8 Years

8 years ago today many of you met us here....

So I could marry this handsome guy.....(best decision of my life by-the-way!)....

So fun to see so many family and friends in pictures that pre-date the digital era (hence the grainy-ness of these scanned proofs).....

 

And bittersweet to remember the ones who are no longer with us.....

 

 We made some very important and sacred vows....

 

Took a few more pictures.....

And then headed out to have some fun....

Many of you provided some priceless entertainment.....

And graciously posed for more pictures.....

All of which make for some pretty special memories for us today.  January 24, 2004 set in motion a lot of major events in our life not the least of which are these two blessings.....

Celebrating the love of my life today and the 2 precious boys he's given me in the last 8 years not to mention all the good times we've had.....here's to many, many more years together.  I love you.

***And a HUGE thanks to my parents for keeping both boys this weekend so we could stay here....

And enjoy the spa and some yummy goodies.....

And just relax in the same place we spent our wedding night.

 

This weekend sure did a world of good for this girl who hasn't left the house except to go to the doctor or the hospital in the last 7 weeks.  Thanks a million, Gigi and Gip!  

2 Weeks

Blake was 2 weeks old on Tuesday and let me tell you, he was thrilled at that milestone! :)

He has tipped the scales at just a little over 5 lbs. so he's gaining weight!

As my doctor says, my babies may not come in large quantities (at 4 lbs. 9 oz. for Grant and 4 lbs. 13 oz. for Blake) but I sure make good quality babies! Everyone has been amazed at how well this little guy has done....just like his big brother. These boys may come early but they are champs! We are so grateful. And, um, not sure what the hand signs are here???

I'm Here, I'm Here

I know you all have been waiting for pictures so I apologize for the delay. Scroll down to the bottom to see pictures if you'd rather not read all the banter.

Things did not go as I would have liked with Blake's delivery and I just haven't been able to get on here as soon as I would have liked. I'm not quite up to reliving every detail of what we went through last week but I promise I will. So many of you were so faithful in praying for us....many of you I have never even met and you deserve to know the story and see how God worked. Let me tell you that so many things went right, and so many things could have been infinitely worse. We have so very much to be thankful for, most of all, that Blake is here and healthy.

Sadly, though, I did get sick like last time. It wasn't as bad because my body didn't experience the full blown HELLP Syndrome but I got very, very close to falling off that cliff again. After the chaos of Blake's delivery I really thought we were home free. I had a couple of days of difficulty due to pain management but by Thursday was really feeling good. I finally understood how people have babies and then actually go out and do things fairly soon afterward. I was so excited to have people come visit and have a "normal" recovery. By no means did I think it would be easy, I mean I knew I had to recover from major surgery, care for a newborn, and help a 3 year old adjust to the new normal but let me tell you, dealing with all that and being healthy is a breeze compared to dealing with all that and trying to recover from severe preeclampsia or HELLP Syndrome.

That hope and excitement died Friday afternoon when I crashed. Full on code-blue y'all. Scared the you-know-what out of me, my parents, and poor Jason. It was terrible. BUT, we survived and I will get better.

Unfortunately, the doctor says it will be anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months before I feel good again. I feel so disappointed and discouraged about that but I know I have grown from 3 years ago because instead of feeling sorry for myself, I mostly feel so incredibly grateful. Grateful to be here, grateful Blake is healthy without even a brief second in the NICU (unbelievable for a little white boy born at 36 weeks), and grateful that I was able to get the care I needed in such a timely fashion. God has been good to us even if it wasn't the picture I would have painted.

Ok, enough of this, on to the pictures. These kind of chronicle our week with a few days left out after the trauma. ;) And thank you for praying for the severe swelling in my face. It did go down within a couple of days but I know it must have been bad because they paged the doctor in the middle of the night while I was on that magnesium drip to come look at me. Yikes! Probably best I never saw a mirror or took a picture of that. I mean there is just so much a girl can take, right?!

