Tuesday, February 06, 2007

More Patience Required...

This morning Julia had an amnoicentesis, and we were mentally prepared to leave the hospital to stay with Julia's parents. Daniel has reached 34 weeks, and it was expected that his lungs would be mature by now, so that he would not depend on care from the neonatal ICU when he was born. The results were therefore quite surprising. His lungs are really imature still. The doctor said that on a scale where 1.0 is imature and 2.0 is mature, Daniel scored 1.0. Apparently late maturity of the lungs is a more comon problem in Northern Europe than anywhere else in the world, so I guess my genes are to blame.

When Julia was first admitted to the hospital, she was given two shots of steriods to help the baby's lungs mature. It is quite rare that this procedure is repeated, but Julia got another shot of steriods today and will get another one tomorrow. In two weeks time the doctors will do another amniocentesis to check if the lungs have matured, and if so, we'll get to leave the hospital then. So far our miracle baby has defied all the predictions of the doctors and the nurses, so maybe he will go to full term. The doctor did say, however, that he thought the baby would be born soon, and that it would not be a problem for all three of us to travel home to Norway before March 7th, when my visa waiver expires. We don't know what to expect or believe, but we KNOW that God is faithful and that we are in his care. So despite everything we are experiencing we're not worried. Our faith is in Him who has filled our hearts with peace and who is in control of our future.

4 comments:

Barb said...

I am sorry to hear you're not coming to Philomath, yet.
It must be strange to be living in an enviroment that is so closed yet your life is so public through your blog! We are continuing to pray for you all daily. Looking forward to meeting Daniel Jakob face to face.
Barb

Anonymous said...

Julia, Viggo and Daniel you are all in our prayers (you too Kent and Barbara) and we were delighted to hear that labor had stopped once again yesterday. You know our grandson Jude was in the same hurry to arrive as your tiny Daniel, but who would have guessed that he would stay until full term and then Bethany would have to be induced!!! Thanks for sharing your story and photos and especially that fun video of Barbara and Daniel having a conversation. Take care, Chris Fegles

Unknown said...

Viggo and Julia,

What a long strange trip it's been! There I was discussing your homecoming Monday night and then getting the Tuesday a.m. call about Julia's labor! This has been a huge lesson for me about learning to trust God and to give up the idea that I can figure things out ahead of time. I do know that God loves both of you and Daniel very much. More than we can imagine.

Dad/Kent

Barb said...

You two are amazing and an inspiration. I thought waiting in LAX for 12 hours, with 19 people and 32 pieces of luggage which we had to move 3 times was hard. Now it seems like a piece of cake compared to your waiting. It has been exciting to share your story with others and how we are seeing God's glory thru-out. Continuing to pray, Barb H.