say

He took You from My arms tonight

To be with Him on High

And told Us not to worry

We'd see You another time

It broke Our Hearts to let You Go

But We knew God had better plans

He took You very peacefully

Tonight He made You His.

We Love You more than Life itself

I never thought I would be here now

To lose a Sweet Little One as You

I figured You'd bury Mom

Today is the Start of a long road ahead

But I know the Lord will Help Us through

We would Love to have You back with Us

But We will be able to see You soon enough

Love Always and Forever, No Matter What Sweet Princess

Mommy

My Prayer to You Miss Emmie-Rose

2006-09-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

My Prayer to You Miss Emmie-Rose

Lord, She is Yours Now
Please take care of Her
We love Her So Very Much
But know You Love Her too.

We wish We had More time with Her
But We understand You have other Plans
We wont question You Dear Lord
Please Just keep Her in Your Hands!!

Watch over Her and Hold Her tight
As She now has seen the Light
Help Her understand the Way
Until We meet again one Day.

Love, Mommy

May You Rest in Peace Sweet Princess

September 19, 2006

9:47 p.m

Sept 19th A Very Sad Day!!!

2006-09-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

To All of Our Loving, Caring Readers out there, Ms. Emmie-Rose fought Her last Battle tonight. Our Baby Girl passed away tonight around 9:45 p.m. She went fighting all the way. She is a True Hero in Our Eyes!! She has touched alot of lives in the short time She has been with Us. We are so proud of Her and all the things She has done in Her 66 Days with Us.

We Love You Sweet Princess!!! Forever and Ever, NO MATTER WHAT!! We know You are in Heaven now looking down on Us. We are so happy to know that You arent hurting anymore. Please know that Mommy and Daddy adored You and Loved You and still Love You now.

Further Information on Funeral arrangements will be posted at a later date.

Thanks again to All that Care!

Love,
Stephanie and Chris and Miss Emmie-Rose May You Rest In Peace Sweet Princess

Sep 18 - For all our web readers.

2006-09-19T00:32:00.000-07:00

Emmie-Rose says Thanks for the video capture card gramps!

WXYZ Channel 7 News video from 9/18/06

A Special Poem for Emmie-Rose

2006-09-18T15:53:00.001-07:00

A Plea for Emmie-Rose

Lord, We're down on our knees tonight
The same place we've been every single night
Praying against the awful odds
We're hoping this plea can be heard
See Emmie-Rose here, she needs Your help
We've done all we can do ourselves
The doctors they just don't seem to understand
We loved her before she was born
She's a fighter and just needs a helping hand
Lord help us, we're sure You'll understand

Each night as she sleeps
Our sweet baby Emmie-Rose
We just want to keep
We go in to hold her tiny hand
Give her kisses on her nose while we try not to cry
Gotta be strong for our hero, please don't make her die
We smile sadly through the tears and give a little sigh
In this land the tiniest have to fight for their lives
Sometimes it seems they don't have that right
We love her and promise to be her voice

Lord, Can You hear us?
Are we getting through tonight?
Lord, Can You see her?
Can You make her feel alright?
Can you weigh upon the hearts
Of the ones who hold the key to her life?
And let them give her what she needs
It's a plea from the heart
From a mother and a father
Who know all you need
Is Love for Emmie-Rose, our daughter

written with Love,

Close Friend Kelly L.

Sept 18th Will the Craziness EVER stop???

2006-09-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

I guess I am the new appointed Spokes"lady" for the Blog right now. I feel the need to give updates on Our lives more often due to the ever changing situation We are dealing with right now.

Today, We went to the Hospital to visit Our Sweet Little Emmie-Rose. She is doing pretty good. Her vitals signs look really good.

For now thats about all I know...

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

KEEP ON PRAYING!!!

Love,
Stephanie and Chris and Emmie-Rose :)

Channel 7 in Detroit requested an Interview with Us and We will be on the 6pm News this evening. 9/18/2006

Sept 17th Another Day of Craziness!!!

2006-09-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Can't believe I'm on here again! Came to check My email and comments and since lots of people are worried about Emmie-Rose and haven't heard from Us today, I need to spend a few minutes giving you an update. I am SUPER tired as We just got back from the Hospital visiting Our Little Baby Girl again so bare with Me.

Okay, We went to the hospital today and saw her for awhile, My dad held Her for awhile and then I held Her for awhile. Z, M and B got to come up after Church and Lunch to see Emmie-Rose and We got some Family pics (the best We could with the small room, all the tubes, cords and 3 1/2 yr old not wanting to listen very well)LOL. Anyways, We finally put Her back to bed which is NOT her happiest times because She loves to be held. We settled Her in, gave lots of hugs and kisses and left to spend time with Z, M and B. Came home had dinner, checked the comments for a few, help Z with her homework and misc stuff for a few and then off to Nanna and Pappa's house We go. Dropped Z, M and B off at My parents house and off to the Hospital again. We call all the time to check on Her. When We got there She was doing very well vital sign wise. Her stomach isnt looking very good and seems to have gotten progressively worse throughout the day. The Surgeons say there is nothing they can do. What should have been done days ago, wasnt, and now Emmie-Rose is the one suffering. This wouldnt be happening to Our Baby if the situation would have been handled differently. We know and understand that its VERY LIKELY that Emmie-Rose may NOT make it but guess what?? That doesnt give anyone the RIGHT to deny anyone of the Medical Attention They so deserve, or DOES IT??? Only God knows when someone is going to go and ONLY HE CAN DECIDE. We as human beings cannot decide We want to play "God".

To those out there who think that You know what is Best for Our Child, please think again. One day this could happen to Your Loved One and You will then what to make decisions for them. Think about it, What if someone just up and took your rights away from You to voice how You want them taken care of?? How would you feel? What would you do? All We want is the Care, Respect and Dignity that Emmie-Rose deserves. We want U of M (Nurses, Doctors, Social Workers, Clerks etc etc etc) to stop staring at Us and talking outside Our door. Please have a little Respect and realize We are VERY LOVING Parents who just want Our Daughter treated like She should be.

To Emmie-Rose's Special Nurses, We really appreciate all You have done for Our Baby Girl. We Love the Way You have treated Her since We meet over a month ago and show Her the Love, Respect and Dignity that She truly deserves. For that, Chris and I are forever Grateful!

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

KEEP ON PRAYING!!!

Love,
Stephanie and Chris and Emmie-Rose too :)

Sept 16th -- The Craziness of it All!!!

2006-09-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Okay Everyone,

So I am here for a minute to give a brief update on how things are going around here. I dont post much anymore as I see no need to waste time online nor do I have much time to do so anyways as Emmie-Rose as well as ALL Our Children need Us. U of M is definitely taking a toll on Us as a Family. I have a 6 yr old wondering Where Mommy is all the time (who JUST started school on top of Everything, the BIG 1st Grade). As well as My "twins" 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 arent used to being Everywhere but with Mommy most of the time. I am not one to be in the "LIMELIGHT" of things and I am NOT an "ATTENTION GETTER", Im just a Loving Mommy fighting for What is Right for Her Child. Some may not understand (as MOST do NOT know the entire story of Emmie-Rose in depth) that this isnt right to keep fighting for Her, I have to say that You don't understand, Emmie-Rose is fighting for Herself, We arent forcing Her (if that even makes sense). There is a reason She is still with Us, and Only God knows why. I talk to Emmie-Rose all the time, and I tell Her "Its okay if You need to Go Now, You are a True Fighter and Mommy Loves You". As for those of You with opinions of what You would do differently in this situation, please understand that it is VERY EASY to say"I KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO", but until You walk in My shoes for a minute, You will NEVER KNOW exactly what You would do. I do NOT wish this situation on Anyone. I never knew I had to fight to keep My Child alive until now.

Everyone sees a "PERFECT LIFE" as the best Life. Our Society today is Very Rough on things that arent "PERFECT" in their Eyes. We see Emmie-Rose as "Perfect no matter what differences She may have". We have been asked My Doctors, "Are you sure You want to deal with all of the imperfections done the line"? (not exact words but same question posed). Also, Opinions again have been given by U of M "If it were My Child, I would not fight". Once again, giving an opinion on something No One can answer til they are in Our Shoes. The term U of M uses frequently is "Quality of Life', What EXACTLY IS Quality of Life?? Does anyone REALLY know?? Everyone's interpretation of statements are different and We disagree with their interpretation.