I may not post much in the coming weeks but will try to put up some more pictures sometime soon. I am trying not to feel any pressure to do anything besides take care of my boys and get well. If you could, please pray that I am feeling well in 6 weeks rather than 6 months. With Grant it took 5 months to recover so I'm really hoping this will be something much shorter since I didn't have the full blown HELLP syndrome. Thanks so much for caring for us.

**A big thanks to Emily for serving as our guest blogger for so many days! Don't know what we would have done without you, Em. Love you!

HOME!

Just a quick update that Lindsay made it home last evening around 6.  She is thrilled to be out of the hospital and back with her family...of four!   Jason is taking time off this week and is working on photo downloads as I write this!

A Coupla Snaps!

Linds sent me some pics from her phone last night!

Angelic boy:

Loving caregivers for both L & B-- Gigi and Daddy!

Saturday PM Update

I am so excited to report that, when my cell phone rang a bit ago, it said "LINDS" was calling, not "Jason Safran"!!  (Not that I wouldn't love to talk to Jason, of course, but yay that Lindsay felt up to making a call herself!!!)    She is off the magnesium drip, out of the constant-monitoring Labor & Delivery unit, and back in a room in the Post-Partum wing!

She is now on blood pressure medication and they will need to keep checking her readings and lab work to make sure everything has leveled off before she will be released.  We're not sure how long that will take, but in the meantime,  Blake has been discharged from the nursery and is now his mama's roommate!!

The magnesium left Linds with significant swelling in her face-- apparently yesterday, she could barely even see!   She's been told the swelling is much better today but asks for prayers that it will go all the way back to normal as soon as possible.

The other main prayer request right now is that this is the END of the scary road.  Her condition is considered late-onset severe preeclampsia.   Thankfully, her organs have not been affected so it has not progressed into HELLP Syndrome, which she experienced with Grant.  Please join me in prayer that there are no additional blood pressure spikes and that the organs remain in perfect working order.

We know that God moves in mysterious ways and we know most definitively that He has His hand in Lindsay's life.   Yesterday, Linds and Jason thought they were going home.  Her blood pressure readings had jumped around a bit but none was so high to require her to remain hospitalized.  The lab work all looked fine.  She had lunch and they were working on discharge paperwork when the doctor reported that one specific lab test had come back with results a bit "off."   The doctor could not even figure out who had ordered the report or why, but decided there should be a follow-up.    It was during this follow-up waiting time that Lindsay turned white, became lightheaded, and was found to have dangerously high blood pressure.

Turns out the mysterious lab work came back just fine on the follow-up, although it didn't really matter since she was already in an ICU situation getting the magnesium to prevent seizure and stroke.   Who ordered the lab test that resulted in a delay that allowed for Linds to still be in the hospital, rather than in the car on the way home, when this blood pressure attack happened?

The Great Physician is a wonder, indeed, isn't He??!

PS:  Jason is looking forward to uploading pictures to the blog as soon as he can!!   Keep checking back for updates!!

Saturday AM update

Spoke with Jason a bit ago.  He's playing at home with the G-man to keep a sense of normalcy.  Jean is at the hospital with Lindsay and they'll trade off later.

The magnesium has been successful in bringing Lindsay's blood pressure down, so that is a huge praise!  It does continue to have yucky side effects, however, so she feels very less-than-good.  Apparently a major effect is to make her feel like she's on fire so, on top of everything else, they're keeping ice packs on her face to help cool her down.  Ugh-- such an ordeal, but we're thankful that it appears to be working!

Jason is hopeful that her blood pressure will come down enough that they'll be able to take her off the magnesium and move her back out of Labor & Delivery as soon as possible.  We'll keep you updated!

Update and Call for Prayers!

Hello, all--

I'm sorry to say that this is still Emily reporting to you the latest because Lindsay didn't get discharged today as hoped.  She actually was on her way to getting released when her blood pressure started spiking around 1 pm.  Unfortunately, it was high enough to require her not only to stay in the hospital but also to get moved back into Labor & Delivery where she could tended to constantly.

