Please keep her and her parents in your prayers so she will be stroke and seizure free and bounce back from these procedures and surgeries and that her parents will feel the presence of the Lord during these tough times.

You can keep up with the Marchenko’s here.  http://lintofpocket.wordpress.com/

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The doctors at Children’s Memorial determined that she has Moyamoya syndrome.

In Moyamoya syndrome blood vessels in the brain are abnormally constricted which may lead to clots (thrombosis). To compensate the brain will often develop “collateral circulation” vessels.  Unfortunately these vessels are typically weaker and prone to hemorrhage, aneurysm and thrombosis. Persons with Down syndrome, neurofibromatosis, or sickle cell disease have a higher rate than moyamoya malformations but some studies indicate that it may be also inherited.

Children with Moyamoya may experience strokes and/or seizures. Often these are transient ischemic attacks (TIA) or “mini-strokes” and are often accompanied by muscular weakness or paralysis affecting one side of the body, or seizures.

It appears that our beautiful little Polly experienced at least one TIA and there is some decreased motility of her right leg.  Fortunately the doctors are expecting a full recovery of that leg.

Moyamoya is often treated with medication as well as surgery. While surgery does have risk of additional strokes, in the vast majority of cases the patients are stroke free for a good period of time. Of course there are multiple types of surgery and medications available to manage and treat the symptoms of Moyamoya syndrome.

In regard to Polly, I just learned that Polly will be undergoing surgery in Mid-November.

Please keep Polly and her family in your prayers.

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Bonnie and Justice

I am happy to report that both Bonnie and Justice are doing great!

Bonnie has been able to get up and about and has done a bit of walking even.  She’s back on solid food, and while sore, is feeling pretty chipper.

Justice is feeding well and is doing great. There are no known medical issues that he will have to face and he seem to be very strong and alert.

Ella, despite have a very hard night not having mom home, was able to get to touch her brother and very exited that both of them have ears, noses, foreheads and chins. She was simply aglow being able to help hold Justice.

We also had some friends come by and share in our joy.   In short, we continue to be very very blessed.

Sleeping Angel

There are three new albums up for today within the “Justice’s Second Day” album. I forgot to bring the camera home tonight so I’ll try to add those pictures from today into these albums tomorrow.  So make sure you check out all three albums for today which are “Mom and Justice“,  “Friends Visit” and “Ella and Justice“.

Thanks again for your continued prayers.

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Bonnie discovered, after turning on the light in the bathroom and a lot of blood was being lost by her.  She yelled for me and from the light I could see a blood trail to the bathroom discovering my wife covered in blood.

I can’t begin to share the thoughts that ran through my mind discovering my wife covered in bright red blood.  The fear that was felt was quickly overcome by the realization on how much I truly love and need my wife.  She is truly my soul-mate and helpmate.  I can’t share the level of prayer that emanated from my soul at that time asking God to take all of us into his hands.  It’s was a real epiphany to me what blood can do to one’s heart and soul.  But I’ll step out of my pulpit and move on to Justice’s day.

After I attempted to calm Bonnie down, she began cleaning up a bit and I called the hospital to see if we need to call an ambulance or simply drive in.  After I told them that my wife was losing a lot of blood they said that was normal and just to come in immediately.  I’m guessing they we’re thinking I was overreacting at the sight of blood and overestimating.  But I wasn’t.

We got Bonnie to the Hospital a bit before 6 AM and the nurses got her up to the delivery area while I pack muled the bags and got a very sleepy Ella into a stroller, got the car parked and got up to Bonnie’s room shortly after they got Bonnie changed into the hospital gown and cleaned up a bit.

Ella was great and sat quietly watching VeggieTales’ “Jonah” a couple times.

Her bleeding began to slow, but she was only at 2-3 centimeters, essentially where she was the day before.  The doctor was concerned that she felt the placenta at the cervix and an ultrasound was ordered.  After the tech battled with the uncooperative Microsoft operating system on the ultrasound equipment, it was seen that the placenta had not moved and was not near the cervix.  This was at nearly 9:00.

Thinking that meant things were calming down and the bleeding was stopping and that Bonnie would simply have to wait a long time until the cervix opened (despite the frequent and intense contractions) I took Ella for a walk to calm her down a bit until her babysitter could get out of her dentist appointment.  Shortly later, I got a call from Bonnie telling me that the radiologist noticed that the placenta was perforating or splitting and the OB/GYN decided that an emergency Cesarean section was needed.  He also wanted to do a general rather than a local and that I wouldn’t be able to be with Bonnie.

