Baby Olive's love fund

'I'll praise a God who gives and takes away.'

First off, thank you for taking the time to read the story of Kevin and Kimberly Thomas. 

While the full story of their journey of friendship, love, marriage, and a baby named olive is best written by the wife and mother herself in her blog, www.babyoliveandfamily.wordpress.com, which I hope you will take the time to read, I hope to cohesively and successfully summarize their incredible journey on faith, love, despair, and grace in this small block of unmarked space.

kevin and Kim Thomas were married August 31, 2015 after meeting and falling in love on a cruise ship they were both working on. 

It it wasn't too long before they were expecting their first child. At about 23 weeks pregnant during a routine appointment to reveal the babies gender and perform an anatomy ultrasound, the doctors discovered that their precious baby was not okay. They were instructed to have additional tests performed at a specialty hospital.

The doctor explained that their baby had a condition called 'post urethral valve syndrome' and had an enlarged bladder along with other possible organ malformations.  The doctor described to them the process of which a baby's organs develop; in order for the baby to thrive, babies drink the amniotic that develop their lungs and eventually pass out as urine. In their babies case, the baby has a blockage that prevents this urine from exiting the babies bladder. Instead, the baby holds onto the amniotic fluid/urine that results in kidney failure along with many other problems. The doctor explained that this condition is mostly found in male babies and could most likely be fixed in utero with a 'shunt.' If the baby was not a male, there would be no procedure that could correct the problem and the baby would most surely pass.

After many other tests and ultrasounds, the baby was discovered to be a girl. She did have kidney problems and possibly other organs affected by the block in her bladder. They were told there is nothing that could be done for her. Kim had the option of carrying her to term or other options that did not work for them personally. They decided to carry her until 'God took her home.' They were also informed that there would be no stopping early labor, any breech birth, or any other interventions to attempt to save the baby as she had no chance of survival. The only interventions that would occur would only be to save Kim's life. 

In her blog, Kim states, 'our baby was going to die. As I repeated those words over and over, I couldn't handle it, I still can't handle it. There isn't anything in the world that can prepare you for the moment that those words come at you. We would have here for moments if she made it through birth. Our hearts broke into a million pieces with just a few moments. Our beautiful sweet baby girl..."

There have been many appointments in the interim to discuss the babies progress and other tough decisions that no parents should have to deal with. 'We had a lot of questions...what to do when she is born? Will they try to resuscitate her after birth if she has no lungs? Will they try to hook her up to machines or should we just hold her instead? What will we do in the case of her death? What will we do with the body?'

While the majority of new parents are preparing for their babies arrival; envisioning what their baby will look like, planning baby showers, purchasing newborn clothing, dreaming of what life will be like after babies arrival, asking questions like what kind of personality will he/she have, Kevin and Kim are arranging the end of their daughters brief life.

Kim then goes onto say, 'each day we are reminded that God has blessed us with a beautiful little angel and for every moment that we have her, we are blessed and so thankful for each little kick and poke...we know that we have a God who knows what He is doing...I will still praise my God, even if he takes away.  It may not be with a smiling face and a confident spirit, but I will chose to not be angry at my God for these circumstances and if he doesn't intervene.'

Besides the need for prayers of healing, comfort, and peace, Kevin and Kim are facing inevitable financial and medical expenses. These are only exacerbated by the fact that they are both fairly new employees in their field and do not qualify for certain insurance and FMLA benefits that will secure Kim's job. In order to allow Kevin, Kim, and their family the ability to focus on the health of their baby, please consider making a donation to ease their financial burdens.

"I was sure by now God you would have reached down and wiped our tears away, stepped in and saved the day, but once again I say, Amen, and it's still raining. As the thunder rolls I barely hear your whisper through the rain, "I'm with you." As your mercy falls I raise my hands and praise the God who gives....and takes away."

www.babyoliveandfamily.wordpress.com