A letter from Jan!

Dear friends!
Many of you have heard the great news already which I am finally able to write to you from my own hands that Elizabeth and I became parents of a very tiny but very healthy and very beautiful daughter, her names are: GRACE ISABELLA and we will call her Isabella. The name Grace is to show our thankfulness to God who is the One Who created this miracle over the last 9 months. Many of you also have been praying for Elizabeth's situation over the last couple of days.I would like to try to express our deep thankfulness for you guys as our family in Christ and I will try to explain briefly through what we went since Sunday night.

Sunday night Elizabeth started to have contractions and a very high blood pressure which resulted in her being most uncomfortable. Therefore it was decided to get the baby that same night with a C-section. I was able to be in the Operating Theatre and hold her hand while the doctors were taking the baby out! Quite an experience which I will not forget I am sure! At 2245 hrs little Isabella was born and found totally healthy although small (1940 grams) this was because during pre eclampsia often the flow of 'food' etc for the baby can be disrupted and be less. An hour later Elizabeth was sowed back together and brought back to her room. All seemed to be well. Around 3 am I was back home, trying to put my thoughts together! At 7:30 am I got a call from the hospital that I should come back asap because Elizabeth's wound had been bleeding the whole night, and she had lost a lot of blood. They found out that her blood was not stolling very well so they wanted to control her blood first before opening the wound again to clean everything inside etc.

So on Monday afternoon she went back to the operating room where they re opened the wound, cleaned everything and I am sure I am skipping things which are important for the ext part but anyway, they wanted her to stay at least one night on the IC unit of the hospital to keep a close eye on her. Her life was not in danger at that time although she was quite sick. She was awake most of the time, but very slowly reacting and could hardly talk! And we all know how much she likes to talk!! For me, it were so far the hardest days of my life and it was about to get worse. The feeling of not being able to carry her pain and to see her laying in bed like that...... I cannot describe those feelings .... And this is how we got to Tuesday morning.

After sleeping about 5 hrs at home I got another call from the hospital around 8 am and they told me to come again asap because Elizabeth had been asking for me and she had an acute pain, very hard, in her belly, and her belly started to blow grow in size. When I got to the hospital I could not believe my eyes... She looked twice as big as she had been during the end of her pregnancy. Her belly was incredible big and still growing. THe doctors wanted to know where this inner bleeding was coming from and were very much afraid for her liver. They made things not look better than they were and told me that the coming hours were going to be very difficult and scary.

We saw the reality of it and during the hour I had with Elizabeth awake we spoke together about the reality of life and dead. And of course I am the one who should have comforted her in this situation but she was just sooo peaceful and laid back in acceptance for whatever God would do with her and us , it would be good. I don't know how to write and what to write about this hour in the hospital.....we basically said good bye knowing it could very well be for the last time here on earth. Also my parents where with us in the hospital which was great.

In the meantime there were all kind of different specialists and doctors discussing what could be the cause of the inner bleeding. But time was pressing because her belly was getting incredible big and started to put her lungs in an bad position which resulted in breathing problems.Finally around 5 pm yesterday they brought Elizabeth away for her third surgery in 3 days.They opened up her belly and what else more, and found out that the liver was in great condition which was a big plus !The cause of the blood in her belly and everywhere was.......the small drain put in at the earlier surgery was inside her belly totally blocked which resulted in the blood going everywhere except out of her body!!! So the mystery was cleared! At 8 pm last night she was back at the IC room and around 9 pm I was able to see her. She was laying there so peacefull, kept asleep and a machine breathing for her to give her lungs rest. At this moment of writing she is still kept asleep and hopefully before noon today they will wake her up. All seems much better now and we know why: it is because of God in the first place Who has been asked by sooo many of you guys. What can we say?? I spoke with Tim Tretheway last night very late but was not able to express my heart how it feels to know that worldwide people love us and miss us and pray for us and specially for Elizabeth who needs it soo much.

Also Elizabeth has been a witness in this situation to many nurses and doctors and other patients. She said THANK YOU to every single painful thing they had to do to her and kept so relaxed and peaceful, and that was something many nurses could not understand!!!

And Isabella? Again, what can I say?? The feeling of holding your daughter.....it is just crazy!!!!That little beautiful life, she looks for a 100% like Elizabeth, the shape of her face, hair, except her big blue eyes which can still change of colour as they told me!I will try to keep you updated with news as days pass by, but we pray and hope and believe that a recovery is with Elizabeth!God bless you as you are a blessing to other people!!!

With love from the Netherlands,
Jan, Elizabeth and Isabella Tuinier!