I want to personally Thank Everyone who has read the Blog, responded by email, or comments, phone calls, visits to Emmie-Rose (She LOVES PEOPLE), and many other things that have been done.

Though We cannot personally email Each and Every Person who has offered Support, Chris and I want You to know that We really appreciate all the Loving and Caring People out there. We never realized just How many Lives Emmie-Rose would affect and how many people would truly love and appreciate Her for who She is.

We are still looking for a Doctor to take over Her case and give Her the Love, Care, Respect and Dignity that She has DESERVED since Day 1. NO ONE is going to take that from HER. We understand the situation FULLY and realize there is a HIGH chance of Emmie-Rose Passing Away someday, But only God can decide when that Time will be, NOT MAN.

We still ask for Prayers from Everyone that God will have the FINAL SAY, and Not MAN.

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep PRAYING!!!

Love,
Stephanie and Chris

Sep 15 - After Court

2006-09-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Let’s give a warm and fuzzy welcome to all the daily readers that are now reading our blog from the U of M.

We did go to court Friday.

Does Emmie-Rose have what she needs?
Not currently. :(

There is still open dialogue going on between both legal teams.

Now that a certain other legal team is reading this blog as well,
I can not be as verbose as I would like.

===========================================================
Media requests are being handled by Emmie-Rose’s Attorneys:
Moran, Raimi & Goethel, P.C
Stephen Goethel
320 North Main Street, Ste 101
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 769-6838
===========================================================

Emmie-Rose is still holding her own. Her heart rate has dropped the past few days and her color is pale today. She has not had any of the things she needs now since 9/11/06.

The outpouring of emails and posts has been wonderful.
We appreciate all your love and support for our little girl!!!!

Pray that the Lord give Emmie-Rose strength.

Baby girl, Mommy and Daddy know how hard you have been fighting, we are trying just as hard on our side to help you!

All our love,

Chris and Stephanie

Sep 15 - Court

2006-09-15T04:18:00.000-07:00

The hospital did not respond to our legal demands yesturday.

We did get their attention yesturday with everyones help
contacting all the diff media outlets! Thank YOU!
The hospital was freeking out calling our lawyers asking what
in the world were we doing with the media.

We spent most of the afternoon at the lawyers office.
We are waiting for the phone call this morning to head into court
to start filing paperwork.

The hospital seems to want to play hardball because they did not respond to any of our demands yesturday.

Emmie-Rose was still going strong last night. Mommy held her for
a long time yesturday afternoon. We had visitors come and say hello
then came home to rest.

Will fill everyone in as things unfold today.

Sep 14 - Media Hold!

2006-09-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

Been on the phones most of the morning with Lawyers.

Lawyers said: Need to chill on the media for the second. We can talk to them for
something in a little bit.

They are working on some things and we will be meeting in their office
this afternoon.

Emmie-Rose is still going strong today.
We will let everyone know how she is doing later today.

Thank You Sooooooo Much for all the kind words and support!

Chris & Stephanie

Sep 14 - Media Help Please!

2006-09-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Since when is murdering a child legal in the state of Michigan?

When I stop and think, this is the most bizzar situation that anyone can be put in. I am having to spend hours each day to keep a baby that is fighting for her life alive.

Isn't that the hospitals job?

We need media exposure at this point!
Our legal team has contacted the hospital and its been cleared to talk with the media.

What is happening is that every hospital that we are contacting is being scared off because of the Pediatric Ethics Committee meeting finding:

ETHICS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
Since physicians have determined that the patients condition is terminal and incurable, further medical interventions other than comfort measures are futile and transfer to another facility does not serve the best interest of this child. Furthermore, since continued medical interventions offer no reasonable medical benefit to the patient and such interventions serve only to postpone the moment of death, the treatment team is under no moral obligation to continue life-sustaining treatment. The parent's right to seek a second opinion has been met. Since it has been determined that no additional interventions can be offered to this child, there is no benefit in transferring her to another facility.

No it has not been met! We can't get an unbiased assessment of our child because of the committee meeting!

When she had her surgery on 9/3/06 the doctors said she would be with the lord in two days. We accepted that.

She is still here! She is still hanging on for her life.
I cannot accept the fact the hospital can not open their eyes and help a child that is still alive and fighting every day!

Media:

Please email us directly and we will let you know how to contact us

Chris Yannella
cyannella@comcast.net

September 13th ONE MORE BLOW!!!!

2006-09-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well here's the deal... We have been on the phone all morning with Docs trying to get her transferred to another Hospital for a Second Opinion. Problem with that is the Docs at U of M are talking these other hospitals out of accepting Emmie-Rose for the Second Opinion that Rightfully We are allowed to receive.

We called Toledo back for a letter of acceptance and explaination to send to the Insurance Company for an appeal. In turn, The Doc tells Us that They have spoken to U of M and U of M has discouraged them from taking her due to another Ethics Committee meeting that We werent even told about or asked if We wanted to attend. The way the Docs at U of M are going We will NEVER get an Unbiased opinion. The Ethics Committee is now involved at Toledo even though they have NOT even assessed Emmie-Rose's condition firsthand and without an overturn decision by that Committee, the Doc that is willing to take her case is not allowed to do so.

They have now taken it upon Themselves to take away her TPN (nutrients She needs to grow, her "food") and her Blood Transfusions, Platelets and Lipids. She has had all of these things since birth until last Sunday when She had her surgery. They told Us She would die in two days, a week later She is still here and We asked them to give her her TPN, Blood and Platelets back and they did (yesterday). Yesterday they called a meeting to let Us know that "THEY" have "decided" amongst themselves that they are going to NOT feed her anymore or offer Her anymore Blood, Platelets or anything else that will help her to grow. So basically they want to starve her and let her blood run out so She can die. What does that sound like to you??? Torture if you ask ME!!

We just dont understand how a group of people who call themselves "doctors" can just "decide on a whim" that because this Child isnt "PERFECT" in their eyes that She isnt worth fighting for. They keep feeding Us the line "Well, do you know how hard it is going to be down the line/in the future". WHO CARES ABOUT TOMORROW, Lets work on today. They feel that Emmie-Rose is a "dead" issue and they have been just waiting for her to die. GUESS WHAT PEOPLE, LOOK WHO's STILL HERE!! NOW WHAT????????????? So their next course of action is to keep everything away from her that She has needed since birth and see if that makes her die. They let her blood get so low that that could have killed her. They are tired of dealing with Emmie-Rose because they see Her as "imperfect" and thats what they want to save is the ones that are going to make it "Long term". Who knows but the Lord who will make it the next 2 minutes let alone a yr from now. Obviously, U of M is trying to play "god" here and take it amongst themselves to kill Her at this point.

We need an Unbiased Second Opinion that We are entitled to as well as requested from the U of M team. We need someone out there to give Our Little Girl the chance. We want Her to live or die with Respect and Dignity that any Human being has the right to have. U of M is just completely giving up on a Living Human Being and that is NOT Right. We need to fight for Our Loved Ones and Stand Up for them when No One else will. Emmie-Rose is a fighter and until the Lord calls Her home, Mommy and Daddy are going to be fighting for Her every step of the way. There is a reason She is here and touching so many lives in the process. As long as She is going to fight, So are We.

Please Help Us!! IF Anyone has any contacts to help Us out with this situation, please either post or email Us. We need help from Everyone to Help Our Little Girl to get the Care She so deserves. This is a very time sensitive thing, We need to move quickly before U of M decides to take things into their own hands with more bad decisions.

Love,
Stephanie and Chris
Emmie-Rose's Mommy and Daddy

We need help finding a Doc to accept her and look at her without hearing one side only. If anyone knows a Neonatologist, a Ped Surgeon, Ped Doc with Nicu experience... Please pass Our story on. We need to move pretty fast.

Thanks for reading!

Please Continue the Prayers!!

You GROW GIRL!!!

