The Copeland Ramblings

All Together

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:09:14 -0600

Yesterday morning we received the news that we would likely be able to return home that evening! We were very excited and prayed that Emmaus’ next blood test would be our ticket home. The results came back and while they weren’t stellar, we were told that we could go home with a biliblanket. We arrived home late last night and while our house was a bit crazy (we had left thinking that we’d be home in a day or two) we were very thankful to be there. Emmaus did well his first night and let us sleep 2-3 hours at a time. The picture was complete when Canaan arrived home late this morning. My mom has had him for most of the week and I think that they were actually a little sad to have to give him up. Canaan has been amazing with Emmaus. He shows him cars, pets him and tries to give him food. We have to teach him how to be gentle with Emmaus but we are thankful that Canaan seems to be excited about having a brother.

It’s been a mellow Saturday, Emmaus has been pretty quiet and feeding well. I’ve been trying to catch up on correspondance from this past week as well as put together our December newsletter and baby announcements. The only reason I’ve been able to work at all on that stuff is because Kathleen has been hard at work doing laundry and cleaning! Emmaus also had his first bath tonight, I’m sure we’ll have pictures of that up soon! Poor Emmaus is going to be well documented just like his older brother.

Emmaus: Days 3 & 4

Light Therapy Continues

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:20:12 -0600

Emmaus is continuing to receive light therapy in Owen Sound. They’ve removed one of the three lamps because his bilirubin levels leveled off over night. He’s been much more responsive today and a lot of fun to watch! We really aren’t sure when we’ll be able to return home because besides the light therapy he is also receiving antibiotics. We’ve heard all sorts of possibilities but are hoping to find out in the morning when the doctor comes to check up on us. Here are some more pictures (follow the link below)

Emmaus: day two

Emmaus’ homecoming postponed

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:59:41 -0600

It’s been a busy day with lots of ups and downs. Just like yesterday, we started to pack up to go home when everything changed. They noticed that his body was beginning to look quite jaundiced. This is fairly common in babies after the first few days but not in the first 24 hours. Jaundice appearing in the first day is usually an indicator of something else wrong. They mentioned three potential causes, the first being the bad bruising on his face. The second idea was an rh- problem, and the last was a group B strep infection. They were going to just do light therapy in Walkerton for a few hours but it was discovered that his biliruben levels were continuing to go up very rapidly. After a quick consult with a doctor in Owen Sound, it was decided that Emmaus would be transported to a bigger hospital for more intensive light therapy to be more closely monitored. Initially, Debra wasn’t allowed to ride in the ambulance but at the last minute they changed their mind. Maybe Debra’s tears helped. We all arrived at the new hospital around 4:30pm and he has been under the lights ever since (except to nurse). He has had countless blood tests and even has a little I.V. in his foot. His biliruben levels have kept on rising since our arrival but the doctor is very pleased that it was spotted so quickly. Kathleen and I are staying in a nearby hotel since I (Norm) am not aloud to stay at the hospital. Here are a few pictures of our poor little guy, like always, click through the link at the bottom for more..

Emmaus’ Second Day Slideshow

Charles Emmaus Copeland

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:01:22 -0600

He is here! There isn’t any internet at the hospital so I’m at a coffee shop making a quick post, we’ll have more info for you when we get home tomorrow.

At 1:30pm today we almost went home because Debra’s labour hadn’t progressed. I actually had the bags packed and had taken her jacket out of the closet. Suddenly Debra had a contraction that was a step up from the others. Things went quickly from there. The crazy contractions started around 2pm and right at 6pm Emmaus arrived. And guess how long she pushed for? Only 2 minutes! For a 9 pounder! As you can see from the pictures Emmaus’ face is VERY black and blue. He’s bruised pretty bad not to mention the lack of oxygen. He’s just fine but it’ll take some time for the bruising to go down. Canaan adores him and doesn’t seem jealous at all. We had a little scare part way through the labour, they thought that a blood vessel was in the way of the water breaking but it turned out to be a false alarm. Thank the Lord! His stats are: 9lbs 1 ounce and is 21 inches long. Debra is doing great! She was absolutely amazing. It was much more intense than last time with Canaan but thankfully much shorter. She went from 5cm to full in no time. Here are a few pictures, you know there’ll be plenty more soon! Click the link below for more photos.

Charles Emmaus Slideshow

Baby Updates

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:27:24 -0600

Alright, we’re getting down to the wire so to keep our site updated I’ve embedded my twitter feed below. There won’t be new posts on the blog, all new information will be in this post. All you need to do is refresh the page!

Emmaus at 41 weeks

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:14:26 -0600

Today marks week 41 for Debra. We had an ultrasound appointment that we truly thought we’d never have to go to, but there we were! We went up to Owensound for a midwife appointment and Emmaus seems to be just fine right now. The problem is, he just can’t stay in there for too much longer! Midwives don’t typically recommend inductions unless they are necessary for the safety of the baby or mother but we are far enough that is now something we have to think about. After much discussion, an induction is planned for Wednesday in Walkerton but we are praying that Emmaus will come before hand. Tomorrow morning we will see our midwife and will be trying a few methods of natural induction (caster oil, etc.) which we hope will get her labour started. It’s obviously in the Lord’s hands and we will see Emmaus soon no matter what happens! In the next post (which will be above this one) I am going to embed my twitter feed, this will let me update the site via our cell phone when everything goes crazy. In other words, I will just be updating that one post with new information, all you have to do is refresh the page.

Citizenship - Coming Soon!

