I've been told it's Sunday. I'm finding this hard to believe. I went to bed Wednesday night, and one part of me thinks I should be getting up any second and heading over to the church and school to teach 8th grade confirmation. Another part of me is sure that six months have gone by since then, but there is no part of me which believes it is Sunday, and yet, I am assured that it is. Mary Jane assures me she shares my confusion in this. Hospitals are funny places, especially when you hit a phase where your not leaving them, it really becomes impossible to tell time. Everything slows down and speeds up at the same time.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path"
Many of you may be familiar with the Amy Grant song "Thy Word" (which has actually made it into some hymnals) The song has been going through my head a lot today. It comes from this Psalm (Psalm 119 "Nun" verses 105-112). It's an interesting image. So often we want God's revelation to us, His Word, His will, to provide us with a clear trip ticket to where we're going. Go thirteenmonths in this direction and then turn right at the major fork in the road, watch out for the traumatic break up with a boyfriend/girlfriend, avoid the rebound, take the second job offer on the right and proceed at a steady pace for 3.5 years. When you see the big sign on the left, stop and get married....
But it doesn't work that way. His word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path. I'm seeing, only what's right in front of me. As I pray "Our Father who art in heaven....Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." I am again reminded, the path is not mine, it's His. We ask only for the wisdom from the Holy Spirit to know where to put our foot next. We know where the path ends (at the foot of the cross) and we are given wisdom to handle the next step in front of us, but we rarely, if ever know what the big landmarks and obstacles which will be in our way as we travel. But we fear not, because we do not travel alone."
With that in mind I am reminded again, we live day by day in His grace. Which is exactly where Mary Jane and I find ourselves. We are living in His grace and taking things day by day.
Some silver linings:
The girls are both good sizes for their age. This will help in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
The girls are in a fantastic hospital
The nurses and doctors there all know Mary Jane if not from a personal relationship (she works two floors up in the Cardiac ICU) then by reputation (Mary Jane is well respected and well loved by her co-workers)
Their vitals are stable right now
and...at least I get the first grandchildren now (my sister is pregnant and due in November) ;)
The girls are being prayed for by more people and congregations then I can count.
We have a long road to hoe. Some of my e-mail updates are likely to get grim (if the last couple weren't already). But know we really appreciate the love you have all shown us, and one day, Lord willing, I will get to tell this story to my girls (for the umpteenth time) at their wedding. And as they, you, and my wife all groan and roll their eyes (with a small smile on the inside because you like hearing it a million times but you just don't want to encourage one who gets so long winded and rambly) I will not forget to mention your part in the story. Because it is an important one.
Okay, well I have a half hour to nap...and I'm going to do it. More later...hopefully with some pictures!!
Lots of love,
Jason, Mary Jane, Parker and Emma Jane
(wow...that sure is a lot of names)
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Change in plans...part II
I'm pretty whiped, so I'm going to keep this short. I will give a longer post tomorrow. (which will probably be today for most of you by the time you read this)
Mary Jane had some serious problems. She began bleeding earlier today. Parker's placenta abrupted. The doctors decided they needed to go in a get the girls out. Mary Jane had an emergency c-section and they were born around 5:30 (specifics coming later). Turns out Parker also had the cord wrapped around her neck.
They are in stable condition.
I will post some pictures and longer explanations sometime tomorrow. Right now we are going to try and get a little sleep.
We love you all, thank you for your prayers and support.
Mary Jane had some serious problems. She began bleeding earlier today. Parker's placenta abrupted. The doctors decided they needed to go in a get the girls out. Mary Jane had an emergency c-section and they were born around 5:30 (specifics coming later). Turns out Parker also had the cord wrapped around her neck.
They are in stable condition.
I will post some pictures and longer explanations sometime tomorrow. Right now we are going to try and get a little sleep.
We love you all, thank you for your prayers and support.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
48 hours and counting...
Well, we made it past the 48 hour mark. That's a very good thing. Now we just take things day by day. Thank you for your posts and comments on the site. I will write a longer post tonight before we go to bed.
Thank you for your prayers,
Jason, Mary Jane, Parker, and Emma Jane.
