My wife Candi was diagnosed early on in this pregnancy with a bulging uterus. The risk was always that it could rupture, which would be dangerous to mom and baby. Really, unless she were at the hospital, they both would die. Candi has been in excruciating pain the entire pregnancy and has spent 3/4 of it in bed.

The evening of Sept 4th, we went to the labor and delivery ER only to be sent home by a midwife who told us all Candi’s labs were normal, even though we could plainly see they were not.

The morning of Sept 5th, we called Candi’s doctor, and they told us to hurry back to the hospital. They soon assessed that Candi’s uterus was probably close to rupture, so it was necessary to do an emergency C-section even though Maddie was only 31 weeks and 1 day.

During the surgery, they saw that Candi's uterus had already begun to rupture. You could see Maddie through the uterine wall. Not supposed to happen.

Madelynn Elaine Gamble was born at 3:52 PM and weighed 4lb 2oz. She was big for her age, and her cry was very strong. She has been breathing on her own from the start. She is currently breathing 21% oxygen, which is what we all breathe.

She was put on a vent for about 12 hours to give her surfactant for her lungs since she was not far enough along to have made it herself. She is now off the vent, though she is getting oxygen through CPAP, though this is mainly to help with the pressure in her lungs to keep things open. She is still breathing by herself.

They just gave her caffeine to help stimulate the brain to remember to breathe as she was having episodes where she would stop and turn blue. This is a normal thing for premature children.

I am writing this at 3:00 PM. Around 4:30, they are going to start feeding her through a feeding tube, though she already has a very strong suck reflex.

Next Sunday, we have a baby shower scheduled. That is still on, though Maddie will likely not be there. Estimated discharge is October 1st, but we are going to pray and work hard to get her home earlier. Though she has to do most of that work.

This next part is difficult for me. We are a very private family, especially when it comes to financial needs. We help people. We do not ask for help. As a pastor of a small church, I make little to no salary. We left our denomination for reasons of doctrinal disagreement per the denomination's rules, which many do not follow, but to be a man of integrity, I had to. We left a $400k-500k property and a couple of thousand dollars of monthly income from rental property. God has preserved Crosslife Church, but it is not enough to pay me. I have never been in ministry for money. I have never charged to do a wedding, a funeral, or for counseling. The majority of my 25 years has been without any pay. Most of my income lately has come from my school’s financial aid and some door-dashing. Because of my wife’s complications, I was limited in what I could do, but I work very hard to provide for my four—now five—children. As we have always put God’s church first, he has taken care of us, but this situation has put us over the edge of the cliff.

Maddie coming 2 months early has left us in a position where we were NOT prepared. We have a lot of the big stuff, like strollers and car seats, because of Elim. But we have hardly any clothes, no diapers, no wipes. I had a drywall install lined up to do for someone, but that fell through, and I will have no income coming in until the beginning of November, since I can’t Door Dash, as I will have to take care of my 18-month-old while Candi recovers.

Now we will have the added expenses of daily travel to the hospital, gas (multiple trips), eating expenses (hospital food is not cheap), and any special needs Maddie will have. We are having car trouble, just had to replace the dryer, my mower is broken… it is a lot and a lot I am leaving out.

It is so embarrassing to ask for help. I am crying as I sit here typing this. I don’t know what else to do. I started a GoFundMe. If you are able to help, we greatly appreciate it. We will even pay you back if you need. We will use it to fix our second car, pay bills, and cover the expenses of Maddie's care and travel to and from the hospital. People have asked to know if there was anything we needed. This is where we are.

If you cannot do anything, the most important thing you can do is pray. Pray for Candi, for Maddie, and for me. I am so sorry that I have had to ask for help.