Sep 13 - Back On the Phones

2006-09-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

Beaumont said no.
It's pretty sad that with all the great hospitals in the area, nobody wants to help this child that keeps fighting every day for her life.

Our only hope is Toledo Children's.
They are willing to take her and help her.
It's a logistical issue making sure insurance is in place, doctors sign off then baby can transfer down there. I need a headset. I feel like my phone has been attached to my head all morning long here.

I have an appeal in thru the state to have her insurance coverage pay for everything while she is there. The hospital said she needs the second opinion, Mcare should pay for it!
Waiting on the results.

I need to run to the bank and open an account for fund raising. Funds would cover transfer costs and medical costs. Looking around $2000.00 a day for her care if Mcare falls thru. Will pass along more info once I have that.

Our Lawyer, Here we go with the L word, has contacted the U and they know the media storm is brewing. He had to tell them first. Look out world, help save my kid don't sit there and tell me you won't try anything more!

Emmie-Rose was doing great last night.
We found out that after she finished her blood, and TPN last night they switched her back to what she was on before. Which is basically nothing.

Keep your prayers going!

Love Chris & Stephanie

Sep 12 - Food!

2006-09-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sep 12, 2006

I was a Y2K IT project manager for a Cleveland based bank. We never did anything unless we met in the meeting, everyone agreed on it, then put the plan in action.
I though I had never spent so much time in meetings in all my life.
I think between all the meetings we have had with the staff up at the hospital, the hospital meetings are winning for the most time spent in a conf. room.

Monday -

The doctor's hands are basically tied now that the "Un-Ethical" committee has ruled. Even though he personally may want to try things to get Emmie-Rose to a point where we can try for something down the road, He can't because the hospital will begin to question him why he is providing aggressive support.

The biggest part of a second opinion is finding a doctor and hospital that will accept her.
Pittsburg Children's is the leading center for intestine transplant. They would not take her because she did not match their transplant criteria.
Rainbows Babies and Children's - could not offer anything more than "comfort care" and would not accept her.
Toledo Children's will take her but our insurance would not cover her there.

Our only other option at this point is Beaumont.

We were finally able to get the doctors to give her blood and TPN last night!
Stephanie told them, how would you like it if you went a week without food?

So far so good. She did well overnight last night.
She got a nice bath and got all cleaned up by one of the few nurses that is professional and takes the time with her she needs. We appreciate that greatly!

There is more going on here today. Sorry no update last night as Steph and I came home last night and collapsed on the top of the bed we were so tired.

We appreciate all your love and support!

May the Lord show us the way to glorify him!
I think the Lord and Emmie-Rose are both showing us that now.

All our love,

Chris & Stephanie.

Sep 10 - Evening On the Phones

2006-09-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Talked with the surgeons again tonight and they also have said tonight that they can no longer offer us any help. We are more than welcome to a second opinion.

Since the "No-Ethics" meeting on Friday the entire hospital has completely washed their hands of this baby. Kris, you are totally correct… I believe now that the hospital and insurance are thinking this is a waste of time now. She should have died days ago what is she still doing here.

We ran home and got on the phone tonight.

I only have three potential hospitals lined up for transfer.

Being the weekend I mostly talked with Fellows and not the Attendings.
I need to plead my case with the doctors, see if they can offer her a treatment plan, then work on getting her transferred.

I'll be up in the morning taking my oldest to school then coming home to get back on the telephones.

As soon as we know more I will be sure to update everyone.

Chris

Sep 10 - Hello World! I'm still here!

2006-09-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon... Stephanie and I have been up here for along time now.

The hospital called in the middle of the night to say her blood pressure and heart rate had slowed down. We jumped out of bed and ran up here.

Stephanie wanted to hold her when we got up here. Then all of us fell asleep in the room.
Emmie-Rose in mommys arms.

Her heart rate and blood pressure came up after she knew mommy had her in her arms.
The little stinker just wanted her mommy.

The lord is awesome! Funniest thing.... We were standing in line in waiting for our eggs to be cooked downstairs and was hearing a lady and her mother telling their story about her 5 year old son. He has had all kinds of issues with feeding and gut issues. Many of the things she was describing we are going thru now. All of us got our food and sat down together for what seemed forever talking about each others issues and milestones.
I think we made a new set of close friends.

After our chat we had a meeting with the doctor and demanded they start TPN and asked to talk with the surgen.

The fellow(pretend doctor) was on call and we explained that we would like to have the dead tissue removed from her because we were never given that option to begin with.
We are waiting to see if this is going to happen or not. We have the one transfer option still on the table. I'm going to try and call around tomorrow to find some others as backups.

We are not out of the woods, her skin is somewhat pale today, she is probably due for blood which she has not had in a week.

We are so humbled by all the prayers and support.
I know the prayers are working!!!!

Will keep you updated as soon as we can.

Love Chris and Stephanie.

Sep 8 - Major Blow to Patient Care

2006-09-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

Friday 9/8/2006

Today Emmie-Rose’s Hospital has hit a major blow against us.

I believe some of the staff believe we are not providing the correct care for her and had us meet with the “Ethics” committee.

At most hospitals the Ethics committee is usually made up of staff, social workers, clergy, and parents of other children.

We had a room full of the staff, 1 surgeon, 2 social workers, and Stephanie and I.
Let’s just stack all the cards against us.
After wasting 2 hours going over the issues, it is their Ethical recommendation to not continue life saving treatments to our baby!
This includes vent support which she has been on since day one.
Why don’t you just turn the knife back and fourth after you stick it in our hearts!
According to the committee we as parents of our child can not tell the U of M Doctors how to provide care to our child. They reserve the right to discontiune support when they feel like it.

They have not fed Emmie-Rose since 9/3/2006!

She had physical therapy this morning with NO problems. They moved her all over, pulled her legs in and out… no changes in facial expressions, no changes in heart rate etc. SHE WAS FINE!

Now they dropped a bomb on us like this! What the Beeeeeeeep!

I spoke with some other doctors tonight at some different hospitals that seem more willing to be able to work with her condition but they want to wait until Monday to see how she is doing before agreeing to a transfer.

I probably can not get a restraining order until Monday as well to keep the U from pulling the plug on her without our consent and give her food.

Help! Tammy can your connection help us get one ASAP?

I never thought I would be the voice for children that can not speak for themselves but here I am. Betty thanks for doing some research for us while the hospital had our hands tied wasting time.

Thanks to everyone that has helped get this little girl to where she is today!
We are not cruel and mean parents; we just want to give a fighting chance to our daughter, which despite the odds against her, keeps pulling thru.

Keep the prayers coming! We know they are working!

Love Chris & Stephanie

Sep 7 - PICS!

2006-09-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

All right here they are...
I was able to use the nurses computer last night to burn pics to cd and get them home.

Sep 06-2006 - The update.

2006-09-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Wow a lot has been going on the past two days.
We have been in a lot of meetings the past two days over Emmie-Rose's care.

Over the holiday weekend we called and left a msg to Dr. Kato's office in Miami.
Thank you Betty!

Tuesday:
He got back with us and did a conf. call with Stephanie and I and a room full of
the staff at the U. I think the staff at the U were surprised that the Yannella's were
calling around checking out their options because they were very interested in knowing
why a transplant team from Miami was contacting them.

The team in Miami went over Emmie-Roses condition and status but she did not fit
the paramaters they were looking for. She would need to be totally off the vent breathing on her own, and somewhat older. It is very hard to find doner organs for such a small baby.

At least we tried that avenue.

Wednesday:
Had three meetings this morning.
First meeting with the head of doctors to go over issues we had with the surgen that worked on Emmie-Rose. I am sad to say that I am glad I have lawyers on retainer.

Second meeting:
While we were in the first meeting, our doctor was reassessing Emmie-Rose because she seemed to be looking better and her vitals were better than the days before. Even tho the intistine is a loss she continues to look better. This has the staff totally baffeled because they would have thought she would have gone into shock and passed away by now.
Oh darn! Proved you wrong! Emmie-Rose power strikes again!

Third meeting:
Emmie-Rose is still going to pass away and here are the reasons why. After the second meeting the doctor called around asking why she may be acting the way that she is.
They put her back on some of her meds and will she what she does here in the next few days.
They not giving us false hope, but do not want to give up trying because she is not giving up!

