Is it time?

More details this evening, but just wanted to let everyone know that we might be having babies tomorrow! They confirmed this morning that Casey has pre-eclampsia and if it is not under control by tomorrow morning, then we're headed to the operating room! Prayers, please!!

You'll Never Know Whose Life You'll Impact

There is a twist to our story that I’ve mentioned briefly before, but which hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. For some reason preparing for the quintuplet invasion has overshadowed a few other parts of our lives. Well, it’s time this twist had its day in the sun.

It’s crazy to say, but we’ve actually seen much less of my parents since finding out about the quints than what we are accustomed. This has been hard for me because my parents have always been the involved type. From baseball games to basketball games to soccer games to football games - ok, all I did growing up was play sports – but they were always there to support me…always. My dad was my coach on several baseball teams, my mom used to run me to the batting cages whenever I asked, and both of them were there at almost every game I ever played. In college, they were there for parents’ days, they were there to help me move in and out of dorms and rentals, and they were there to help me build a wall for a new room at the fraternity house. They even used to drive down from Denton to take me to lunch on my birthday then hop in the car and drive straight back. Eight hours of driving to buy lunch for an ungrateful, arrogant, frat-daddy who at the time did not properly appreciate just how good I had it…now that’s love!

So the fact that they haven’t been around much lately is a hard pill to swallow…for them and for me. Thankfully, their absence isn’t the result of a falling out or any drama like that. No, thankfully there are a couple of qualified excuses. There’s the logistic reason – we haven’t been able to travel since September; and then there’s the real reason – my parents are in the process of adopting two little girls who were rescued from Child Protective Services.

Before the news of the quints hit us, the big news in the Jones family was these two little girls who came to live with my parents in late July. Mom and Dad got a stir in their heart five months prior while watching a segment on a Dallas news program called “Wednesday ‘s Child” which highlights a different story each week of a child (or sibling children) in foster care. They decided that their life had become too much about their own lives and not enough about others’ lives and that God was calling them to do better. So they answered the call and went to work. They filed the paperwork, took the classes, conducted the interviews with CPS, made the necessary changes to the house, and talked with close friends about this life change they were contemplating. Basically, they jumped in head first saying all along that they would pull back when God told them to pull back. Well, guess what? He never did so neither did they and quicker than they expected, the process was complete, the girls were brought to their home, and their once quiet life was suddenly anything but quiet.

So two little girls now live with my nearing-age-60-faster-than-they-would-like parents. Two little girls, ages 6 and 7, who were rescued from their horrible living conditions by Child Protective Services. Two little girls named Summer and Angel who last saw their biological mother as she was being handcuffed and driven away to a cage she won’t see the outside of for 18 years. Two little girls, half sisters whose fathers couldn’t be found and who went unclaimed by other family members over the course of seven months in foster care. Yes, thankfully, my parents haven’t been around as much as we’d like, not because that’s the way we want it or the way it’s become in a broken family, but rather because they’ve got their own call to tend to.

Amidst all of the excitement of the incredible changes taking place in our family, there has also been a bit of confusion and frustration. Selfishly, Casey and I want them here and we want them more involved in our lives. Just as selfishly, we want to be able to be more involved in the lives of these two little girls. Selfishly, we want things to be like they used to be. Selfishly, they want the same thing as we do. They, like us, question the timing of all of this. They, like us, do not understand why God chose to drive our lives in opposite directions at a time when we want nothing more than to be closer than ever. But unselfishly, they tend to the call that God placed on their hearts with every ounce of heart that they have…even if that means being involved from afar in the incredible events surrounding their son’s life. Involvement from afar is not what the Jones family is accustomed to and it hasn’t been easy. And though we’ve questioned the timing of it all, we’ve never questioned whether it was right.