Thank you for your prayers,
Jason, Mary Jane, Parker, and Emma Jane.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Change of plans
I am assuming that by now most of you have heard what has happened. For those of you who may not have I will try and briefly sum up. Thursday morning (Wednesday night) at 3:00am the Mary Jane's water broke. We rushed to the hospital where they quickly started her on a steroid treatment, and began to give her antibiotics and drugs designed to calm down the uterus and try to prevent her from going into full blown labor. They did a number of tests (ultrasounds etc.) and found that it was the baby formally known as "baby a" whose sack had ruptured and that the baby formally known as "baby b" was still intact. Both babies are healthy, however things are less sterile and not ideal for "baby a".
(somewhere in all this we decided that the baby a and baby b thing needed to go. We've known names for a while but were going to have fun on the blog with people guessing the names...the time for that has passed by. Baby "a" is Mary Parker Broge, although we will be calling her "Parker" most of the time. Baby "b" is Emma Jane Broge, and she will be referred most to most frequently as Emma Jane, (although her mother wants it known that Emma is acceptable))
It was quickly decided that we needed to move hospitals and be at BJC, the adult hospital which is attached to Mary Jane's hospital (St. Louis Children's hospital) because that will be a better place for the girls to be after they are born.
Since then we have pretty much been in a holding pattern. Mary Jane is on complete bedrest. She can't get up for anything. The goal is to try to keep Parker and Emma Jane in for as long as possible.
Things are going "smoothly" now. Yesterday was very scary, and there were some points where I was really scared for Mary Jane's health as well, but she is doing much better now. Now the goal is just to wait. How long? As long as possible. The babies are 26 week today. That is way too early to be born, but they are viable. Being born now would be full of risks both for their life and their long term health. The longer they can stay in the better things will be for them. The first big window is 48 hours (which will be 4 am Friday morning) this gives the steroids the chance to help their lungs develop some. How long can this go on? No one knows. Mary Jane could go into full blown labor in five minutes, five days, or five weeks. The chances are probably significantly higher for the five days then the five weeks, but we just can't know. Only the Lord knows the day and the hour.
When the time comes things will likely happen very quickly. Parker is breech and is closest, so they will need to quickly do an emergency c-section. Until that moment we sit (or in the case of Mary Jane lie) on pins and needles and pray. We pray for the mercy of God our Father. We pray for his hand of protection upon Parker and Emma Jane. We pray that every minute they remain in the womb would be full of extra knitting to prepare them for the outside world. We pray for wisdom for the doctors, the nurses, and the staff taking care of Mary Jane and the girls. As we do this we inevitably wonder why, but there will never be answers to those questions. Instead we cling to the cross of Christ. We cling to the hope which comes to us from the Son of God whose death and resurrection has claimed us as his in baptism (oh, yes...you better believe they will be baptized as soon as they are born).
As we go through, this we are overwhelmed by the love and support we have been shown. Our friends and family have shown us the love of Christ in their willingness to serve us in this midst of this crisis. We would like to thank all of our family for their prayer and support, everyone from our small group, everyone Mary Jane works with, all of our friends around the country, all those supporting us at Webster Gardens (my field work church) and the all of those who have so warmly embraced us during this crisis at Salem Church and school (my vicarage church). Thank you for your prayers, your love, and your support.
That said we are going to ask that you do not try to visit this weekend. It is important for Mary Jane to remain calm this weekend. Your e-mails, and texts, are appreciated and bring love and cheer. If you need to call please call through me, this just makes sure Mary Jane is not being woken up or anything. After Monday we will reevaluate visitors based on how Mary Jane is doing. At that time, if Mary Jane is going to be here for a while she would most likely need some of those visits, but in order to make sure things don't get overwhelming I am asking you call me first. That way I can spread things out for her and run interference if she's not feeling well enough for visitors. Thank you for your understanding.
I also thank you for all of your offers of help during this time. Mary Jane's mom is in town right now, and a friend is here (Emily was already planning to visit) for the weekend. So right now we have some people to help us through the weekend. However there will likely be a lot of help needed in the days, weeks, and months to come, and we are very appreciative for all the offers of to help we've already received.