Its now Thursday morning and Stephanie fell asleep in the room with Emmie-Rose in her arms.
I ran home to do some laundry, shave, shower, and head back up with Stephanie.

Expect Miracles!
Jenn - Ava's mom, gave Stephanie a bracelet that says that.
Ava should come off the vent sometime Thursday. She was having problems with feedings
which I think they have worked out. Emmie-Rose misses her best friend Ava now that
they are in diff rooms. The will always be sisters from diff. mothers...

Emmie-Rose is in gods hands. We are thankful for every hour and minute she is with us.
Sleep well pretty princess. We love you soooooo much...
Forever... We promise... No matter what...

Love Chris & Stephanie

Sep 4th - A quiet evening

2006-09-03T22:49:00.000-07:00

Its 2:11am

I filled the NICU's digital camera and I'm camped out in the nurses office bloggin and printing pics on their HP Photosmart printer. The nursing staff is being great and helping us out with whatever we need tonight. I asked nice and here I am.
I zipped up the pics in a few zip files and emailed them home.

Stephanie has fallen asleep with Emmie-Rose in her arms in the room.
Emmie-Rose loves being held. She knows mommy has her and all her levels stay right were they need to be.

Its quite up here with all the parents gone. Its just us and the staff.
I had a nice talk with one of the nurses who talked about her 1st and only grand baby.
I guess you can all it a peaceful night.

Sweet Dreams Emmie-Rose, Sweet Dreams Ava.
I'm outta here and off to bed. I'm sure tomorrow will have a lot more in store for both of us.

Sep 3 - September Really Sucks

2006-09-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

The doctors came in around 3:00 and talked with us.

There is nothing more they can do for Emmie-Rose.
As far advanced as technology is, doctors do not have a way to help repair
the intistine when its damaged.

The doctors gave us the three options:

1: Do nothing and let her body start shutting down on its own
2: Let us hold her while they begin turing equipment off
3: Say goodby and walk away then have them turn life support off

Stephanie and I are heart broken. She looks like a normal healthy baby
moving, looking aournd, squeezing our hand. Everything wrong is in the inside.

We are scared, sad, and have no cluse what to do at this point.
We love her more than anything and we are trying to make the best decision.

We love you soooo much Emmie-Rose!

Love Mommy and Daddy.

Sep 3 - After Surgery

2006-09-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Emmie-Rose went off to Surgery this morning aroun 8:00am
Stephanie and I were exhusted and went off to the room and fell asleep.

A knock at the door around 11:30am...
The surgen came in to talk to us.

Her entire small intistine is completely gone.

Emmie-Rose is in a private room now in nicu room 4.
She is doing great after surgery. We know the infection from her intistine will overtake the rest of her but they are doing everything right now to make her confortable.

Words can not express how Steph and I are feeling right now.

I will post more after we talk with the doctors and see if there is anything we can do as far as transplants etc... She has fought this so far... Mommy & Daddy are not going to give up on you
Emmie-Rose!!!

Lots of love...

Stephanie and Chris

Sep 3 - Surgery

2006-09-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Waiting game yesturday.
Surgery was bumped to 8:00am this morning (Sunday) to give Emmie-Rose a recovery
day after all she has been thru the past day.

She was doing better mid day saturday. They took her off the oscillating vent and put her on a regular vent machine becuase she was not peeing at all plus her lungs were getting more than they needed. They are still pulling nasty stuff out of her stomach every hour.

The plan is to put in a port in her neck so it is easier to draw blood etc
and to open up her belly to see whats going on.

Praying and crosing our fingers, toes, etc!
She is a little fighter and we are tyring everything we can
for her to fight thru each hurdle we have come to.

Love Chris and Stephanie.

Sep 2 - 8:00am The Wait

2006-09-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

The doctors did their rounds at 7:00am. Checked her belly and pretty much have said the same things we already knew. They are scheduling surgery for her at some point today to have them take a look and see what is really going on.

She has been like a pin cousion all night. They have been trying to do CBC's and blood gasses to watch her vitals all night. She seems like she does not have much blood to give them. The doctors woun't give her a transfusion at this point for frear of causing other complications.

Z, M, and B played with friends then went to stay over nana & papa's house last night.
Steph and I are camped out in a nesting room and have been checking on things all thru the night. We watched Ava and Emmie-Rose have their nightly chat by beeping at one another and then they both settled down and went back to sleep. Too cute...

Will pass along more as this day unfolds...

Love Chris & Stephanie

Sep 1 - Urgent Update

2006-09-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

One Step forward... Two steps back...

We are here at the NICU writing this entry.
Forgive my gooder english and spelling errors.

About 4:00am Emmie-Roses tummy began to swell up.
They were worried about an infection causing problems with her belly.

Surgens came in to take a look.

They discovered there is a hole in her intistine.
They placed a drain in her stomach to drain out the fluid and have her on
4 diff heavy duty antibiotics.
They should know more tomorrow if the hole is isolated or if the entire intistine
is gone. If it is just a hole... it can be repaired.

If the entire intistine is gone. There will be nothing more they can do for her.
Quoting the doctors "She can not live without an intistine"

Stephanie and I are camping out in a room here for the night to monitor whats going on.
She is 50/50 right now and we are praying hard that she turns around and this bump in the road can be fixed.

Keep Emmie-Rose in your prayers!

God Bless

Love Chris & Stephanie

Aug 31st - Thursday Morning Blog

2006-08-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

Blog Night.
This is the first night in a while I have found the time to blog.
Things are pretty busy at home. I have finished the first module for my certification updates and now trying to make time to study for my firstcert test.
Z girl is getting ready to start 1st grade. She had a welcome back to school event Tuesday night that the whole family went to. Lots of fun with food and things for the kids to do.

Tuesday night the nurse was getting ready to work with Emmie-Rose. The nurse was looking right at her. Emmie-Rose reached up, grabbed her breathing tube and turned her head to the side at the same time, thus making her breathing tube pop out. Look what I can do! Weeeeeeeeeeee!

The nurses tried to see if she would breathe on her own for a bit but she was not interested. She just smiled at the nurses looking around all wide eyed and cute.
Mommy and Daddy had a talk with her Wednesday.

Emmie-Rose’s roommate Ava was born at 25 weeks.These two girls are ruling the NICU now. You would think they were separated at birth somehow. For the longest time they were across the room from one another and drove the nurses ragged running back and fourth between them (Too funny)

The nurses tried to outsmart the Desat Divas and put their beds right next to one another so they would not have run back and fourth across the room. HA!

The plan now is: while one of them is being attended to, the other will set off her alarms.They put on some show. Stephanie and Jen sit there and laugh as the girls make the nurses run back and fourth after they set off their oxygen saturation monitors. (What goes around comes around nurses?) When the Divas have something on their mind, they let the nurses know!
Tooo Funny.

The hospital has a scrapbook day where parents of NICU babies can come and get a free creative memories book and arrange their pictures with all the stickers, cutting and cropping tools, etc. It’s been pretty cool and Stephanie has been getting into it.

I am looking forward to the holiday weekend.
I have a ton of new pics I will be posting soon.
I promise… cross my heart even!
I’m going to do a post day with nothing but pics.

Keep Emmie-Rose and all the sick children in your prayers.

Chris

August 28th 44 Days Old!!!

2006-08-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

HI Everyone!! Well with Life being so extremely busy these days, blogging has become about a once a week thing.

This past week has been pretty exciting! She has been going up every day on her feedings (through a feeding tube) and doing Great!!! She loves it!!! I am pumping milk for her everyday and have a HUGE Supply for Her just waiting to be used. :) She hasnt had a bit of problem with her food at all.
Her Spinal Fluid has decreased which means they are taking less off a day and only once a day. Her brain has decreased in size as well by far which is wonderful! She gets ultrasounds done twice a week now to see how things are progressing, and things are looking very good.
She only has her breathing tube, feeding tube and leads for her heart monitor on. Her central line is gone, her IVS are out. Meds go through her feeding tube now!!
She is on three meds right now for her lungs because they looked cloudy and sounded wet, and the third they just started today to see if it will open her lungs more and make her machine not desat so much. (We arent sure if its just a touchy tube situation or if something isnt right or what right now) but between the docs, nurses, rts and Us, We are trying to figure it out.) Desatting means there isnt enough oxygen going to Her.