I am heartened by the fact that many of my closest relationships and many of the most profound, life-perspective-changing lessons that I have learned have been forged through adversity and struggle. And maybe that’s the point in God’s timing of all this. Maybe he saw a man who needed to mature beyond the shelter and comfort of his parents’ love. Maybe he saw a mature couple who had gotten too comfortable in life and decided to give them more, knowing they had so much more to give. Maybe he saw a family that could be so much closer, so much better at living the life he designed. And maybe he decided that the best way to help them reach that potential was to allow a little adversity and struggle into their lives. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

So now two little girls have a chance at life where before they had none. Two little girls who most likely would have ended up on drugs, living with abusive men, and eventually waking each new day in a prison just like their mom’s, now have a better chance at life than most because of two incredible people I call mom and dad. And now two people who had been around the block a time or two and were oh so close to sailing off into retirement instead find themselves reliving a life they thought they’d left behind. Two lives changing two lives moment by moment, day by day.

No, this isn’t the script we would have written for our family, and this certainly isn’t the way we would have timed it, but that’s life, right? But through it all, somehow I think there will be more than just our family’s lives impacted by all of this. That’s our hope anyway. That’s how it’s always been in my family, that’s how we were taught to live life. My dad once told me that you’ll never know whose life you’ll impact by your actions and my parents have lived their lives with that truth as one of their driving forces. Sure, there is some struggle and adversity that comes into your life when you live it that way. It probably means that your heart will sometimes get pulled in opposite directions. It sometimes means that you’ll have to put your own dreams aside, no matter how noble they may be, to help another achieve their own. But then again, isn’t that the point?

*CPS rules prevents me from posting a picture of the girls, but rest assured, they are cute as can be!

God Bless,

Ethan

www.JonesLife.net

A Mixed Bag - Update from Last Night

We got a mixed bag of news this morning from the new round of testing they did on Casey. One of the indicators for pre-eclampsia is now back to normal and one is still being tested. Here's where the mix comes in - a new indicator for pre-eclampsia has popped up. The short story is that we will not be having babies today...YEAH!!

Here's the slightly longer story. They have decided to keep Casey here until the babies are born, but we are still hoping to hold out another 2 or 3 weeks before that happens. The new indicator of pre-eclampsia is that her blood platelet count is low (this is what causes your blood to clot). If it continues to drop, this will be very problematic - it's kind of hard to cut someone open if their blood doesn't clot, right? I don't know yet what they intend to do if this level continues to drop, but Dr. Reich told us that Casey would be getting a lot of attention if this did not normalize.

Casey had a good night (for her) and is doing pretty well at the moment. We are actually happy that we will be staying here for the remainder as it was getting pretty difficult to manage her care at the house and she was just miserable all the time. Apparently, my bedside manner isn't as gentle and patient as it could be...who would've guessed?? Eliot in the meantime is well taken care of by a small army of good friends!

I'll update as often as I can. Please continue to pray for Casey's health and the health of the babies!!

God bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

Calm Down Casey, It's Not Time Yet!!

Well, I'm writing this blog from a hospital room where Casey and I are settled in for the night. Casey's blood pressure acted up again today at a regular ob/gyn visit and she had Casey admitted to the hospital so further tests could be run and her blood pressure could be monitored. So far, the blood pressure has calmed down, but while she was here, the contractions she's been having for a couple of months decided to intensify. Finally, two of the tests that they ran showed an early indicator of pre-eclampsia which, according to Wikipedia is, "a medical condition where hypertension arises in pregnancy (pregnancy-induced hypertension) in association with significant amounts of protein in the urine." Problem is, pre-eclampsia is a very dangerous condition for Casey and the babies and can only be cured by delivery of the babies.

We don't know much more than that at the moment. They are monitoring Casey's contractions as well as her blood pressure and will run another round of tests tomorrow to determine if her pre-eclampsia has progressed beyond where it is now. Our doctor really can't give us any expectation of what the tests results will be as she has seen the condition run in both directions. And so we wait...and we pray...

We are not ready for these babies to come into the world. Reaching the big milestone of 28 weeks was a huge relief, but our goal all along has been to make it into February to give the babies the best chance of a great start in life. Please pray for Casey's body to quiet down, at least for a couple of more weeks. Please pray for the health of the babies if they do make their debut sooner than we would like. Please pray for God's hands at work in the lives of our doctors and nurses who will be faced with so many difficult decisions over the next few days and weeks!

