What's in a Name?... Answered Prayers and Tender Mercies

Our little Elise Faith has a very special name.  I have loved the name Elise since I was a teenager.  Before I had each of my children, I thought, "If the baby is a girl, I'll name her Elise."  We went to the hospital with Liesel deciding between the two names.  I am so glad we were blessed with another little girl so we could have our Elise!

 I love virtue names.  Liesel's middle name is Grace.  Faith was one of the names we were considering while expecting Elise, but with how many answered prayers and tender mercies we received in connection with her healthy birth, Faith was the perfect name.

We had originally planned on waiting until next spring to have a fourth child, but felt unmistakeably prompted to try for one sooner.  This photo was taken a couple weeks after we started trying for baby #4.  Liesel had turned one the month before.)

I was not feeling entirely ready for another child, but knew that we needed to follow the guidance that had been given to us.  Right from the beginning she was coming into this world through faith.  Here is an excerpt from my journal from early October 2011.
"I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my children and really look forward to having more. I just hadn't thought it would be quite so soon. I'm worried that I won't be able to give my best to my children. I'm worried that having them so close might make it too hard to be the mother I want to be for them. Despite my worries, I am putting my faith in the Lord that He knows best. I want to be available to have as many children as God would like to send to our family. I don't know what is in store for us...maybe something that would make it difficult to have more children later. I do know that Heavenly Father loves us and will provide a way for us. My children are so rewarding and I am very excited to have another sweet spirit enter our family."

If you've been reading the past few months, you know that starting at 32 weeks, this pregnancy landed me in the hospital for four full weeks. There have been many answered prayers and blessings related to these challenges.

On Tuesday, July 31, I woke up at about 4:30 a.m. to use the restroom.  I stood up and saw a puddle of blood on the bed.  I immediately feared the worst that the baby was dead or in grave danger.  I woke up Brad and he piled the kids in the car to head to the hospital.  Before we left I asked Brad to give me a Priesthood blessing.  He blessed me and the baby that we would be okay and that everything would work out as it should.  Parker and Jason each said a prayer as well as we drove to the hospital.  Moments later, I felt the baby kick (Answered prayer #1).

I was admitted into the hospital, given steroid shots to develop the baby's lungs and taken for ultrasounds to check on the baby and I.  I was only 32 weeks pregnant, so we were really praying that she could stay inside and grow longer.  The ultrasounds showed that I definitely had placenta previa, but that the baby was doing great.  I stopped bleeding (Answered prayer #2).

On my third morning in the hospital, I finished breakfast and stood to walk the three steps to the restroom.  I felt some blood and when I sat on the toilet blood poured out of me.  It scared me!  I pulled on the emergency cord and the nurses rushed in to help me back to bed.  The blood had been pouring out of me for a few minutes already by the time they got me back to bed.  I called Brad and he rushed over from work.  He and a hospital employee gave me a Priesthood blessing.  I was only 32 1/2 weeks and we didn't want our little girl to have to go to the NICU.  Thanks to the power of the Priesthood, the bleeding stopped again (Answered prayer #3).

I was supposed to be up a Bear Lake at that time.  We had our bags packed to leave the day I ended up in the hospital.  If I would have been up at Bear Lake, farther away from medical care, I am not sure what would have happened.  (Tender Mercy #1).

I mentioned some tender mercies in this post, but I want to mention them and a few others.  

The condition that landed me in the hospital is called placenta previa.  The umbilical cord was attached directly over the baby's pathway out.  I would almost surely have died if I lived in a time or place without access to modern medicine to perform the necessary c-section. (Tender Mercy #2).

It was hard to be away from my three sweet children for nearly a month, but it was such a comfort to have their grandparents step in so generously.  Three young kids can be a big handful, but the kids were able to spend all of the time with either my parents or Brad's, except one night they were able to sleep over at my Aunt Amber's.  We are so grateful for their sacrifice. (Tender Mercy #3).

Brad normally works late a lot.  He has bishopric meetings and tries to attend youth activities as well.  He is also preparing for the CPA exams.  He is very busy.  Everyone was very kind and accommodating and he was able to spend a lot of time with me.  (Tender Mercy #4).  He was such a support to me, as he always is.  Here is a quote from a facebook post I wrote after two weeks in the hospital,

"I have the sweetest, kindest, most handsome husband! He's my hero! He's had to take care of packing the kids, laundry and taking care of everything else at home. It's pretty boring on bed rest at the hospital, but Brad stlll comes everyday at lunch and after dinner. He's usually here four hours a day, plus about ten hours on Satudays; I'm sure he's spent well over 70 hours here already! Now that's true love!"

Staying in the hospital is expensive.  The hospital bill alone was $40,000, but because of our high-deductible insurance, we only had to pay $4,000 and everything else was 100% covered.  We had been depositing money in our Health Savings Account all year, so we already had it.  There are additional bills with the obstetricians, anesthesiologists, ultrasounds, etc.  It would be a nightmare if we owed all that money. (Tender Mercy #5).

I was in danger of bleeding to the point of hemorrhage and needing a blood transfusion, which is why I had to stay at the hospital.  It was rather disconcerting.  We prayed that I would be safe and healthy.  When I bled again at 36 weeks, it was enough to send me to the OR for an emergency c-section, but I didn't end up needing the extra blood they had on hand for me (Answered Prayer #4).

If ever the bleeding couldn't be stopped, they would have rushed me in for an emergency delivery.  32 weeks is two months early and she would surely have to spend quite a while in the Newborn Intensive Care.  We prayed constantly that she could stay in long enough to be able to come home with us.  She was born at 36 weeks.  I had already been in the hospital nearly 4 weeks.  She could have come at any time, but luckily held off.  She was born nearly a month early, but was 6 pounds 10 ounces and was healthy! (Answered prayer #5)

We have had so many wonderful family and friends praying for us throughout this whole experience.  We have been given meals and had many acts of service in our behalf.  There have been more than just the ten answered prayers and tender mercies that I mentioned; these are just some of the major ones.
We are so happy to have Elise Faith in our family!...Our family of six!!!
(My sister-in-law Jackie took all of these great photos, except the two on the green blanket, which I took.)