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got to hold Her again yesterday!!!! :) They do a hold called "Kangaroo Care", which means skin to skin contact. This was the first time I had held Her this way and it was just Awesome. I put on a hospital gown and they put her on My chest right under the gown and She keeps warm from My body heat. What a complete Joy it was. I could have stayed like that forever (except My other Babies need Me too) :) It was a wonderful feeling! Chris took a bunch of pictures that We can hopefully get up here soon. (Please dont hurt Us over no updated pics, it takes alot to being to get on the computer these days at all). :) She is over 2.7 pounds now (not sure exact lbs as She was weighed again last night and I didnt look at the chart today). They go by grams and Us "real" people go by pounds!! hehehe I held her for almost 3 hours, the longest I have gotten to hold her. I think She wanted Me to hold Her forever :( It was really hard to have to put her back in Her bed.

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep on Praying!!!

Love,
Stephanie

August 21st 37 Days Old!!!

2006-08-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

HI Everyone!! Life is SUPER BUSY around here these days as You might imagine!! We are trying to spend as much time as We can with Z, M and B as well as be at the Hospital too.

Z starts school in a few weeks so that will give her "something" to do as well as help keep her in good spirits!! She really wants her "Baby Sis" to come home.

M is doing pretty well. Trying to Potty train a little. Keep fingers crossed that We can get her to pick it up pretty quickly here.

B has been going potty on the Toilet for awhile now, just not completely trained yet.

All are growing up, getting into everything and trying to make Mommy lose her hair but otherwise, All is Well!! :)

Baby Emmie-Rose is doing EXCELLENT!!! WOO HOO!!!! We are so excited and Very Proud of Her. She is so Beautiful!! We have figured out (I think) why her BP has been falling low. When She gets a Blood Transfusion, Her BP stays regular but when She doesnt have one for awhile, it stays low. So if We keep her on a regular schedule of transfusions, then it seems like She should be Good to Go!! We shall see!! She is feeding continuously, I am ECSTATIC!!! She is up to 1.5 cc's an hour through her feeding tube. Her other vitals are staying regular. She will be done with Her antibiotics tomorrow morning, for her Ecoli infection (14 days) though Her blood results kept coming back negative after the first find.
Our next goals as She is VERY Stable right now, is to continue to increase her feeding amounts til She is on a normal amount, continue weaning her from the Breathing Machine, and "fatten" her up so She can have the Shunt placement to be able to bring her home. She has to be 4.4 pounds to get the Shunt put in to her brain.

Thanks to Everyone who has been praying for Emmie-Rose. Please continue to pray for Our "Baby Sis" that She will grow grow grow and wean from the Machine so that We can finally bring her home. We still have a long road to go but the Day will be here soon and We cant wait!!

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep on Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

August 13th 29 Days Old!!!

2006-08-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Mom, Dad, and I went to visit Emmie-Rose for awhile. They came in to tap her brain (take some fluid from the "Shunt"). They put her hood up so We could actually see her up close and personal. Mom and Dad had never seen her without the plastic over her so this was neat for them (Im excited every time they do it). :) She did very well with all the messing they have to do just to get started. lol We all got to kiss her which was Awesome!! Mom and Dad's first time and I think My third or fourth. Wish it were all the time!! Maybe more often now since they have to tap her everyday now til they see if things ease up or change. Everything else is pretty much the same, vent settings are down some I think. She likes to move and peek at you. She is so adorable!!

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep on Praying!!!

Love,
Stephanie

August 12th 28 Days Old!!!

2006-08-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is pretty tired and sedated still (from the surgery). The side effects of the meds will soon subside. She looks Great and is doing very well. BP is still being treated as its not coming up on its own very well. Other vitals look Great! The Vent settings have been turned up due to the Meds She has in her system right now. She is pretty out of it right now, so She isnt truly helping to breathe too much. Other than that, today is a sleepy day!! :)

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep on Praying!!!

Love,
Stephanie

UPDATE on Aug 11th SURGERY!!!

2006-08-11T03:05:00.000-07:00

Surgery went Great!! Emmie-Rose did a Great Job!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!! Everything went very well and as normal as expected. No complications!! I started getting a little nervous when it was a bit over an hour and they had come to talk to Us yet. But transport and setup must have taken a little longer to do. She has a little bandage on her head and some suctures that will fade away soon. The "Shunt" looks like a little button under her skin where they can see where to drain the fluid from each day. Pretty nice little piece of equipment.

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep on Praying!!!

Love,
Stephanie

August 11th 27 Days Old!!!

2006-08-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is on the schedule to have her "Shunt" put in her brain to drain the excess fluid. It should take about an hour altogether, transport time, setup time in the OR and transport time back to the Nicu. The "Shunt" will allow the doctors to drain the fluid everyday so it doesnt put extra pressure on Her brain. Other than that, She is still on a Med for her BP, it seems to be staying pretty low for some reason, other vitals are doing well though. She is doing very well!! Squirmy Wormy should be her Nick name as the Child is ALWAYS moving!!

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

Keep on Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

August 10th 26 Days Old!!!

2006-08-10T05:08:00.000-07:00

Today, I get a call early in the morning around 745ish am from the Doc Intern to let Me know they have added Emmie-Rose to the list for her "Shunt" Surgery today (scheduled for Friday). Since She is doing so well with her BP, and Her blood Cultures coming back Negative still, they are ready to do it. So while Chris slept awhile, Mom and I went to the Hospital early NOT knowing what time She would go for Surgery and wanting to be there before She left. We finally heard She was on for 2pm, which could be a little before or a little later. She started getting her Blood Transfusion around 130pm (She gets BT's often). Chris came up and sat with her for awhile and Mom and I sat in the waiting room chilling out for a bit. The Baby's parents next to Us came out and the Mom told Me She thought Emmie-Rose was having issues breathing. So I ran back to see what was going on, and come to find out her tube had moved and kinked in her mouth or something (also, the tube was too small for her anyways but due to her Vocal Cords being swollen, they used the smaller tube on Friday). They put just the OX up her nose (instead of the CPAP mask) and She did Excellent!! YAY!!! But because She was going to have Surgery, they had to put the Vent back on. (Chris was in there the whole time, but didnt/couldnt get Me because He knew I would be upset AGAIN and there was no room to move to come get ME anyways). But when I walked back there after finding out from the other Mom, She was good to go. She had her New Tube in (which was very simple this time), and looked VERY HAPPY!! Her hood was up on her Incubator (which is usually closed due to her still using Humidity). SO to see her fully open is Awesome!!!, Your Not looking through plastic to see her all the time. SHe is so Beautiful!! I got to talk to her for a bit before they closed the lid. As soon as She heard Mommy, She started smiling at Me, Everyone was so surprised that She was smiling!! It was Awesome!!

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

KEEP ON PRAYING!!!

Love,
Stephanie

August 9th 25 Days Old!!!

2006-08-09T04:57:00.000-07:00

Today, We had a meeting with the Head Doctor, the Fellow, Head Nurse, Social Worker to discuss the treatment that Emmie-Rose is getting. We are not very happy right now with the transition. From the waiting room being VERY SMALL to the Clerks NOT speaking right away when We walk to the desk to the Nurses NOT even talking to Us (other Nurses "supposedly watching" Emmie-Rose while Her Nurse is on lunch/break). The Friendliness is NOT really there like at St. Joes. We Really Miss it there!
Anyways, We talked to the Heads about Our Major concerns and they are going to be talking to people and hopefully things will get better soon.
Emmie-Rose is doing pretty well, Still on a Med for BP, Seizures and Antibiotics for her E-Coli infection. The Cultures are all showing negative now though so that is Great! The EEG showed now activity of Seizures at all which is a Good Thing, though they are still treating with the Med (not thrilled but supposedly good for Emmie-Rose). I am still going to fight to understand WHY though. Other than that, I cant really think of anything else thats going on today.

YOU GROW GIRL!!!

