Not the Hospital Trip We'd Anticipated

It is currently 3:22 a.m. I successfully slept for oh, about three and a half hours. Welcome to the end of pregnancy, right? Seems like a good time to share with you some recent events.

It has been a bittersweet time recently for Bill and me. I had my last day in the office on Friday. Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day and we were headed out to lunch with friends. As we pulled out of the garage, Bill checked his cell phone voicemail and said a few choice words. Honestly, I thought it was something related to his new post as the President of our Homeowners Association. I was shocked when he told me what he'd just heard on his message. Seems a friend of ours had a heart attack that morning and was at the hospital in a coma. What? Bill and Karen had worked together for 20+ years and are dear friends. Karen and her sister, Linda, had planned to come over just the evening before to see the nursery. This just wasn't happening.

Bill was so upset - he started driving like we were still going to go to the Ram to have burgers and drinks. Everything went slow motion from there. I said, "Let me call Jessica and let her know what is happening - we need to go to the hospital." In the voicemail, Karen's husband had asked Bill to share the news with people from work. We started looking up contacts on his phone and making calls. My thoughts immediately went to Karen's daughter, Courtney. She is just a sophomore in college. Karen has excitedly shared with Bill more than once that she and Scott were our exact ages when they had their one-and-only daughter. I prayed for Courtney - prayed this wouldn't be the day she'd lose her Mom. When we pulled up to the emergency room (ER), I think we were both in a daze that we were at the hospital for a reason neither of us expected. Upon checking in, we learned Karen was in critical care and were sent to the opposite side of the hospital.

For me, this walk was humbling. I've been pretty nervous about my upcoming stay at the hospital. Walking those cement halls toward critical care, I thought of Karen and her fight for her life. I will be checking into the hospital soon for something I've been designed to do and I get a pretty cool prize in the end. Karen was here for a very different reason. We were frightened to get to our destination - nervous about what news we'd hear. Nothing about this story sounded positive.

I am so thankful and encouraged to share that Karen's process toward recovery has been more than amazing. Her cardiac care has involved reducing her body temperature; a procedure designed to protect her brain and allow her more time to recover. She has a ways to go for sure, but her progress so far has been nothing shy of a miracle. I was blessed to be able to help their family in a small way by setting up this CaringBridge site for Karen where you can read the details of her recovery.

Karen, we are thinking and praying for you constantly and know you can do this. Scott told Bill today that you have some things for the baby, but he wants to wait to allow you to give them to us yourself. Karen, we know you'll be holding our baby soon. And we'll be here - waiting for that day.