Continue to check here at the website for updates. Generally no news is good news. My cell phone is 314-629-2022.
blessings,
Jason
(somewhere in all this we decided that the baby a and baby b thing needed to go. We've known names for a while but were going to have fun on the blog with people guessing the names...the time for that has passed by. Baby "a" is Mary Parker Broge, although we will be calling her "Parker" most of the time. Baby "b" is Emma Jane Broge, and she will be referred most to most frequently as Emma Jane, (although her mother wants it known that Emma is acceptable))
It was quickly decided that we needed to move hospitals and be at BJC, the adult hospital which is attached to Mary Jane's hospital (St. Louis Children's hospital) because that will be a better place for the girls to be after they are born.
Since then we have pretty much been in a holding pattern. Mary Jane is on complete bedrest. She can't get up for anything. The goal is to try to keep Parker and Emma Jane in for as long as possible.
Things are going "smoothly" now. Yesterday was very scary, and there were some points where I was really scared for Mary Jane's health as well, but she is doing much better now. Now the goal is just to wait. How long? As long as possible. The babies are 26 week today. That is way too early to be born, but they are viable. Being born now would be full of risks both for their life and their long term health. The longer they can stay in the better things will be for them. The first big window is 48 hours (which will be 4 am Friday morning) this gives the steroids the chance to help their lungs develop some. How long can this go on? No one knows. Mary Jane could go into full blown labor in five minutes, five days, or five weeks. The chances are probably significantly higher for the five days then the five weeks, but we just can't know. Only the Lord knows the day and the hour.
When the time comes things will likely happen very quickly. Parker is breech and is closest, so they will need to quickly do an emergency c-section. Until that moment we sit (or in the case of Mary Jane lie) on pins and needles and pray. We pray for the mercy of God our Father. We pray for his hand of protection upon Parker and Emma Jane. We pray that every minute they remain in the womb would be full of extra knitting to prepare them for the outside world. We pray for wisdom for the doctors, the nurses, and the staff taking care of Mary Jane and the girls. As we do this we inevitably wonder why, but there will never be answers to those questions. Instead we cling to the cross of Christ. We cling to the hope which comes to us from the Son of God whose death and resurrection has claimed us as his in baptism (oh, yes...you better believe they will be baptized as soon as they are born).
As we go through, this we are overwhelmed by the love and support we have been shown. Our friends and family have shown us the love of Christ in their willingness to serve us in this midst of this crisis. We would like to thank all of our family for their prayer and support, everyone from our small group, everyone Mary Jane works with, all of our friends around the country, all those supporting us at Webster Gardens (my field work church) and the all of those who have so warmly embraced us during this crisis at Salem Church and school (my vicarage church). Thank you for your prayers, your love, and your support.
That said we are going to ask that you do not try to visit this weekend. It is important for Mary Jane to remain calm this weekend. Your e-mails, and texts, are appreciated and bring love and cheer. If you need to call please call through me, this just makes sure Mary Jane is not being woken up or anything. After Monday we will reevaluate visitors based on how Mary Jane is doing. At that time, if Mary Jane is going to be here for a while she would most likely need some of those visits, but in order to make sure things don't get overwhelming I am asking you call me first. That way I can spread things out for her and run interference if she's not feeling well enough for visitors. Thank you for your understanding.
I also thank you for all of your offers of help during this time. Mary Jane's mom is in town right now, and a friend is here (Emily was already planning to visit) for the weekend. So right now we have some people to help us through the weekend. However there will likely be a lot of help needed in the days, weeks, and months to come, and we are very appreciative for all the offers of to help we've already received.
Continue to check here at the website for updates. Generally no news is good news. My cell phone is 314-629-2022.
blessings,
Jason
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
23 weeks and counting
The girls have now been cooking away for 23 weeks. They are both very active although Baby A seems to rule the womb spending a large portion of her time moving around. We get to have monthly growth ultrasounds now which is very exciting because that means of course we get to see them often! Here are some quick shots of their little faces. 
Graduation
Mary Jane graduated last weekend and is SO glad school is over! A good time was had by all.
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