God Bless,

Ethan

http://www.joneslife.net/

Quick Update

We've had a couple of busy days and I'm running a little behind, but I wanted to post a quick update so everyone knows that all is pretty quiet on the Quint Front for the moment. We have two doctor visits this week - one tomorrow with Dr. Reich and one Thursday with Dr. Berry - but so far not much has changed in the last few days. Casey is certifiably miserable right now, but isn't begging for the babies to be pulled out just yet. It's safe to say she hasn't lost her sanity...yet!

We had a great Sunday kickoff at our church, Riverbend, this week and we were on TV again this morning, but I'll have to blog more on those topics later. Go to the media page of the website for the link to the TV interview!

Thanks so much to all of you for your continued prayers and support!

God Bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

The Nursery Takes Shape

Over the Christmas break, the nursery really started to come together. My mom and I went out to buy curtains for the room (an activity that proved to be much more difficult than I imagined!) and my dad put them up. Then on New Year's Day, Payton, Mark, and their daughter, Harper, came over to bring us lunch and hang out for a while. Before heading our way, they stopped by Babies 'R Us to pick up two of our cribs that had been delivered and they helped us put them together while the girls played and Casey held down the couch (Thank you, Merriman's - y'all ROCK!). With that, the last thing needed to complete the nursery will be the three cribs that haven't been delivered yet. I think the babies will like it...even Jack!

God Bless,

Ethan

http://www.joneslife.net/

The New Normal

Throughout the pregnancy, the way Casey feels on a day-to-day basis has changed quite a bit. Unfortunately for her, the change has not usually been positive. The first couple of months, she was nauseous...a lot. After that, she had major food aversions, but was hungry all the time. I'm not talking just hungry, I mean famished, like she hadn't had sustenance in days. She was also growing very fast and had a lot of swelling and other aches and pains during this phase. And oh yeah, by the way, she had two surgeries during this phase - one planned, one unplanned. Ok, she's going to correct me on this one - the unplanned surgery wasn't technically surgery, but whatever, she had to be rushed to the ER, drugged up, stuck with a really long needle to drain a huge cyst on her ovary, then spent the rest of the night in the hospital...I can call that surgery if I want!

Next came the pressure down low and the acid reflux. After that, sleepless nights were the norm, along with just about everything else mentioned above except for the nausea. Back pain came along shortly after that and difficulty moving around. Shortness of breath, major baby movement, a freak sharp shooting pain up her spine, bleeding gums, stuffy nasal pressure, false labor, one more night in the hospital, and bed rest all came along in November. December has brought more of the same as well as a sore throat, just more intense than before. Now that January has arrived, the intensity has ratcheted up a bit more.

All of these symptoms have sort of come in phases which have lasted anywhere from 2-4 weeks before the next phase begins. Through it all, whenever I've asked her how she feels, she generally rattles off her list of current ailments which for the most part have been consistent with whatever phase she was in. So for us, the phase became "the new normal". She'd run down a list of 5 or 6 issues that would be awful to deal with, but truthfully had become her norm and were therefore not much cause for concern. Basically, "the new normal" meant, "I'm miserable, but no more than what I've been and there is nothing to worry about at the moment." Great way to go through life, huh?

Well, it seems lately that "the new normal" has only lasted a few days before a different new normal has taken its place. She has been feeling really rough since the day after Christmas and it has gotten a bit worse every 3 or 4 days since then. I think the new normal from here on out is that she is going to be beyond miserable and it's going to take every bit of strength that she's got to keep from losing her mind. She's dealt with a lot up to this point, but we're about to see just how much this girl can take. It's tough to watch because there is so little that can be done to make her comfortable. She's shown a toughness that I've never seen and hopefully she'll never have a need for again once all this is over. She'll need to match misery for grit every step of the way. That's right, Casey Ann and grit go hand in hand these days!!

Pray for her as often as you will. Pray for her strength of spirit, pray for her relative comfort, pray for her patience, pray for her perseverence, pray for her health. Pray for her in anyway that you can think of, but please pray for her. We both know that God will see her through this last month in his way, but we also know how valuable everyone's prayers have been up to this point and how valuable they'll be as the pregnancy wages its final battle on her body. Please pray...

God bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net