KEEP ON PRAYING!!!

Love,
Stephanie

Aug 9th - Ding! Round 1

2006-08-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

Remember when you were growing up and your parents said "Oh you should be a doctor, or a fireman"... well the way things are going... Stephanie and I should be able to get thru med school pretty quickly.

Stephanie and I went up to visit today. I did not have much time because I had to head off to school by 4:00pm.

We got up there and were visiting. It seemed like all the nurses were too busy to even say hello. Things were cool then she started alarming at 100% o2 saturation. 100% is not good becuase it can cause problems with their eye development as they get older. Most of the time Emmie-Rose will fix this herself by her breathing and no big deal.

So shes alarming at 100%. and going and going and going.... 6 minutes later with NOBODY
coming over to check on her. I was pissed. I walked out of the room to look for the doctor.
Found the Fellow(Pretend doctor in training) and he said lets go take a look. Super.
He walked over, adjusted her breathing machine, next crisis. We asked can we have a meeting!
That was just insane that nobody came over to check on her.

So we pulled them all into the conference room. Real doctor, Fellow, Social Worker, Nurse Manager to talk about what just happened and some other valid concerns.
I hope something constructive came from this meeting. We are going to be at this hospital for
3 to 5 Months! It seems like we are are not getting the personal care at U of M hospital like we did at St. Joes. Communication between the U of M staff, Stephanie and I needs to be greatly improved someway. I hope we don't need to have another meeting like we did today.

We Love you Emmie-Rose!
Get Better SOON!

August 8th 24 Days Old!!!

2006-08-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Today wasnt a Great Day!! :( They said they "thought" Emmie-Rose started having Seizures, though they werent exactly sure. She moves alot for a baby her size I guess, She had an EEG to watch for seizures when She was at St. Joes and nothing. So they decided to give her a Sedative enough though they didnt know for sure. They watched her and when She started moving again, the Nurse put her hand over her body and She stopped "moving" which means its not a seizure. SO they did ANOTHER EEG at U of M today to see what they found and We are waiting on the final results hopefully tomorrow. I am very skeptical right now by what they are seeing and feeling are seizures (as they dont even know her, and her moving is not unusual).I wont be Surprised if they ARE seizures as its probably pretty common in "Little Ones" but I am NOT yet convinced. Her Blood Culture came back today Negative so Hopefully the Surgery can be scheduled tomorrow for the "Shunt". Otherwise Baby Girl is doing very well, BP has finally come up to "normal" today and they set Her vent down to 40 and then 30 or 35 (trying to remember). But because they have Her so highly sedated (GRRRR), they had to turn her vent back up some. Very Frustrating as it seems, 20 steps back at this hospital all the time.

YOU GROW GIRL!

Keep on Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

August 7th 23 Days Old!!!

2006-08-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today Emmie-Rose is doing Very Well!! The Infection is E-Coli! GRRRrrr So they will treat her for 14 days to get rid of it. They took another blood sample today to see if it turned out negative. The Neurosurgeons decided not to do the Tap today and will wait til tomorrow to see what the sample says before they proceed. The fluid has not built up anymore since Saturday which is a Great thing though We still need to get the "Shunt" in soon. She is such a fighter: Here's a cute story: They have an IV in her right arm, She just loves to VOGUE (put her arms up by her head and kinda play with her hair), so She started wiggling in her Snuggle Wedge, so I unbundled her some so She could move her arm. Well, because the IV is in, She isnt supposed to bend her arm at all or the Alarm will go off. So, the Nurse came over and put her arm back under the wrap. Well Emmie-Rose got it right back out!!LOL So Mom went to tuck her arm back in again and Emmie-Rose wouldnt let Mom budge her arm at all!! LOL So I reached in to help Mom tuck her back in and I had to wrestle with her for a few minutes before She finally let Me tuck her back in!! It was sooo funny!! She is so darn Cute!! :)

It was adorable!!! Just like her!! :)

You Grow Girl!!! :)

Keep on Praying!!

Love,
Stephanie

August 6th 22 Days Old!!!

2006-08-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing pretty well. She has another infection that they are treating with Antibiotics. She was going to have her Surgery on Monday for her Resovoir to start draining the fluid from her Brain but due to the infection has been put off. Her blood pressure has been down awhile due to the Lasix last weekend. They gave her Lasix for her Lungs as they sounded a little cloudy. At that point, She lost too much salt and fluid, therefore it affected her BP. We have been trying for about a week to get it back up. She is on a BP Med to help it come back up to normal. She is doing pretty well on her vent, She is set at 40 right now which is good for her age. They did have to take out her IV and the line they using to give her blood due to the infection. So now one is in her Head and one in her arm. Other than that, She is doing Great and looks Wonderful!!

You Grow Girl!

Keep On Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

August 5th - Visit Day

2006-08-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

A quiet day... Brought all the kids up to see Emmie-Rose. Everyone got to see her.
Brenden stood up on the step stool and told his sister he loved her and blew her a kiss.

The kids left with Nana and Papa. Stephanie and I talked with the Neurosurgeon about what was going to happen on Monday with her surgery. They are planning on putting a small tap in her head where they can drain excess spinal fluid and release pressure.

Called it an early night. Picked up the kids, went home and heated up dinner then crashed. I was going to stay up and blog and fell asleep. Body had enough.
Yesterday took a lot out of us with all the stress of moving etc.

I took my palm pilot out of my file cabinet and dusted it off. I'm using it to journal while at the hospital now. Getting my notes down now instead of waiting to find time in front of the pc, which is hardly ever. Hit the hot sync button and I'm golden.

Sorry about this week...
It was back to 40 hours at work along with school 2 nights a week on top of visits to the hospital. I was baked… Stick a fork in me.

August 4th - Moving Day

2006-08-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

What a crazy crazy day.
Today was the day Emmie-Rose is to be transferred to the U of M.
For insurance reasons and surgeon reasons she needs to travel.
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital has been great. Stephanie and I are scared and
anxious about today's move.

1:00 rolls around and the transfer team burst thru the door.
There was a team of ten for the ride. They had what looked like a big portable pizza oven with monitors and repertory equipment attached to the bottom of it. Everything fit in a nice neat box with an opening at the top to slide the baby in to bake.

The ride over was easy. No problems.. Yet..

Stephanie and I talked with the social worker and she filled us in on everything. Super. In the mean time there was a team of about 20+ doing everything to her. (Ug!) Poor Emmie-Rose had every test in book along with head scans, x-rays, blood work, the big bundle of records we brought over seemed like it ignored. Well we don't have all the results from our exams and testing… When we got to her the Nero interns were trying to see her pupils and I was getting pissed because she was pretty rough with her.

The fun did not stop there...

At one point the nurse tried to turn her over and her breathing tube popped out.
It was great watching her turn blue before they got her bagged. They overhead paged to get the doctors in the room. Then the fellow (the almost doctor) on duty could not get the tube back in. The U of M is a huge teaching hospital.
I just don't like my kids being used as the fellows lab assignments!
They suctioned her out but there was still an issue.

They were at first going to let her try breathing on her own but that was not working well. She was just toooo tired after all the stuff she had had up until now.
Then the real doctor came in. The fellow asked his senior should he just push the tub on thru. The real doctor must have heard me because he said No try it like this! There was swelling so they could not put the 3.0 tube back in, they had to use the 2.5 tube instead.

It was nerve wrenching when they would take the hand pump off her and her heart rate (ECG) and oxygen saturation (SPO2) would drop to almost single digits. Stephanie was holding back the tears and I'm like watching and thinking what the (beep) are they messing around for. Finally after all the drama they got her settled down bit but then scheduled a lumbar puncture for later that night.

Lord give this baby strength! It was after 10:00pm when we got the kids from Nana & Papa, ate dinner, and collapsed. Tomorrow is another day…

Sweet Dreams Emmie-Rose!
Lord please take this little baby's pain away.
Give her the strength to heal quickly so that she can be home with her family!

July 30th - A rest day

2006-07-30T01:53:00.000-07:00

Today was kind of a chill day.

The kids were invited to a birthday party for our friends.
We went there for a while and they offered to watch the kids
while we went up and visited. Thank You!
I had to start back to work tonight so we could not visit
long.

