Sunday, February 14, 2010

How can I help?

I get asked this question so often, and while I am ever grateful for the loving support of family and friends, the truth is that we don't know yet what help we'll need. We're not being purposely evasive, I promise! :-) We will absolutely know more about our needs once baby gets here. What we can tell you is that for the moment, we're totally set. My mom, bless her heart, is coming to town Monday afternoon (the 15th) and planning to stay a month or so to help us out in whatever way we need. THANK YOU MOM!!! (Then Dusk's dad Alan and his wife Jan will be coming to help after that - we're so blessed!) For at least the next week or two, we're set - I've loaded up our freezer with 2 lasagnas, a manicotti, baked potato soup and now, chicken pot pie (what can I say? I've been nesting and cooking).

Our dear friend Natalie (from church) has offered to set up a dinner rotation, so I know we'll be taking advantage of that at some point. My guess would be that it will be sometime after the baby's surgery - maybe the week after. It will largely depend on whether I am able to leave the hospital to come have dinner with my mom, Dusk and Sierra or not. If you live locally, but do not attend our church and would like to help out with meals, we welcome the help! I'll post Natalie's contact info on the blog once we get closer to the rotation and you can totally help out!

In the meantime, there are really only 2 things we need: your prayers - and your blood.

PRAYERS: Please continue to pray for a miracle for baby and health and peace for Dusk and I this week. I have come down with a pretty bad head cold, so that is complicating things a bit. I called both the OB and cardiologist on call today and have been cleared by both of them to continue with the c-section as planned on Tuesday. But I sure would love to be past this cold by then as it will undoubtably make my c-section recovery easier if I'm not also fighting a cold at the same time; not to mention that they likely won't let me into either the NICU or PCICU to spend time with baby if I'm coughing or showing signs of illness. (Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be much concern with baby catching it from me - just the inconvenience of me not being allowed into the NICU.)

BLOOD: CHLA does allow directed blood donations for patients, so if any of you are interested, we'd love to have you donate blood for baby. (I am not eligible for donation, being in c-section recovery - and Dusk is likely also ineligible due to medications for his heart condition, so we're looking to other close friends and family members to help us out.) If you are interested, donations have to be made to CHLA between 2/16 and 2/18 (so that there's enough time to test and clean it) and you need to know baby's name and DOB to donate (so, you have to wait until after baby is born). The blood donation center at CHLA is open Tues-Thurs, 8am-4:30pm and you can call 323-361-2441 to set up an appointment. If you are interested in donating blood, please email me and I'll make sure you're on the email list of people who need to know baby's blood type as soon as we know it. Thank you in advance!

Thank you so much for all of your help and prayers - we're so blessed by all of you and so appreciate all of your love and support as we're about to embark on this scary journey!

2 comments:

  1. This is Natalie--my e-mail is Natalie.LeVeck@gmail.com. If you want to get on the list to sign up for meals, shoot me an e-mail with your contact information. Once I know the Bennett's needs, I'll contact you and start coordinating!

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  2. Dear Amy,

    First of all congratulations to you for being such an extraordinary Godly woman, and God bless your courage and heart. Of course, also congratulations to Bodie's birth! He is BEAUTIFUL!

    I am so sorry for being late in my writing... I just learned about your blog. Michael and I wanted to see if we can help you guys in any way... we'll bring dinners and help you in other ways if you need us to. PLEASE let me know what you need help with.

    My heart sincerely goes out to you and your family during this trying time... I had a very challenging pregnancy which could have had a difficult outcome, so I feel the heaviness of your situation. Please know that we will pray for you and Dusk, and Sierra and baby Bennett DAILY! God is all powerful, and I know He makes miracles happen every day.

    I hope you will feel free to ask for help if there's anything we can do for you.

    God bless you so richly, and BIG kisses to your beautiful son.:o)

    With love,

    Nairi Jeppson (from Del Rey Hills)

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