Bonnie was prepped and was told by the doctor what was going to happen in the surgery.  But she was ready especially as the bleeding picked back up.  A conservative estimate is that Bonnie lost at least a pint of blood and likely more between 5:30 AM and 9:30 AM.

Bonnie was taken to the ER around 9:30 and at 9:51 Justice Wilson Goodwin made his entrance to the world, weighing 6 lbs, 13 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches.  Ella and I were able to see Justice being wheeled out of the ER and followed him to the nursery.   Ella was interested but was more worried that I was going to let her go and give her to either Ms. Barb or Ms. Rhonda who had come over to be with us during Bonnie’s surgery.  I too was thrilled at seeing my handsome young man, but still feared for Bonnie’s health and safety.  Finally, after an very long 30 minutes or so, I was told that Bonnie was fine.  I learned that Bonnie’s placenta was over 20% perforated and that the C-section was very timely.

Bonnie was kept in the recovery room but we were able to have her hear her son cry for the first time over the phone.  He has very strong lungs, long fingers and no “issues” that we will have to deal with immediately, so we were very blessed.

Around 11:30 Bonnie made it out of recovery and was wheeled down to her room where she will be for the next three to four days.  She’s been told no lifting other than Justice for the next two weeks as well as no driving.

However, on the way she stopped at the nursery and was able to hold our son.  Ella also had a chance to kiss both her mom and her brother “Ustice” as she calls him.

Bonnie was able to breast feed and is recovering well.  She will try sitting up and moving her legs tomorrow so please keep us in your prayers.

Ms. Barb stuck around and was able to finally get Ella to fall asleep around 3ish.  Our friends are such a blessing.

Bonnie’s folks made it to St. Joe from Ames, Iowa around 4 PM and were able to hold Justice and make Ella smile as she woke from her nap.

We all left Bonnie around between 5 and 6 so she could get her needed sleep.  We picked up pizza, and the Bonnie’s mom and I got the blood out of the bedroom carpet and off of the bathroom floor, tub, toilet, etc.  They are asleep but I’m still a bit wound up so I made a new photo site for Justice Goodwin, uploaded several photos, but haven’t taken the time to name them all the clever names Bonnie typically gives the photos.

Thank you again for your continued prayers.  They are a real gift to Bonnie and I, just as our kids are.

It is neat that Ella was born on Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem to be our sacrifice so that we can escape from death, and that Justice was born on the Day of Epiphany, the day the wise man came bearing gifts to Jesus so he and his family could escape from death ordered by King Harod.

For the LORD loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever – Psalms 37:28a (NAS)

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Santa, can we be friends?

We have had a wonderful and relaxing day!

Our first Christmas at home in MI.

While Kirk and I didn’t feel the real holiday spirit right away (without our family around, with all the daily grind,  doctors appointments and surgeries) we have had a very happy day! Ella enjoyed opening all her presents (I think there are 3 left she must be saving for tomorrow). She’s really got this unwrapping thing figured out, and is all smiles with each new gift!

We ended our family day with a very yummy meal completely prepared by a thoughtful husband (all mine!). I happily cleaned up singing along to Christmas songs and smiling the whole time. Soon we’re (Kirk is) off to give Ella a bath and maybe early bed as she skipped a nap today, and then Kirk and I can relax in front of the fire… sigh.

Last night we had a visit from Santa and his elf (Miss Barb, our friend/teacher/babysitter has a personal connection). Ella was unsure so Santa kept his distance and kept inching closer until they were almost touching – very cute! You can check out all the pictures at

http://ellagoodwin.com/main.php/v/2008+Photos/A+Visit+from+Santa/

(Remember to click on the picture to see bigger images.)

So from a very happy house we send Christmas blessings to all our friends and family – we hope your day was as beautiful as ours!

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We needed to change Ella’s bandages which was coupled with a lot of crying and screaming.  So much so that we had to put the arm restraints and “lock her in” behind the tray on her chair.

Of course this didn’t make her happy but it did allow us to get the bandages and headware on Ella.  After we were done I put a similar hat on her dolly which seemed to make her very happy.  I also topped the hat with one of the plastic tubes we use with Ella which seemed to make her extra happy.

The really good news is that Ella’s tube only has pretty clear “drips” in it which means hopefully our friend from our church can come over and help take the drainage tube out this weekend  After that we won’t have to put on anymore headware or bandages!

Bonnie says Ella had a very good day otherwise!

We’ll keep you updated!

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We thank God everyday for those who have helped to lift our spirits.

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