News from the Larsen Family in the Hospital

A New Blog...

So, Viggo and I have been planning on starting a blog for a while now. We wanted to keep people updated on our plans with Wycliffe, and my parents have been bugging us to start a blog so they can see pictures of us and have another source of news besides phone calls. Now there seems to be a more particular reason to start writing. I'm sure this blog will cover a variety of topics and events in the future, but for the moment it will be rather focused on the status of our little baby, Daniel Jakob. I think most of you have probably received emails about the situation, and if not a good place to look for any details I miss here is my Dad's blog (the link is on the side here). If you've already read his blog, there will probably be a lot of repeat in the paragraphs below, but from my point of view.

Our unexpected hospital stay
I have been in the hospital in Eugene, Oregon for about a week now. Viggo and I came to Oregon to visit my family for Christmas on the 8th of December. On the 21st, we were about to leave to celebrate my Mom's 50th birthday on the Oregon coast when I started having contractions. They quickly became regular enough that we decided to go to the hospital instead of going to the coast. It is still much to early for me to give birth. When I got to the hospital, they found I was 1 cm dilated. They gave me medicine to stop the contractions, but they continued, and a few hours later I was 3 cm dilated. At that point they decided to transfer me to Sacred Heart hospital in Eugene, which has a good neonatal intensive care unit, because it was starting to look like the baby might be born that night. When we got there, I was dilated to 5cm, and the doctor told us to expect to have a baby in the course of the night. But we didn't.

Current status
Things have calmed down a lot since the 21st. I've had a few contractions and some pain here and there, but with the doctors' help and many prayers, things are much more stable than was initially expected. We are very thankful for the fact that Daniel has already gotten one more week to grow and mature inside of me. The doctors here say, however, that I will need to stay in the hospital until I give birth, even if that is two months from now or more. I'm still on medicine to suppress contractions, and it seems to be working. However, because I am already halfway dilated, I need to stay on bedrest and be regularly monitored here in the hospital. When the labor does begin again for real, things will probably go very quickly.

I had an intensive ultrasound yesterday, and they estimated that Daniel weighs 2 pounds and 13 ounces. This means that he is big for his age; the size of a 29 week baby instead of a 27 weeker. Which is very good if he is born soon. They even got some 3D shots of baby's face, which were really fun to see.

Both Daniel and I are in very good health, the only problem is my body wanting to go into labor too early. If Daniel is born prematurely, he will need to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) here at Sacred Heart until at least a month or so before his due date, which is March 23rd. Viggo is sleeping on a cot in my hospital room for now, and if Daniel is born early we will move to the hospital's family guesthouse so that we can be near him and visit the NICU as often as possible.

How we're doing and changes in plans
Viggo and I are both doing very well with all this. We have had an amazing amount of peace about the situation. We trust that God is in control and is taking care of us, no matter what happens. We really appreciate everyone's prayers, and believe God is hearing and answering them.

This does mean some big changes in plans for us. Whether Daniel or I is the one in the hospital, we will need to stay here in Eugene probably at least until the beginning of March, and it is not likely we would travel back to Norway before sometime in April. We had just begun to say that we were planning to travel to Tanzania this August to begin Bible Translation work there. Considering the situation at this point, August is looking very unlikely. We are thinking that it seems likely we won't be ready to move to Tanzania before winter 2008. Premature babies often need some special care for the first year of their lives, and Daniel's health will be top priority for us. But if I am able to carry him to term, and everything else falls into place, it is possible that we won't have to wait so long after all.

Right now we are taking things day by day. Although staying in the hospital is a bit monotonous, it's easy to have a good attitude about it, because we are just so grateful for every day more that Daniel is able to stay safe in my womb. The birth could still happen any time, but we are hoping for a long stay here. Viggo works as a freelance translator over the internet, so he is able to have a little "office" set up next to my bed and work from here. We have great support from my family. Night before last Viggo got to go up to my house in Philomath (an hour away) for the night to have a break, and my sister came and stayed with me. We ordered chinese food and watched a movie together. When Viggo came back yesterday he brought me a beautiful bouquet of tulips, and my Mom came down with him, so I got to spend some time with her as well. This is a great hospital and they take very good care of us. There is always someone coming in to check if I want more ice in my water or a snack. We are very blessed in many ways.

I think my dinner is coming soon and this post has certainly gotten long enough, so I will sign off for now. Thank you all for thinking of us and for your prayers.