June 24: During the night Vita lost a lot of blood, they stopped that in the morning and gave her a transfusion but she was very weak. I am so so so grateful that we have these walkie-talkies otherwise I simply wouldn't have been able to talk to her. Vita was on the second floor so I couldn't just look in the window of her room, and they kept her in bed till Thursday, and in the hospital for 10 days. Its great that Vita's Mum was able to do all the cooking to take to Vita, I hardly had time to feed myself.
Meanwhile they sent our baby to the central children's hospital in Boyarka. I followed the ambulance and talked to the doctor and she said that he's a "problem child" - her words. It seems his lungs got infected because he drank the dirty water on the way out so wasn't getting enough oxygen. When he was on oxygen he was fine, but when they turned it off he went blue. They also couldn't rule out heart problems. They said that "life for him is difficult" - being so little its not so easy to throw off an infection. They said to come back next day and they'd know more definitely what to do.
Vita's Mum took the doctor aside and asked if she needed a bribe and she said that things are different these days, this is a major hospital and not a village hospital, and they will provide everything automatically and simply give us the bill. Since Vita was in the Chernobyl zone we get something like a 95% discount, and the nurses/doctors are all well enough paid so they don't need any extras. Nice to be working with a reasonably westernized system.
Thank you for your prayers. I keep reminding Vita's Mum that if she would only trust in God then this wouldn't be such a fearful time for her. Sometimes I think she needs more prayer than Vita and Tim.
June 28: I collated all the congratulatory emails and they took 4 pages once I reduced the font sizes - then I passed them on to Vita via the nurses. Vita asked me to pass this back to you guys:
"I don't know lots of you who are writing these emails, but thanks for your support and warm words, and I do appreciate your prayers. When I read these emails I just cry, realizing that I have people supporting me like this, and it seems like everything's not so bad and everything will be fine, just to feel the support from people."
At that point they were both still in different hospitals. I went to Boyarka on Saturday and the doctor and senior nurse had already gone home for the weekend so I couldn't get a detailed report BUT the young nurses on duty let me do absolutely everything I wanted so it turned out to be a major plus (seems no one has told them the rules of a Ukrainian hospital yet). I opened a little door in the incubator and held his hand, took a photo of him, then a nurse took a photo of me with the incubator, watched him cry for a while (seems the flash disturbed him), chatted about pampers (he goes thru 8 a day which costs about 50 grn (NZ$17) a week - more than the average Ukrainian's wage), and found out that they feed him every 3 hrs, he lost 300 grams after he was born but now that he's in a stable condition and being fed that should reverse (he's currently 1.7kg (3lb 14oz)), and to my relief they said Vita will be in the same room as him when she eventually gets there.
It was a 3-day w/end in Ukraine so they weren't even checking on Vita (such a contrast from the city hospital). People started telling us we would need to pay to get her out of the hospital. One shift was so bad they actually said to Vita that she shouldn't expect any services from them considering they only receive 100 grievnas a month (NZ$33).
I'd like to add that its not just Vita saying thankyou, we both really do appreciate the support we have felt from your emails, its been very very encouraging for both of us (c:
July 3: We took Vita to the regional children's hospital in Boyarka. She was smiling and joking all morning, so good to see her looking more her normal self, altho she's only 45 kgs. She didn't have much energy either, 30 min in the market in the hot sun (looking for clothes small enough for Timka) and she almost fainted. I wasn't allowed to see Timka (pronounced Teemka - or TD) but they wheeled his 'kamera' (incubator) to Vita's bedside straight away and told her to get ready for a trial first feeding in a coupla hours time. Seems the lung infection has gone and and all the other potentials have disappeared but he was still on a glucose drip.
Some of you don't know the following awesome details:
On the Sunday that Vita went into labour a month early I was in church and knew nothing about it. In fact, no one but Vita had any idea what was going on and she felt very lonely and scared. But a couple in Brisbane, Australia and a church in Dannevirke, New Zealand 'just happened' to feel they should pray for us right at that time. Isn't God so good?
And when I heard Timka's cry on Monday evening I immediately wanted to call him Slavik which means Glory because I wanted his name to say Praise God. Not the most perfect match, but in Russian there's not much difference between the words Praise and Glory. But Vita didn't like that name, and she reminded me she liked Timothy, but I didn't think much of that name so then she suggested Caleb (Halev in Russian). While we were thinking about it over the week, we told no one, and altho I found out that Timothy means Praise God or Honouring God we were leaning more towards Caleb until God interrupted, and a guy I don't even know wrote to my aunt and said:
"As I am praying for this little boy and not knowing what he is called, I sense the name of Timothy who was Paul's protege and pastor of the church at Ephesus. I don't know why when I pray for Gareth's baby boy, the name Timothy keeps appearing on my mind. Praise the Lord for I know that the boy will be well."
A bit on the stunning side, but suddenly I'm perfectly happy with the name Timothy, and its meaning expresses exactly what I want to do and what I want my son's life to reflect!
I just had to share these amazing examples of God's love (c:
July 5: Having caller ID on my cell phone I was able to get the number of the public pay phone in the hospital so I call Vita there (gave her a fright the first time, she really didn't believe it would actually ring). She's feeling a little low just being in the hospital, but she occasionally asks the other girl in her room to keep an eye on Timothy so she can nip outside for a breath of fresh air which is a real blessing - she even had time to walk 5 min down the road and buy some salami.
The doctor says that altho Timka is getting stronger every day, they can't actually rule out further problems with his heart and lungs - its just a waiting game. The senior nurse reckons there'll be no further problems which is why she said there aren't any, but the doctor is much more cautious. He puts on about 15 grams a day - seems so little, I guess it'll pick up as his tummy gets bigger...
July 7: Vita was allowed to bring him out to us so I got to hold him! All wrapped up tight of course, but I could feel something moving in there somewhere (c:
July 8: Tim's up to 1.9 kgs now, and one doctor tells Vita not to breast feed him 'cause it strains his heart too much and the other doctor (they come alternate days) tells her that's rubbish and to feed him all he wants.
July 14: Finally we brought him home! Weighing 2 kgs at last. See the photos...