Precious Pictures

Christian is with Jesus

Our son has passed on to be with Jesus. On Friday morning as we were planning on taking him home and he had an episode where his mind couldn't tell his body to breath. He is such a fighter that he had around 8 episodes throughout the day as Leah and I held him. At 8:00 pm our son went to sleep and Jesus came down and carried is soul to heaven. We were so blessed with the time that we had with him. He was a perfect little man.

Our little man has touched so many hearts and has taught us all how powerful love can be and how time is such a precious gift. We will cherish every minute spent with him until we go ourselves to be with the Lord.

Thank you everyone for your prayers, visits, and gifts. We truly couldn't have walked this path without your help. God has given us strength and comfort knowing Christian will be whole again in his arms.


We are going to have a memorial service for Christian and we will post the time and place on our next post.

Thank you all again and God bless,

Ryan and Leah

Thank you Lord!!!

Our prayers have be answered...our boy is alive and we have been given more than an hour with him...as a matter of fact it's been three days and it looks like we will be able to take him home.







We can't thank you all enough for the prayers and well wishes. We have before us the miracle of prayer. Thank you Lord for listening to our prayers. We have truly been blessed.

Please excuse our delay in posts...the hospital internet won't let us access our blog editor. We plan on being home on Thrusday or Friday.

God bless, Love Ryan, Leah, and Christian

Beautiful Baby Update....

Ryan & Leah would like to announce the birthday of Christian Dale Paige. He was born on August 18, 2008, weighing 4 lbs. 14 oz., and is 18 inches long.

Family and friends are encouraged to stop by The Birthing Center at Naples Community Hospital North.

Please check back for pictures and an update on their progress.

Fey Update...

Just a quick update on Tropical Storm Fay and the Paiges...We are all prepared and safe. The storm is heading for us here in Naples, but doesn't look like anything except a rain maker, and we definitely need the rain. Thanks for the concerns. It's off to the next ultra sound. so wish us luck.

Love,

Ryan & Leah

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

I forgot to mention...yesterday, when I was at the hospital, I met with a lovely nurse who headed the bereavement services for the hospital where Christian will be born. She told me of a variety of things they do to help ease the pain of parents whose hearts suffer from having a child who is sick, is dying, or has died. One of the organizations she plugged me into was an organization called, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. It's an organization dedicated to preserving the memory of our beloved children through photography. All of the services and photographs (including a disk of the pictures) are donated by photographers in communities all over the country.

The reason I wanted to share this information is because there have been many families who have contacted me and have shared heartbreaking stories similar to what Ryan and I are experiencing. The website is: http://www.nilmdts.com/ and it has wonderful information for other parents wanting to capture their precious and fleeting moments with their children like Ry and I are planning to do.


Through our journey with Christian, we have learned that we all here to help each other. You have reached out to me and helped my family tremendously through prayer and friendship. I hope to be able to reach out to others too and pay your kindness forward.

Love to all,

Leah

A little Scare

Hi Everyone,

I guess it wouldn't be a "normal" day in the Paige household without drama! Yesterday, I went to the hospital for a routine stress test on Christian's heart and we didn't do so well. Apparently, Christian's heart rate showed some deccelaration which at this late stage is not a good sign. After 3.5 hours in the hospital and, yet, another ultrasound we were told to come back this morning and repeat the test.

We were told to also bring a packed bag and prepare to be induced today! You can imagine how scared and unprepared we were when the nurses told us that! I was panicked...there is still much to do here at home before our originally scheduled delivery date of August 22nd! The thought of being induced a full week early was certainly not anything Ryan and I ever considered! Even though our whole pregnancy has been one unplanned event after another!

I woke up this morning absolutely certain that our stress test result would be much better today! I prayed hard for God to give us a little more time to get ready for Christian's birthday.

On the way to the hospital, we stopped and grabbed breakfast of a strawberry banana smoothie, blueberry muffin, AND a cheese danish to make sure my little boy was bouncing off the walls for his stress test! And, sure enough, he did just that! Another reprieve!!

We are still on target to for next Friday! Woo Hoo!

Dear Friends,

We met with my OB/GYN yesterday and finally scheduled an induction for August 22nd...next Friday at 7:00 a.m. Due to the fact that Christian's growth has been so slight, our doctor's felt that the inducing labor would give us the best chance to have a birthday with Christian and to spend a little time with him. We're going to be giving birth at The Birth Place here in Naples.

To tell you the truth, I was so nervous when we scheduled the date. This is the day I've been praying for and dreading at the same time. I am so excited to meet my son FINALLY! To be able to hold Christian in my arms with his father beside me is a dream I've been wishing for for so long. We are going to be parents! But how much time will we have with him, I don't know. That's the part I dread. Will I be strong enough to handle what is to come? For now, I shove those fears in the back of my mind and try to focus on the joy we will experience when we meet him on Friday.

There is so much that we are trying to accomplish in this short period of time. I haven't written about it at all these past few months, but Ryan and I have been very busy trying to shut our family business down so that we can devote all our time to Christian when he comes. It's been a struggle for us because the Florida heat hinders my ability to help Ryan as much as I'd like. And he is not the type of person to ask for help. Also, as many of you already know, Ryan is also a full time firefigher. When he's not working 24 hours at the fire station, he is trying to finish projects for our clients and move our business from our warehouse back to our shop at home. I don't know how he does it...He's is truly amazing. I can tell the stress is finally wearing on him though...he looks so tired these days. But he never complains...he just tells me that he can't wait to spend time with our son.

I don't know how we've managed these past several months... we have tried to be strong for each other in the most difficult of situations. And we have done it.

Thank you all for your prayers and the many, many emails we are receiving each day. I read them all before I go to bed and feel so much better about what each new day brings. You are all so amazing. I wish I wasn't so tired each night... I would write you all and tell you how much I love you for caring for me and my family. I hope you will understand if I haven't written to you personally. Believe me when I say that I truly appreciate your letters and I thank God every day for bringing each of you into our lives.

Love,

Leah

It's hard to imagine...

Well it's hard to imagine, but shopping for our son should be easy, baby blue with some kind of fire truck design or football on it and we are golden. It isn't that easy. You see, our boy might not make it home from the hospital. So, will he even have time to wear it, lay in it, or play with it. Do we get a bassinet or a crib? Do we get a car seat or a stroller? Do we get an inexpensive one or one with all the bells and whistles? Do we get it and just keep the receipt? These are the questions we have to ask our selves. It's not fair! I want to spoil my boy. I don't care how much it costs, but then reality hits me.

It's hard to imagine life without Christian...



Love, Ryan

Hi Everyone,



I just got back from our latest ultrasound appointment and, it appears, we've had a bit of a reprieve. Our son has grown to 4 lbs, 10 oz and 17 inches long since his last ultrasound! Although, we learned that he now measures 3.5 weeks behind his gestational age, he does continue to show some growth. At this point, we'll take anything we can get that is positive news! The doctor told us that as long as he continue to show progression, then we can still stay the course and assume he will be born alive for his birthday. Ryan and I just can't wait to meet him! Moving forward, we will start monitoring him and his measurements weekly. If, at any point, he has no growth, then the doctors want to deliver him early.




This is the first day in a long, long time that I've actually felt like my old self and started to feel a little more optimistic about our situation.



The roller coaster ride we've been on since the beginning of July has been very difficult to deal with...but, if my son continues to fight, then I will get off my pity party and be better about staying positive too!