July 2 Email Update

Dear Friends,

Claire, Jeff & Lydie enjoyed a great family vacation last week in St. Simon's with Jeff's parents, brother & sister-in-law Jason & Becky, and their six year old twins, Anna & Drew. They were grateful, again, for the chance to escape reality and spend quality time with family at the beach.

They met with both their perinatologist & obgyn on Monday. Again, both doctors expressed surprise that Baby Boy Barnett is still with us. I guess they are really expecting that a cord injury is going to take him before he is born, but I think this baby has other plans :)

Claire will be induced when she is about 36 weeks along, and we now have a tentative date for that. She will be admitted to the hospital the week of July 21, probably on that Wednesday night (the 23rd), starting a pitocin drip the next morning.

She has an extensive & detailed birth plan that was created with the Neonatal Loss staff at Northside, and they will also be meeting with the neonatologist once more, before the birth, to get a better understanding of what they can expect to happen once the baby is born.

I wanted to share with you a blog that has really touched our family. The Smith family, while pregnant with their fourth daughter, got just about the same news that Claire & Jeff have gotten about their baby boy. Angie & Todd (who sings for the Christian group Selah) have documented their experience in this blog, and shared their deepest emotions regarding every step of this journey- from the day they got the news that something was "wrong" with their child in January, to the day Audrey Caroline was born & died in April of this year.

Claire and I sat at my computer the night this blog was shared with us, sobbing together as we read. Angie's unwavering Christian faith in light of this unbearable sadness is amazing. Take a moment and visit their blog- I think it is the very best way to try and understand what Claire & Jeff are experiencing, and will experience. And, thank you again, Kristine, for sharing this with us.

www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com

This is the song that the Smith family, and the band Selah, wrote for their beautiful daughter Audrey Caroline. You can listen to it on their blog.

I Will Carry You

There were photographs I wanted to take
Things I wanted to show you
Sing sweet lullabies, wipe your teary eyes
Who could love you like this?
People say that I am brave but I'm not
Truth is I'm barely hanging on
But there's a greater story
Written long before me
Because He loves you like this

So I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry you
All my life
And I will praise the One Who's chosen me
To carry you

Such a short time
Such a long road
All this madness
But I know
That the silence
Has brought me to His voice
And He says...
I've shown her photographs of time beginning
Walked her through the parted seas
Angel lullabies, no more teary eyes
Who could love her like this?

I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry you
All your life
And I will praise the One
Who's chosen Me
To carry you

Blessings to you all, and thank you for your continued prayers.
love kathie