Prayers Needed!

There are certain events that occur that really make you stop and think about what's really important in life. One of these events occurred a few days ago

On Monday at around 4:00 I had just gotten home from work and was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing for the night. A phone call changed my plans. One of my good friends here in NC called to tell me that another good fried of ours had gone into labor. You would think that would be an amazing thing, but my friend was only 29 weeks pregnant. 2 weeks ago her mucus plug started leaking and she started having contractions. Luckily they were able to stop the contractions and fix the leak and she was sent home. Now here she was two weeks later with the same thing happening again. I immediately asked what needed to be done and if there was any way we could help. My friend was heading toward our preggo friend's house to watch their one year until her in law's arrived. The hubby and I headed to the hospital so that we could pick up her car from her Dr's office and drive it back to her house so that her mother in law would have a car with the car seat.

At the hospital M and I went up to visit our friend and her hubby. She was terrified. The Dr's weren't telling her much and after having already given birth prematurely to her now one year old she was afraid it was going to happen again. After never having gone through labor myself I had no idea what to say or how to make her feel better. I was at a loss. M and I left after visiting awhile and drove her car to her house where we met our other friend. We took turns playing with their one year old son, packing him a suitcase for his stay with grandma and changed his diaper and fed him. At least i felt better knowing that I was doing something to help. M ended up going home since he had to work the following morning at 5am but Jent and I headed back to the hospital after the baby was handed off to grandma. We stayed until around 2 in the morning and right before we left our friend's contractions started decreasing and slowing down.

Tuesday afternoon as soon as M and I got off work, we returned to this hospital. Things were much worse. The magnesium and other medicines that were stopping the contractions were also making my friend sick. She had started getting toxicity poisoning from the magnesium and they were planning on taking her off it and letting nature take it's course. My friend was a wreck. She is normally a strong and private person, one who hates to let her emotions show but today she was terrified. Again I felt helpless knowing nothing I could say would make her feel better. M, Jent and I all just hung out trying to cheer her up and providing as much comfort as we could but as the contractions went from around 20 to 80 we knew there wasn't much we could do. The Dr's came in and basically told her she would probably go into labor. It didn't help that her mother in law came to the hospital and told her that with a preemie baby she wouldn't be able to hold him, or take him home for awhile. While it probably was the truth it sure wasn't the best thing to tell her. We left shortly after her hubby came to the hospital so that they could be alone together.

Wednesday morning came and she still hadn't gone into labor. The contractions had slowed and things were looking up. We didn't go visit her again as she explained that since things had finally settled down all she wanted to do was sleep. Today she was doing so well that she was able to be discharged from the hospital. The contractions had stopped this morning and things were looking good. Right before they officially discharged her they checked one last time only to have my friend start having contractions once more. The readmitted her and gave her a steroid shot to try and stop the contractions. As of right now the contractions are still occurring and she is still in the hospital.

I am so worried for my friend and hope that the Dr's can do whatever they can to prevent the baby coming out any earlier than he needs to.As I was at the hospital with my hubby and friends I thought long and hard about life in general. Life is full of trials and tribulations and nothing is ever a guarantee. This experience made me realize which friends I can truly count on and it also made me realize how strong my friendships with certain people are. I also admire my friend for her strength and courage. For as she was in pain, terrified for her baby she kept thanking us for all we did to help and apologizing for making us do things for her. As if we wouldn't do whatever she needed.

This experience also hit close to home. I had an older brother who was born at 29 weeks and died 3 months later. My parent's still have never fully recovered from their loss. Then a year later, I was born at 34 weeks with undeveloped lungs and intestines. I was in the hospital for two months and once again my parent's had to worry about losing another child. For my parent's third child my mother was put on bed rest for the majority of her pregnancy and after my younger brother was born, the Dr's told her it was best if she had no more children. Again my parent's were devastated as they had wanted to try for one more child, but gratefully accepted their life with two children. Seeing my friend go through this experience made me realize the hardships my parent's faced and it also made me understand the way they raised me. My parent's are overprotective to a fault and while it annoyed me as a child I realize now that they almost lost two children and knew firsthand what it felt like to bury a child. I called my mom immediately after my friend went into labor and talked with my mom about her experience. I think it was good for my mom to let it all out and talk about it since it's kept bottled up at home.

This experience just really made me realize what is truly important in life and enabled me to reorganize my priorities. Lately I had been worrying and stressing over the wrong things and I realized I needed to stop doing that. What is most important in my life is my hubby, my family, my friends, my job and school. I intend to start making sure I have my priorities in line and being thankful for the life that I have.

And to all my blogger bff's please please pray for my friend and her little one.