Sunday, October 07, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Kazio's drawing
Thank you Kazio for the nice drawing. All the way from Warsaw to Chicago !
Nina gained 19 grams today and is receiving already 16ml every three hours.
Nina gained 19 grams today and is receiving already 16ml every three hours.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
A few more pictures of Nina
Today was the first day that both of us went to the hospital as visitors. Nina is doing well and receives 13ml of Anita's milk every 3 hours. Not yet from a bottle but via a small tube directly to her stomach. Her digestive system is working and gave us another new milestone today: her first poo...
Monday, October 01, 2007
A short recap...
After we heard today that Anita is going to be fine, it might be the right time for a short recap of what happened last weekend…
Wednesday night, Anita was having a lot of pain in he chest and was feeling very bad. The next day (Thursday) she had an earlier scheduled appointment with the doctor who decided to keep her in the hospital for observation because of higher liver enzyme values in the blood he drew from her that day. The next day (Friday), blood results were looking fine again and as Anita was feeling well, she was allowed to leave the hospital and go home.
Saturday morning Anita woke up with a lot of pain in her chest and back again. As the pain was really bad she called for her doctor who advised her to go see him in the hospital, where we arrived at around 11:30 AM. As earlier taken urine samples showed no reasons for concern regarding blood poisoning, our doctor asked another specialist for a second opinion and drew more blood from Anita in the meantime. Also, Anita received drugs to help her deal with her pain.
The other specialist was pretty clear in his diagnosis: Anita’s complaints were most probably caused by HELLP syndrome. When you google HELLP, you will see that this not very common syndrome is a form of blood poisoning that can cause serious risks for mother and child.
In the meantime the results of the blood samples arrived and showed increased liver enzyme values again. It was decided that Anita should stay in the hospital for further observation. More blood was drawn for further testing.
When the new blood test results, showing further increased enzyme values, arrived at the beginning of the evening, things started to go really fast. The doctor was called back to the hospital and Anita was prepared for an early delivery of the baby. This delivery was necessary in order to save mother and child.
At 21:55 our Nina was born in an operation room. 2 months early.
Unfortunately, Anita was not able to enjoy her newborn daughter as her blood continued to deteriorate. The combination of a high blood pressure and worsening conditions of her blood were causing serious risks for complications which could be life threatening.
On Sunday afternoon Anita’s blood values deteriorated so much that it was decided to give her a blood transfusion. Sunday evening we heard that the transfusion was successful and had a positive effect on Anita’s blood quality.
After the transfusion Anita’s blood continued to improve and today (Monday), the doctor told us that the critical phase was over and that Anita should be fine again.
Nina will have to stay in the hospital for at least another 4 weeks to grow and get stronger. Looking back on the last 72 hours, this seems like a small offer.
This morning, Anita was able to see and hold our Nina for the first time…
It is an understatement to say that I'm the happiest man on this planet.
Wednesday night, Anita was having a lot of pain in he chest and was feeling very bad. The next day (Thursday) she had an earlier scheduled appointment with the doctor who decided to keep her in the hospital for observation because of higher liver enzyme values in the blood he drew from her that day. The next day (Friday), blood results were looking fine again and as Anita was feeling well, she was allowed to leave the hospital and go home.
Saturday morning Anita woke up with a lot of pain in her chest and back again. As the pain was really bad she called for her doctor who advised her to go see him in the hospital, where we arrived at around 11:30 AM. As earlier taken urine samples showed no reasons for concern regarding blood poisoning, our doctor asked another specialist for a second opinion and drew more blood from Anita in the meantime. Also, Anita received drugs to help her deal with her pain.
The other specialist was pretty clear in his diagnosis: Anita’s complaints were most probably caused by HELLP syndrome. When you google HELLP, you will see that this not very common syndrome is a form of blood poisoning that can cause serious risks for mother and child.
In the meantime the results of the blood samples arrived and showed increased liver enzyme values again. It was decided that Anita should stay in the hospital for further observation. More blood was drawn for further testing.
When the new blood test results, showing further increased enzyme values, arrived at the beginning of the evening, things started to go really fast. The doctor was called back to the hospital and Anita was prepared for an early delivery of the baby. This delivery was necessary in order to save mother and child.
At 21:55 our Nina was born in an operation room. 2 months early.
Unfortunately, Anita was not able to enjoy her newborn daughter as her blood continued to deteriorate. The combination of a high blood pressure and worsening conditions of her blood were causing serious risks for complications which could be life threatening.
On Sunday afternoon Anita’s blood values deteriorated so much that it was decided to give her a blood transfusion. Sunday evening we heard that the transfusion was successful and had a positive effect on Anita’s blood quality.
After the transfusion Anita’s blood continued to improve and today (Monday), the doctor told us that the critical phase was over and that Anita should be fine again.
Nina will have to stay in the hospital for at least another 4 weeks to grow and get stronger. Looking back on the last 72 hours, this seems like a small offer.
This morning, Anita was able to see and hold our Nina for the first time…
It is an understatement to say that I'm the happiest man on this planet.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Chicago Air & Water 2007
A small photo impression from the busiest airshow in the world. The weather was far from perfect this year, but we had a great afternoon filled with the smell of burnt kerosene and earbreaking noise of afterburners...
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Monday, July 23, 2007
Sailing on a monday evening
Enjoying the sunset over Waukegan from Lake Michigan.
Summer is still going strong here so we are trying to make the most of it and get out on the lake as often as possible. Today Staszek made it home on time after work and we had two great hours of fresh Lake Michigan air. The wind was not that great, fortunately the sunset was.
Summer is still going strong here so we are trying to make the most of it and get out on the lake as often as possible. Today Staszek made it home on time after work and we had two great hours of fresh Lake Michigan air. The wind was not that great, fortunately the sunset was.
Sunny study
A sunny Saturday afternoon...
Our house is full of nice little corners where you can sit down and relax. A favourite spot of the cats is the lounge chair in the study. In the afternoon when the sun comes in through windows from 3 sides, it's the perfect place for a nap.
Our house is full of nice little corners where you can sit down and relax. A favourite spot of the cats is the lounge chair in the study. In the afternoon when the sun comes in through windows from 3 sides, it's the perfect place for a nap.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
4th of July
Independence day in Waukegan 2007: sailing in the afternoon and watch the evening fireworks from the boat in the Marina.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Sailing
Last year November we decided that we need to make use of the fact that we are living so closely to the fifth biggest lake in the world and purchased a small sailing boat. Our new place in Waukegan is three minutes away from a Marina at Lake Michigan so you can imagine how we spend our summer weekends and weekday evenings....We love it!
Visitors from Amsterdam
We had a great time with Marysia and Reinier who visited us for the last two weeks.
They were the first guests in our new place in Waukegan and were kind enough to help us with some of the last projects (assembling the bbq, cuttin a dead tree into pieces (thanks Reinier!), planting seeds, etc.).
We had drinks in the signature lounge, picknicked at Ravinia, went sailing and generally enjoyed the time together.
They were the first guests in our new place in Waukegan and were kind enough to help us with some of the last projects (assembling the bbq, cuttin a dead tree into pieces (thanks Reinier!), planting seeds, etc.).
We had drinks in the signature lounge, picknicked at Ravinia, went sailing and generally enjoyed the time together.
Finished!
After a too long renovation project can we finally enjoy our new, old house.
Pictures say more than words:
More pictures about the inside soon...
Pictures say more than words:
More pictures about the inside soon...
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