Evelyn is Called Home

Stephanie reported to me on Friday that the twins had not done so well with feedings on Thursday. 

Then Evelyn started spitting up. She noticed a brown streak in the spit up.  

She also told me that they had noticed some purple spots on Evelyn's back just under the skin, 

like broken capillaries or something. After checking Lucia, they discovered the same thing on her. 

Evelyn had spit up more and there were more brown streaks. 

She called me from the doctor's office to tell me the doctor had tested the spit up and it contained blood. 

She was concerned about the purple spots. She was checking at the hospital to get a more specialized opinion. 

Then Stephanie called me back to tell me that she was on the way to the hospital, 

because they wanted to find out just what was going on.

It was about 11:00 for us, so I asked her to keep me posted on what was going on. 

About 1:00am I got a message from her saying that they got blood samples 

and their white blood counts were high showing infection and they had low platelet counts. 

They were running antibiotics and planning to take more sample to try to locate the infection. 

(Urine sample, spinal tap, more blood work, etc.)

I was grateful to learn that Clay was at the hospital with her.

I asked her what the low platelet count meant.

She said that it was a bit suspicious because they were both really low to the same levels within a point or two. 

She told me that the low platelet count could be due to an infection,

but they seemed to think it was strange that they were both the same amount low, 

so they were wondering about some type of genetic thing going on, 

or some sort of antibody thing in a similar reaction as RH.

I told her I would sleep by my phone and hope to see something anytime I woke up.
I hadn't heard anything at around 6:00 when I woke up, so I texted to ask what was happening.
Stephanie called me back.
The babies were in the PICU and they had done all sorts of tests, but still weren't sure exactly what was going on.
They weren't doing a spinal tap right now because of the low platelets and risk of bleeding.
They looked stable and they (Stephanie and Clay) were going to go home and get some sleep.

We slept in since I had been awake much of the night.
I had just showered and was coming out of the bathroom when I realized that my phone was ringing
(the volume was very low, so it was hard to hear).
It was Stephanie. (It was around 10:30am in Finland, so middle of the night for Stephanie.)

She said, "Evelyn's gone home." I knew what she meant, although I was hoping that she was talking about their home,
but I knew that it had just been a few hours since she had been put in the PICU.
Stephanie had gotten about an hour of sleep when the hospital called to tell her to come back to the hospital.
They were working on Evelyn when she got there, but Stephanie knew that she was already gone.

How could this be? I didn't even get to meet her in person!
I would not get the chance to hold her or even get to know her in this life.
My heart was aching for Stephanie and Clay and for their other children.
Stephanie said that she was holding Evelyn's little body and I told her that I wished that I could be there with her.
She asked if I would like to do a google hangout and be able to see her.

It was good for us to be able to see her and to see Stephanie holding her.
Stephanie seemed to be doing remarkably well. We were also concerned about Lucia and how she was doing.
Stephanie held the camera so we could see Lucia. She looked sick, but she was still doing OK.
My heart longed to be there with my daughter as she was going through this very difficult time.
I was so grateful that her mother-in-law was there at their home.

We called Pres. Aura, but he didn't answer his phone. (He was in a meeting.)
We tried Sister Aura, but she didn't answer either. She called us back a little while later.
She was so sweet and she suggested that we go to the temple and put their names on the prayer roll.
She said that the last session had already started, but that we could still go and do that.
We decided that would be a good idea, so we headed out just as soon as we could.

Being in the temple was a sweet experience. We were so glad to be there and that we have a temple so close.
We were there within 10 minutes of leaving our apartment.
We realized that we needed to know what to do. Should we go to be with Stephanie and Clay,
or should we just leave them in the Lord's hands as we continued to serve. We felt torn.
We had so many thoughts and sweet learning experiences while we were at the temple
and later as we thought more about our experience there.
We knew that the Lord was mindful of us and or Stephanie and Clay.
We knew that we, and they were being blessed through this trying experience.

Elder Nielsen (temple missionary) was at the recommend desk, so we told him about Evelyn's passing,
and he asked if he could share that with the other temple missionaries.
They of course began praying for us and doing what they could to show us their love and support.
(For instance, the Ames gave us the pieces of pie Sunday evening.)
As we left the temple, Pres. Aura called us and we told him what had happened.
He expressed his love and support for us.

We started fasting to know what the Lord would have us do in regards
to leaving the mission for a time to be with Stephanie and Clay, or to remain here serving.

Sunday morning we got a call from Stephanie. Lucia was beginning to struggle a bit more,
and the doctors were using what they learned from Evelyn to try to save Lucia.
They had already put her on a respirator the day before, but her blood pressure was beginning to drop.

They wanted to put her on an ECMO machine. They said this may be their chance to save her.
There was a couple from the ward there with Stephanie and Clay. I was so grateful for them.
Stephanie said she would call as soon as she heard anything.
We decided to get ready for church, but didn't know just what would happen.

Stephanie and Clay were still waiting to hear from the surgical team when it was time for us to head to church.
We got a phone call as we were driving to the church telling us that they had successfully
hooked her up to the ECMO machine and it was helping to circulate her blood
giving her heart a bit of a chance to rest and hopefully heal.

At church, Sister Lehtinen asked me about the twins, and I had to tell her that Evelyn had passed away.
She hugged me and cried with me, and expressed her love and concern.
What a wonderful and dear friend she has become.

We also told the young missionaries who serve in the Haaga ward as well as Sister Herttuainen.
The word spread and I had so many sisters come and give me a hug and express their love as they mourned with us.
Oh how we love the people here and are so grateful for our ward family here!

By the time we ended our fast Sunday evening,
we felt like the Lord would like us to go to Virginia to be with Stephanie and Clay.
We felt like it was a short emergency transfer to go and serve in another part of the Lord's vineyard for a short time.
We talked to Pres. Aura and he was very supportive of that decision.
We started looking for flights, but were really too tired physically and emotionally to make a purchase that night.

We were grateful to know that the Lord was mindful of us
and to know that he was mindful of Stephanie and Clay and their family.
We felt like he was blessing them through this very difficult time,
and was now allowing us to go and be with them for a short time.

Oh how we love you and miss you, little Evelyn!