How we got here

Here is a brief summary of the events of the past couple of weeks.  I'll discuss the details in later entries. 

As most of you probably know, Trent and I were in the process of moving back home to Houston.  On Monday, April 19 the movers loaded all of our furniture and most of our worldly goods, excluding an air mattress and a few suitcases worth of clothes, onto a truck bound for Houston.  That same day I had my final appointment with my New York OB, who gave me the green light to fly, as I was in good health.  I was to fly home on Wednesday, April 21 and Trent was to fly home the next day.  Around 5 am on Tuesday, April 20, Trent and I went to the hospital because I had been having trouble breathing.  It turns out severe preeclampsia (or HELLP syndrome for those of you in the know about these things) had come on suddenly. This disease is life-threatening to the mother and the only cure is to deliver the baby.   So I had an emergency C-section  and our daughter, Penelope Lynn Crow, was born at 28 weeks of gestation, or about 3 months premature. She weighed a whopping two pounds, two ounces.  As of today, she is doing well and so am I. 

The period between the time the doctor said we have to deliver the baby until the moment I was wheeled into recovery were the most terrifying and surreal of my life.  I'm sure Trent would say the same.

So there we were in New York, new parents and scared out of our minds.  We have only a few close friends and no family here.  All our stuff was on its way to Houston.  We needed to vacate our apartment within two weeks because it had been leased to new tenants.   Trent was to start his new job in Houston on April 30.  Penelope is expected to stay in the neonatal ICU for at least three or four months.  With me incapacitated from the surgery, poor Trent was left trying to figure out where we were going to live, what to do about his new job, how to take care of our pets (who were still at our apartment) and probably so many other things he was kind enough to leave me in the dark about.

Things have started to work out for us.  The people who leased our apartment backed out, so we can stay there until through the end of July.  Trent's new employer arranged for him to start his job in New York and will need to be up here through August or so.  I am recovering from the surgery and have been able to come up to the hospital to be with Penelope every day since I was released.  Trent was able to refurnish our apartment with Ikea furniture, dishes, etc. for next to nothing.  My parents are keeping our pets for the foreseeable future and Trent put them on a plane bound for Austin last week.  The outpouring of love and support from our family and friends has been overwhelmingly generous and selfless.  This love and support will get us through this difficult time.  Penelope is proving to be a strong little fighter and so far (knock on wood) is progressing well. 

I will give more details in later posts.  For now, please know that Penelope is doing well and so are Trent and I.