Julie was having a “normal” pregnancy, as so we thought. She had experienced weird symptoms such as having a bladder infection early on, having pain in the stomach area, etc. We also know that Julie had a risk of having a baby with mental retardation due to an underlying health condition. Therefore, Julie and Jeremy decided to complete the Quad screening at 20 weeks. We wanted to be prepared for what was coming our way. We would carry the baby to term no matter what God blessed us with. The Quad screening came back saying that the baby may have neural tube defects. Therefore, we went down to the Twin Cities to have a Level 2 Ultrasound around 22 weeks. During the ultrasound, nothing was found that was super abnormal. The sonographer actually mentioned that the baby was in the 98th percentile for weight! They also wanted Julie to come back in 6 weeks to have another ultrasound to ensure that the baby was growing and developing as it should. We had another OBGYN appointment a few weeks later and everything appeared to be normal. The doctor thought I was measuring a little big; however, she was not worried about it at this point.
Little did we know, our little bundle of joy made an early showing at 26 weeks even. Julie went to work on a typical Friday. She went through her daily motions. Nothing seemed atypical. She came home that night and started to mow the grass before Jeremy showed up from getting off work. Jeremy proceeded to finish mowing the grass while Julie went inside to relax a bit and have a snack. When Julie went inside, she became very hot and could not get cooled down. She tried different things such as a wet washcloth and cold water and nothing seemed to work. When Jeremy came in about 20 minutes later, he came over to tend to Julie and said that he was going to take her in. Julie asked Jeremy to take her to the bathroom. Julie made it two steps and fell to the floor from blacking out. Jeremy was able to catch Julie and make sure that she made it to the floor safely. Otherwise, Julie would have fallen right into their coffee table.
Emergency personnel were called, and Jeremy ran to the neighbors to get help. Within minutes the ambulance showed up, Julie’s heart was racing and she was still so hot. They rushed her to the nearest hospital. At one point, Julie’s heart rate was up over 200. When they got the hospital, they could tell that Julie was bleeding somewhere below her chest. This was shown through a CT scan that they did. The medical personnel started blood transfusions and sent Julie down to the cities for more expertise. Julie was rushed down to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance. Once at HCMC, Julie was rushed in for a CT scan of her abdomen where the medical doctors and personnel could tell that she was bleeding in her stomach. At this point, they could tell that the baby would need to be delivered tonight and that Julie may need to have her uterus removed. Julie was taken into surgery immediately. This was a life or death situation. Julie and the baby could lose their life if the medical personnel did not act quickly.
At 11:14 p.m., Jonah Frank was born at 2 lbs. 2 ounces. He was immediately brought down to the NICU at HCMC for the medical support he needed. Julie came out of a surgery a few hours later with her uterus and fallopian tubes removed. When they opened Julie up via C-Section, Jonah was laying in the amniotic sack in Julie’s stomach. He was no longer in her uterus. Julie’s uterus had ruptured. It was described to Jeremy and Julie later on that Jonah wasn’t located in the “right” part of the uterus. He ran out of room, and the uterus ruptured. The medical personnel compared this to an etopic pregnancy. Many of these types of pregnancy end up being a miscarriage by week 12. Therefore, Jonah is truly a miracle!
Jonah stayed in the NICU for his first 100 days of life. He stayed at HCMC until November 3 and was then transferred out to Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia for the remainder of his stay. He was intubated, stayed in an isolette, had a heart murmur, retinopathy of prematurity, and enlarged areas of his brain. Every day at the hospital was an up and down roller coaster. It was hard leaving your baby in the hospital when Julie and Jeremy went home each night. We didn’t know what the night or next morning would bring. We continued to pray that everything would work out, and that we could bring out baby home. Jonah came home without any oxygen support, holding his own body temperature, and eating on his own! He came home on Christmas Eve! This was one day after his expected due date. Our family was now finally complete. Jonah has been cleared of all the medical conditions and has been prospering at home! We know he has some catching up to do developmentally. He continues to amaze us each day.
I’m just here to say that it’s important to keep the faith. Place your worries in Christ’s hands. He takes you down the paths for a reason. What happens is meant to be.