My Hope Clinic Family was soo cool they dropped off a meal
today for us.. This is a huge help! What a blessing!
With all the running, its hard to keep up
with cooking every day.

Thanks to all my Comcast Family for the baby items
and to Stephanie at Comcast for organizing some frozen pre-made
meals as well.

Thanks to my Stephanie's parents for helping with the kids and
tons of other things!

Gramps ordered the tuner card we need for the computer
to turn our Emmie-Rose video into mpeg files for
everyone to watch so stay tuned for that!

Its heart warming that others have stepped up to help.
We have a long road ahead, everyone that has helped
has made the road much easier to travel.

We thank you for all your support, love, and
especially your prayers!

Chris

July 29th 14 Days Old!!!

2006-07-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose got a NEW HOUSE again!! YAY!!! Daddy got to hold Her today for about 1/2 hour. She was pretty stable to whole time. We really enjoyed being so close to her and talking to her without "plastic" being in between Us. She is totally adorable as Always!! She is laying on her tummy right now and appears to like it like that. At one point, it looked like She was going to crawl out of Her house!! Very Cute!!!

You Grow Girl!

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 29 - Another New Condo!

2006-07-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

What a big weekend. Emmie-Rose got her new Condo this weekend.
Must be nice to get a new 33k house ever seven days. lol

Mommy got to hold her last weekend. This weekend was Daddy's turn.
Its amazing how tiny she really is. The blanket she was swaddled in
was bigger then her. She was looking up at me and all I could think
about was taking her home to play with her brother and sisters.
I love them all dearly.

I had to run to the store later than night and snuck back up to the
hospital while Stephanie got everyone else into bed at home.

I was able to check her temp and do a poop-patrol on her.
All her nurses comment that she pee's like a little wild woman.
I would too if I was given that many fluids. Too funny.

After we got the new diper change, I read her a story, The 5 little kittens,
until she fell asleep.

Love you Emmie-Rose. Sweet Dreams.

July 28th 13 Days Old!!!

2006-07-28T10:55:00.001-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing very well! The new breathing tube slipped out so They decided to see how She would do on just a mask. The NP (Nurse Practitioner) said She was off the Breathing tube for TWO HOURS!! WOO HOO!!! You GO GIRL!!!! We know You can do it!!!! She is doing well with her Pick Line and they are removing at least one of her Belly lines today as well. They are doing a Lumbar puncture on her to see if they can drain some Spinal Fluid from her Brain. Pray this helps to relieve some pressure from her brain.

Otherwise, She is doing Excellent and looks Great!!

You Grow Emmie-Rose!!!!

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 28th - A hard Day.

2006-07-28T05:14:00.000-07:00

4:30am Yesterday They replaced Her breathing tube because She had outgrown it, plus it had a hole in it. So in the early morning the new tube popped out.

5:30am Nothing too alarming... They put an oxygen mask on Her to see how She would do on Her own without the ventilator. She did well for a while then got tired of breathing on Her own.

6:30am New breathing tube put back in and back on the ventilator. New x-rays taken to make sure its in the right place.

After that excitement They came in and did Her ultrasound of Her head to see what's going on there. They will be in later today to do scans of Her heart.
Depending on the read of the head scans They may begin draining some of the fluid off Her brain thru lumbar punctures in Her back.

She will be ready for a good nights sleep after all of today's poking and proding.

Keep Emmie-Rose in your prayers today as she undergoes all the doctors are going to dish out.
Will have more to report later on.

For those that want to know how tiny she is, the Nurses made Us a litle card with Her handprint and feet. This picture really is actual size!

July 27th 12 Days Old!!!

2006-07-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing well!! They were able to put a Pick Line in!! WOO HOO!!!! She did a Great Job!! They also had to replace her Breathing tube because they thought there might be a crack or something not working right. Also they usually have to change them as they grow!! She also did a Great Job with that too. She is looking around and raising her eyebrows at Me!! LOL I saw the little wrinkles in her forehead today when She did that!! Too Cute!! She also squeezes My finger when I hold her hand. Great Feeling! :) She loves her left side and loves to cuddle up and snuggle!! They usually try to rotate her from side to back to side and She really doesn't like it a whole lot!! She kicks the Nurses and Grabs at her tubes and things. We know She is a fighter, its really cute how She does "fight" with them. Can't help but laugh at just a little One giving people a run for their money!! She is SUPER Funny!! She is the Boss to Everyone!! LOL

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 26th 11 Days Old!!!

2006-07-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing Very Well!! She OPENED Her Eyes for the First Time today!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!! Chris and I just arrived in time to see it!! We were thrilled!!! Her Skin is looking Awesome today!! Sores have healed pretty well!! Humidity in Her "house" is back up some due to Her Sodium going up some but that's okay. Trying to ween of Insulin tomorrow if possible! Also, going to try to put in a new Pick Line tomorrow as well. Pray that they can get this one in as She really needs this one so the others can come out before they clog and fail.

Keep Praying!!

Love,
Stephanie

Check Out My New Hat!

2006-07-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the emails and support!

Keep the prayers going!
Her estimated stay is 3 to 5 Months in the NICU.

All gifts, helping take Emmie-Rose's brother and sisters off Mommy and Daddy's hands for a bit while up at the hospital, etc etc... have been greatly appreciated!

We are very humbled. Stephanie and I are usually the one's that are helping others and its been very heart warming that other people have stepped forward and offered to help us out.

Check out my new hat!

July 25th 10 Days Old!!!

2006-07-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing Very Well!! We are taking the kids to see Her today. Z loves visiting "Baby Sis", M and B love seeing Emmie-Rose and always say "Love You Emmie-Rose" in their cute little voices. Stayed a little while with the kiddos and then had to get them out of there so they could be "LOUD" once again!! LOL (all the parents out there know what I am talking about with a 6, 3 and 2 yr old) :)

They tried to put a Pick Line in last night but it didnt work, so they will try again another time. This will replace the lines in Her Belly button as those only last two weeks or less. They did another blood check and reported another infection that they started treating with different antibiotics. They will know for sure if it is another infection in 72 hours as they have to let the sample grow in a dish. If negative in 72 hours they will take her off the "extra" antibiotics

Keep Praying

Love,
Stephanie

July 24th 9 Days Old!!!

2006-07-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie Rose had a Chest Xray and a Head Scan! Very Nervous Day (Monday)!!! Chest Xray came back with Heart closed (murmur present). The Medicine worked to close her heart! WOO HOO!!! The Head Scan came back with NO new bleeding!! WOO HOO Dilation is there from where it did Bleed. This is Great NEWS!!! We are very happy the Bleeding has stopped!! I know the prayers helped alot and God is with Us.

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 23rd 8 Days Old!!!

2006-07-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing Well!! Weekends are pretty good it seems, no tests are done on the weekends so therefore no results. So unless Emmie-Rose is showing that She isn't doing well, all is good!! As the Nurses say, "No News is Good News", so I'm going to run with that saying til I find out otherwise!! :) Nothing really different to report, She is doing well!! WOO HOO!!!!!

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

First Kiss 7/22/06

2006-07-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going on over the week. Emmie-Rose has had her up's and down's but still fighting onward.

On Saturday 7/22/06 she got a new condo.

They have to change out her little house every 7 days and give her a new one without all the germs. This is great becuase it gave us our first chance to hold her and get close enough to give her a kiss. It was frustrating having to interact with her thru the port holes on the side for a week. Mommy and Daddy wanted to kiss their baby.

July 22nd 7 Days Old!!!

2006-07-22T15:04:00.001-07:00

Today is a VERY EXCITING DAY!!!! Today is the day Miss Emmie-Rose gets a "New House"!! This means, every 7 days they change her Isolate to a Sterilized one. That also means, If She is stable enough We get to hold her while they change it. So today I will hold her for the 1st time since She was born, 1 week ago today!! Its a very precise process due to all the tubes and stuff, so it takes to do it but once I got to sit and hold her, I was in "heaven". The lightest Baby I have ever held. LOL She is up to about 1 pound 4 ounces or so. Chris and I both got to Kiss Her for the first time, which felt so good.

