Nora Elizabeth Woodward

As you all have likely heard by now, we have two kids! Sarah entered labor slowly on Saturday, and despite the hospitals best efforts to slow her down, Nora was on her way... She was born at 5:51pm. (The doctor was still on his way back from Iron Man 2). Despite being small ( 4lbs, 11 oz; 19 inches; born @ 32 weeks), Nora appeared to be strong, have developed lungs, and on the fast track to coming home. Some in the NICU last night were praising her as looking as strong as the average 34-weeker. We felt disoriented after being hit by the "pre-term-labor-train" again, but were thankful that Nora showed no complicating factors.


Then on Sunday morning Sarah went to the NICU to visit her baby girl while I was at home with Eli. She found doctors doing an ultrasound on her heart to make sure she could take the anesthesia, which would be required for her surgery, which was needed because they had determined she had a bowel blockage nearly identical to Eli's. Clearly, this was a hard time for Sarah because it was soo unexpected after all the happy reports we heard the night before. Nora went into surgery in the afternoon and came out safely. She actually had 4 blockages, which required the removal of about 5% of her small intestine all together (we can show you surgeon's drawings that explain if you're really interested...). The doctor expects no further issues or complications but, like Eli, it will be weeks before she can begin to eat by mouth, and then possibly a couple more weeks before she can come home.


We'd certainly appreciate your prayers:
1) that Nora's incisions and sutures would heal cleanly and not cause any delays in her ability to digest.
2) that she would continue to grow strong and heal quickly so that we can bring her home sooner.
3) that we'd be protected from bitterness at the situation.
4) that we'd have wisdom to know how to care for Nora in this situation while not straining or exhausting ourselves running back and forth to the NICU.


Sarah's parents are here now and providing great help. We're happy to accept visitors to the house (Sarah should be home Monday morning) or meals, just be aware that we may not be home unless you call your email first. Still, someone will most likely be at our house at all times.



Thank you for your prayers and support!!
- ben, sarah, eli & nora


PS - yes, yes... we all recognize the irony of the post below...