People all over the country are praying for a local Honey Brook couple and their unborn child.
Aug. 21, Pastor of local Glenmore Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, Matthew York and his pregnant wife Tabitha were preparing to fly home after he attended the CM&A required church conference held Aug. 15-18 at the national office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“I had joined him on the 18th to vacation and celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. It was the first time I had ever left my youngest for more than a night and we were eager to get home to our three boys,” said Tabitha.
Their trip visiting the Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, and other beautiful, Colorado sites had wrapped up with Sunday worship at the CM&A Lakewood Co. church where they met the pastor and congregation, then it was off to Denver and then they would be home.
“At 6:30 p.m. my water broke!” she said. “I was about 27 weeks pregnant, and we quickly headed for the University of Colorado Hospital.”
They admitted her for preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) after tests confirmed she was leaking amniotic fluid and the fluid was low. The ultrasound showed that the baby was ok, but she would have to stay at the hospital until the baby was born.
“We were devastated,” said Matthew.
Next followed a steady stream of high risk doctors, nurses, case workers, social workers, and NICU doctors and nurses. They were told this happens to less than 3 percent of pregnant women; it comes with lots of complications and it was unsafe to travel. Fifty percent of women go into labor within a week of having PROM. The other 50 percent can have complications ranging from infection and sepsis, cord prolapse, or a detached placenta from the uterus.
It was a medical emergency 1,500 miles from home and her boys, and touch and go for her unborn baby.
In a hospital unit for high risk pregnancies Tabitha, who is a Reading Hospital ER nurse in Pennsylvania, knew the drill.
“After I stabilized, Matthew flew home Aug. 24 to care for our three sons Matthan, 6, Marcus, 4, and Miles, 22 months,” she said.
Her treatment consists of IV and oral antibiotics; steroids to help the baby’s lungs grow; regular temp checks, and a 20 minute baby monitor twice daily to check the baby.
Meanwhile back in PA, Matthew has been given a paid leave from the church to care for their children and do what he can for the church.
“It’s overwhelming some days with three very active boys. Other days it’s an absolute blessing to have them to myself. Regardless, I have a tremendous amount of appreciation for all that my wife does for our family, now that it has been laid on my shoulders,” said the pastor.
“There is no way anyone can get through this without Jesus. With my wife and baby miles away and my boys here, I am grateful to our neighbors, our family and church family for making us meals, helping with the kids, care packages and cards for my wife and the prayers that sustain us,” he added.
Out in Colorado everyday Tabitha gets up and opens the blinds to let the sunlight pour in and thanks God for another day alive and that soon she will be bringing home another boy, and will see her children and husband again.
She has some freedom to walk outside on the hospital and university campus. There are still tears, and a steady stream of visitors from the Colorado church they visited bring care packages, cards, and prayers.
“On Sept. 19, my ultrasound shows my amniotic fluid normal even though still leaking. Michael is growing super fast. His estimated weight is 5 lbs, 2oz., I measure 3 full weeks ahead,” said Tabitha.
The doctors scratch their heads and say her dates must be wrong. She says, “What I know is that we serve an awesome and powerful God who can easily cause a little baby to grow faster than what is expected, and hopefully do better than expected even though he will born a preemie,”
“It’s devastating that it is over a month since I have physically seen my children. Through donations they are coming to see me Sept. 18-21st with their Daddy and my sister to help maneuver them through the airport.
She is being induced on Oct. 11 at 34 weeks, her due date is Nov. 22.
“This is going to be Michael’s birth story and it’s going to be wonderful, and in the grand scheme of life it is only a speed bump. Despite these hard times we have been amazingly blessed both me, here in CO, and Matthew and the boys in PA. We know, and experience Gods love for us and his plans for our lives every day, and that’s what we trust in, and what we hope in,” says Tabitha.
People all over the country are praying for them and they sense those prayers, as some have already being answered.
Friends have set up a Go Fund Me Page. They already owe their $12,000 medical deductible, Medical bills are growing. They need your help and prayers for this child at https://www.gofundme.com/yorkfamilysupport.
Send me your thoughts at quaintancecarol@gmail.com.