We were floating on "air" all day after that!! True Blessing! :)

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 21st 6 Days Old!!!

2006-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today Emmie-Rose is doing Very Well again!! WOO HOO Stable on most vitals: Still on a little Insulin and Heart medicine. Nurse K let Chris and I help change her diaper, wash her face and bottom and take her temp. I was so ecstatic!! Definitely take for granted the "little things" when you go through something like this. As most of you could imagine, Chris and I havent been able to hold Our Baby Girl yet, so any little touch mean alot of Us.

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 20th 5 Days Old!!!

2006-07-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Today, Emmie-Rose is doing Well!!! Starting a medicine to help close the heart today. Still on low dose of Insulin. Skin is Tissue Paper thin, so it is breaking "down" a little (opening in areas making sores) which they have a special gel type medicine that helps those areas to heal up nicely.

A true Trooper!!

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 19th 4 Days Old!!!

2006-07-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today Emmie-Rose's sugar has come down requiring less Insulin. Oxygen is doing very well at 23%. Weened from the Breathing Machine a bit. Lungs doing very well, heart starting to open some (Chest Xray today), Head Scan shwos about the same amount of blood in Her brain, Vitals are looking Very good.

She is a true fighter, giving the Nurses a run for their money!!LOL

Love,
Stephanie

July 18th 3 Days Old!!!

2006-07-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today Emmie-Rose's Head Ct came back showing more bleeding on the brain. Her Sugar went up requiring Insulin. Her heart scan came back negative!! WOO HOO. The hole in her heart has closed.

Keep the Prayers coming!

Love,
Stephanie

July 17th 2 Days Old!!!

2006-07-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

Today Emmie-Rose had an EchoCardioGram done on her Heart to check the status of the opening that usually fuses closed at birth in term babies. (Results later today). Otherwise, doing well with Vitals, breathing above what the Vent is doing, moving alot, Very ticklish!! LOL

EchoCardioGram Results:
The Heart did open (was closed at birth but is normal to open after birth in preemies) so they will start her on Meds to help it close. Very normal procedure. Another Echo will be done in a few days to find out if the meds are working.

Keep Praying!

Love,
Stephanie

July 16th 1 Day Old!!!

2006-07-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

Okay Everyone, I have been SUPER Busy lately (as if you didnt know that)LOL So I have a few minutes to post some entries from last week. I have been journaling at the hospital that I am going to post here. So as You read, watch the dates as I am starting from the beginning.

Today, Emmie-Rose had a Head Ct done, there is some bleeding on the brain, clotting can help this get better. I saw the nurse (C) and the RT change her Bed and really take Great care of her. Took Z to see her "Baby Sis" for the second time and took pictures of them together. My Milk Supply started coming in today. Though She can't have any milk yet, I am going to start pumping and freezing it for her.

Please Continue to Pray that Our "Baby Princess" will start going and getting better and will come home soon!!!! :)

More Updates to Come!!

Love
Stephanie

The Emmie-Rose Story

2006-07-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!!

As alot of You have probably heard, Chris and I had another Baby Girl last Saturday, July 15th. Emmie-Rose weighed 1 lb 5 oz and came about 17 weeks early. She is soooo Beautiful.

What happened You ASK!!! LOL Well, I went to work on Friday afternoon as scheduled though I wasnt feeling well at all, very tired and pukey (nothing unusual) so I got together and went to work anyways. I was very drained still at work, Chris was there for awhile doing some things and He helped Me out alot. Well around 3ish I started having "gas pains", so I went downstairs to go to the restroom with no effective results, so I came back upstairs, went back down still hurting, came back up, went down one more time and then knew something was up other than "gas pains". So I called Chris, My dad took My kiddos with him and Chris and I headed for the Hospital. At this point I am hurting pretty good (come to find out, Contractions two minutes apart). Got to Triage, they took Me to the back and started trying to figure out what was going on. Yes, I was contracting, Why, I was contracting, no one knew at that exact time what was causing it. I had a slight temp and was hurting pretty good by this point. They moved Me to a Labor room and proceeded to give Me meds to stop the contractions (DIDNT WORK, OUCH). Finally received a "spinal" in order to take out the cerclage (stitches to hold the cervix closed til birth). Doctor said My bag of water had come through the cervix but had not ruptured yet (which was good) though I was bleeding pretty hard due to Emmie-Rose pushing on the stitches on the cervix. So I kept bleeding and they took Me to OR to take the stitches out in case She decided to come right then (which She didnt). So back to the Labor room We went, still contracting and the pain getting worse!! I kept bleeding and they didnt totally understand Why, so finally due to infection and whatnot, They decided We shouldnt wait to deliver Her. SO back to OR We went for the delivery. Two pushes and She was out and on My tummy. She was/is Beautiful!!! She was moving and ready to "go" though She was crying. The NeoNatal Docs/Nurses swept her off to start working with her. At first, they had a harder time with the lungs being so stiff but after about an hour or so they were able to get the things they needed to do for her done and She was put in her "bed" and after a few hours or so, Chris and I got to go to the Nicu to see her for the first time all cleaned up and cozy. She is doing Very well right now, She does have some bleeding on the brain that We are praying with subside and just go away soon but other than that her lungs are good, her vitals are staying pretty regular, her sugar is a little unstable at times but with Insulin is trying to stabilize. Her heart did open a little (which there is a med to treat that to help it close) (this is very normal in babies) so We are praying the med will work and She wont have to have surgery to close it. On Friday, Chris and I got to work with the Nurse to clean her up (within the Isolate). I took her temp, changed her diaper, washed her face and bootie and just helped the Nurse in general. Chris got to turn her head. He goes at night to visit her, while I try to go during the day and sit with her. He has changed her diaper twice and taken her temp once too (before ME EVEN)LOL.

Emmie-Rose is a Week Old Today!! WOO HOO Today is a VERY EXCITING Day!!! Today they will change her Isolate to a sterilized one. Which means, If She is stable enough with all her vitals and things, I will be able to hold her for the First time while they do that. We havent held her or got to Kiss her yet and I just cant WAIT!!!! I told Chris that He could hold her instead but He said for Me to hold her!! I am nervous as all get out as She is soo tiny but so excited, I cant wait!!! Please pray that I am feeling well (no fever today) and can hold her for a few minutes. Im sure there is a slight chance I wont be able to if she isnt stable but She was been doing amazingly well and I dont want to think that I cant so for now its a GO!!! LOL

We are so excited to have Our Fourth Little One here!! Its going to be a LONG Road but We are ready!!! Please keep Us in your Thoughts and Prayers as We go along this difficult but amazing road. Emmie-Rose is a true Fighter in every sense of the word and We are forever Blessed to have her with Us.

A side note, I have attached an Awesome picture of Emmie-Rose for You all to see. Please understand that the picture is "not scary" but maybe hard for some people to see (especially Little Ones), though M and B really enjoyed seeing "Baby Sis". So Parents, please view picture before showing your children as I dont want anyone frightened or "haunted" by it. No one has to open them if they would rather not, I just know some of You have asked for some. Z loves going to see her "Baby Sis" and would just Love for her to come home. I think She did notice more than the Little Ones but She has been doing well going to see her.

Hope Everyone has a Great Day!
Love,
Stephanie

Happy Birthday 7/15/06

2006-07-15T00:25:00.000-07:00

Emmie Rose
was born on 7/15/06. Waaay ahead of schedule!

She arrived at 23 weeks, 17 weeks early, Very premature.
She weighed 1 Pound 5 ounces.
11 3/4 inches long.

The clinical statistics for 23 week old babies are not very good.
But our faith is strong and we trust the Lord will see her thru!

She is on a preemie breathing machine and breathing somewhat on her own and some
assisted by the machine. The major concern is Bleeding on the Brain right now.
She will be in the NICU for several weeks.
The doctors are not saying too too much and taking it hour by hour.
She seems to be a little fighter and We are praying for the best!

The doctors still do not know why Stephanie went into labor this afternoon so suddenly.

Stephanie called me from work Friday afternoon saying something is wrong.
I picked her up from work and we went straight to the hospital.
She was having contractions... two minutes apart.