Because of the risk of seizures from high blood pressure, they've had to administer the magnesium that has such horrible side effects.  This is such a setback, as we had just talked about how great it was that she didn't have to get the magnesium this time as she had with Grant!

Please pray that this is only a temporary blood pressure spike and that the doctors will be able to get it under control with medicine as soon as possible.   Please also pray for Jason as he's right there by her side in what I can only imagine is a heart-wrenching experience to see his wife sick again.  And also, I ask that you remember Lindsay's parents, Jean and Lynn, as they continue to take care of Grant during this time.

I'll be sure to post updates as soon as I know them.  As always, your prayers are so appreciated!!

Prayers, Please!

(Emily again.)

Lindsay's blood pressure has been quite high this morning so they may not let her go home today.  We humbly ask that you enter into prayer for her BP to drop back down to a normal range so that the Safran Family of Four can be reunited at home as soon as possible.  Thank you so much for all your loving and prayerful support!

Update Time!

Hello all!   It's Emily (Lindsay's BU roomie and best friend) coming to you live this evening!

I just got off the phone with Linds-- she gave me some scoop to share and I now feel like quite the reporter trying to figure out how to turn my notes into a blog post!

She'll write more in the coming days or weeks to give you the real birth story but here are some updates about what's been shaking with the Safrans:

• Her blood pressure was high enough at Tuesday's regular OB appointment that they did decide it would be best to deliver Blake later that afternoon.  Once they took a look at a sonogram and realized her fluid levels had dropped from 13 to 5 (!!!), however, it became a "you will be having this baby immediately" kind of thing.

• She described the experience from doctor's visit to delivery as "shocking, harried, and a little scary" but said that "everything went really great and couldn't have gone better for what it was."

• Blake's weight was just over the limit (we're talking 2 grams or some such) to avoid undergoing a NICU observation.  Hooray!  So Linds got to see him and hold him during recovery, which she didn't get to experience with Grant.

• The little guy has been a "total champ" through everything.  He has lots of thick dark hair and even some meat on his bones!!

• The no-longer-little-guy (aka Grant) had a wonderful first meeting with his new little brother.  He held him, rocked him, and even serenaded him with "Jesus Loves Me"!!  

• There are still some concerns with monitoring Linds's blood pressure, but the more serious issue has been pain management.  They've finally gotten it under control but yesterday especially was rough.  The pain was also keeping her from sleeping so she's, as you can imagine, very tired!

To that end--  Linds and Jason want everyone to know how thrilled they are for Blake to meet all of his fabulous new friends......but not immediately.   By all means, please text and/or call them and absolutely request a time to meet the new guy--  but do not be offended if they ask if that meeting can take place in a few weeks!!

Even after they've gotten home (which hopefully will be either tomorrow or Saturday), not only will the blood pressure concern continue for some time, but also the threat of RSV and cold/flu in these winter months.  It is critical for all newborns--and especially those born early--to be kept from all the germs that proliferate in winter.  So I hope you'll also understand the need for young children and anyone sick to be kept away from Blake for the months to come, as well as a general minimization of contact with him.

(Side note: Linds was very worried how this information might come across and I assured her that everyone would understand the importance of keeping both mom and baby healthy.  (Right?!  :-) )

Finally, Lindsay and Jason are so thankful for all the prayers that have been prayed over them during this experience.  So many of you prayed specifically for her not to get sick during or after the surgery (and she didn't!) and/or for Blake not to have to go to the NICU (and he didn't!).  Please know that your prayers were felt and were such a comfort to them during this trying time.

Hopefully the next blog update will be from Linds herself with pictures of Blake's introduction to his new house!!    Can't wait!! 

Happy Birthday, Blake!

Blake Allen Safran.....January 3, 2012.....1:41pm......4 lbs 13 oz......17 inches.....It was a crazy delivery day but we are good!

Do Bumbo's Have a Weight/Age Limit????

'Cause I kinda think once you're over 3 years old you should definitely NOT be able to fit in one.  Little Buddy proves you can get some good mileage out of a bumbo if you watch your figure. ;)