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:05:57 -0600

Last week received a letter from the government of Canada requesting more proof that Debra has legitimate ties to Canada and that it is indeed her permanent home. I don’t believe I disappointed them. I spent the next day calling, faxing and photocopying. The result was a nearly 100 page document of letters, bills, receipts and everything else I could get my hands on that document Debra’s life in Canada. We mailed it out the next day (last friday) they received it on monday (confirmed by tracking number) and by this past Thursday we had received a letter stating that Debra was ready to move to the next step - the TEST! The great thing is that all of the paperwork is basically done. She has to pass a test about the government and history of Canada and then attend a swearing in ceremony! There’s lots of studying to be done, but she’s basically been accepted and I am confident that Debra will do great on the test. Debra’s aunt Leah just completed the citizenship test yesterday and said that it wasn’t too bad - she finished it in four minutes! Deb’s test date is December 6th, we can’t wait to have it all done and over with! We started all of this about four years ago, it’s been a long expensive journey, but once it’s all done it’s permanent! Once Debra is a Canadian citizen all of the members of our family will be duel citizens except for me!

Still waiting!

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:13:50 -0600

Just wanted you all to know we are still here and waiting! Waiting on the Lord to bring the baby boy out to see us! Pray for rest, physically and emotionally and spiritually!! Please also pray for wisdom as some of my family is trying to decide if they should extend their plane tickets!

Overdue!

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:14:38 -0600

Well here we are… November 18th! One day passed due. We know that November 17th really is the right date… this was confirmed via ultrasound… they even said he looked big… back when we had our ultrasound in the summer. So here we are. My family all arrived from California yesterday safe and sound! And a beautiful blanket (close to a foot) of snow to welcome them. It is so great to have them here.

That brings me to the point of writing this post. My family traveled all this way and spent all that money on traveling to come meet Emmaus! BUT Emmaus is still inside me! This causes a lot of stress and anxiety on my part… Oh no! What if he doesn’t come before they leave!!!??? What if they miss him or even only get one day with him??? It has been so frustrating not knowing when little Emmaus is going to come! Its so hard to live life with a huge event coming and not knowing when its going to happen!

BUT there is good news! =) We have God our savior and friend to trust and rely on! Last night I woke up feeling utterly disappointed that I wasn’t in labor and that my families time was ticking away each second I didn’t go into labor. I was really struggling with my fallen humanness of anxiety and disappointment and between the facts that I know about God! Let me explain what I know to be true! Things from the bible that God has told us and things that I can trust and rely on to bring me peace through this time… then I will go on to my struggle between the two…

God LOVES me more than any human being can love. God is all powerful and can do anything anytime. God has my best interest in mind. God is working in me each day to make me more like him and to become the woman he has be to be. God is completely in control. God knows all the details that I don’t know… he sees the entire road map and I only have a low visibly of the road in front of me. I can have peace that passes understanding through trusting in the Lord. Anxiety is pointless and we are told not to be anxious for anything but to pray about everything and to trust in the Lord and thank Him. God will give me the desires of my heart (BUT my desires need to be in the right place… desiring what God has for me… remember he has my best in mind). There were many more things coming to my mind but… now I can’t think of all of them as I type this… (haha that always happens).

So I KNOW that I can rest and have COMPLETE peace in God in this situation and just relax and have fun with my family. Yet… I wake up at night stressed… I am stressed during the day being anxious that things wont go the way we all are hoping. So… I know all these things to be true and I can rest in them… yet I can still feel my self being stressed and worried. How can that be? And how can I have the peace that God promises is available to us? I laid there last night for hours asking God how to reconcile the two. I prayed and asked him to help me take that peace and rest in him and help show me where I am going wrong! I knew I would not fall asleep until I could “figure” it out.

I realized I was afraid of not liking God’s perfect plan for me. I was totally afraid that what if God doesn’t want my family to see Emmaus? Can I take that looking through the things that I know to be true and unchanging of God? Soon as I realized I needed to let go completely of what I wanted and planned for all of this and realized that He would take care of me and everything coming I felt peaceful… still human and needing to keep myself in check… but peaceful and fell asleep!

I hope that made sense to all of you reading this… I am a bit scatter brained being so far along in pregnancy… I can’t usually carry much of a useful conversation. So, if that made any sense to you then its a miracle! Thank you for reading and please pray for us and especially for me that I will be in peace knowing God is in control! Pray I can survive the last few days, I can feel my body getting more and more dilapidated each day.

Thanks!

Debra

Waiting…

norm.debra@gmail.com (Norm & Debra Copeland) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:01:17 -0600

Here were are - the eve of the due date. Canaan was four days early and while we know that one never knows what can happen we had a modest expectation that Emmaus would arrive at least a little early. It’s been very hard for Debra to wait as she gets more and more uncomfortable but we both know that God has a perfect time planned for the birth of Emmaus. We have been very thankful to have Kathleen here for the better part of this week. She has kept busy watching Canaan, doing laundry and cleaning! I’ve been able to help Debra more as well as get more work done. Thanks Kathleen!

Yep, we still don’t have heat either. I’m as shocked as you are. We had a real good dumping of snow last night, who knows, maybe it’s insulating us a bit. The new gas furnace was installed last Wednesday but the gas company can’t inspect us until tomorrow. Sure, it’s been cold but really it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be by now. The electric heater has helped a lot as well.

Another event tomorrow is the arrival of the rest of Debra’s family. They leave home in about four hours but won’t pull into our house until 7 or 8pm. Throw another midwife appointment into the mix and it’ll be a busy day tomorrow! Of course everything changes yet again if Emmaus decides to make his arrival tomorrow.

This goes without saying, but we’ll keep you very up to date via our blog when things really start rolling. I’ll create one post that you can come back to that I can update from my phone.

Thanks for your prayers!