My Marauder to the rescue ... prayers needed too!

[Mad1]

Ok, so if you read this thread about my wife's car ... you can see what sort of trouble is coming. http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23768

Last night, my step-son's girlfriend went into labor at 2 a.m. The wife and step-son travel with her to the hospital, but the son returns to our house to catch some sleep. (He thought he owed his boss a few hours of work today, since he'd gotten paid in advance. Nice boss.)

I got to the hospital this morning to take the wife out for breakfast and we are told "big moment" is fast approaching ... like in less than an hour. Then we get a call from the soon-to-be father ... the wife's car (POS 2003 Chevy Cavalier) has again died on him. He had just driven up at a gas station to fill up and it wouldn't start again and symptoms are similar to last time ... fuel starvation. (Thank goodness the car hadn't decided to die while they were taking the pregnant woman to the hospital.)

So now it's a race to get new daddy to the hospital before his daughter makes a command appearance. (Guess what car pulls this off with flying colors?) I hopped in the marauder and put on my Best of Jerry Reed CD ... you know the song, it starts "East bound & down."

I'm trying to maintain a strictly legal speed with maximum emphasis on minimizing traffic delays, so I'm really fighting the clock now. Swinging by to pick him up, I'm now fighting lunch-hour traffic through the heart of Nashville to get back to Vanderbuilt University Medical Center. We roll into the parking lot and race to the fourth floor ... and as we try to open the door to the labor & delivery suite all I had time to see was that mommy-to-be's feet are up in the stirrups when my wife waves me back out of the room and grabs her son's arm to drag him into the room.

Since I was superfluous as a third-nipple, I trucked over to the waiting area and 15 minutes later ... My wife and I received our first granddaughter. (We've already got two grandsons, so this was special.)

On a less upbeat note. Katrina Marie, all 8 lbs 3 oz. of her, is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Vanderbilt. Seems she had a little trouble breathing after she came into this world. We haven't heard much, except that they think she'll need to stay in the NICU for about 7 days. The doctors are worried about a lack of oxygen and some seizures she had so they gave her an CT scan and have scheduled an MRI for tomorrow.

We've had a chance to see little Katrina, who is breathing on her own with only a little supplemental oxygen line. She looks very pretty with long brown hair and a very pink face. The NICU nurse has said she's responding very well and is becoming more feisty.

It would me a lot to me to have you say a little prayer for her. I really do think of all of you here as part of my extended family.

Thanks,
Jeremy
Mad1

[jimlam56]

Congratulations and good luck!
Jim

[rayjay]

Congrats on the grand daughter! I forsee a horrible fuel related fire engulfing a POS GM product....

[Breadfan]

Congrats! Will keep the new family member in thoughts and prayers.


As for the Cav...could this be a PASSLock problem? When it went bad on my Grand Am it was a crank-crank-crank-cough-crank problem. I thought it was a fuel pump problem.

Try leaving the key in the "run" position for 20mins, then see if it starts. Sometimes that resets PASSLock errors.

Unfortunately the fix is usually a new body control module (BCM) or ignition lock cylinder. Mine only happened twice in a year, so I never bothered to get it fixed.

Good luck!

[jobrien8]

Barb and I send our best. Katrina is in our prayers.

[DefyantExWife]

Congratulations, omg... you're a grandpa at 33 ? :eek:

[CBT]

Prayers to you and yours.

[Mad1]

Congratulations, omg... you're a grandpa at 33 ? :eek:

Yeah, I wanted to enjoy grandchildren while I was still young & spry enough to play with them on the floor.

So, I married a beautiful lady that already had 4 kids of her own (She's just 5 years older than I am, so it wasn't a big leap.) Three of my step-children are out of the house ... and two of them have already started their own families obviously. We still have a 15-year-old daughter at home, so don't think I got off easy by jumping right into grandkids. ;)

Besides, I got to enjoy grandkids and tease my wife about not wanting to be called "grandma," what more could I want. (The wife only answers to Avia (pronounced 'Ah Vee' ... which is latin for grandmother.)

Jeremy
Mad1

[whoskal]

:baby::congrats:

[dwasson]

I'm surprised that anyone named their kid Katrina this year.:lol:

[Mad1]

I'm surprised that anyone named their kid Katrina this year.:lol:

I think the parents went on the assumption too ... no one else would pick Katrina this year either, so when she hits school there won't be like 15 other Katrinas in her class.

Her mother's name is Tashina, so I'm not sure what her fear was on that score. :)

Jeremy
Mad1

[Dragcity]

Best wishes for you and yours. Prayers already sent....

[txkent]

Much prayers on the way - our son Travis was in the NICU for a little over 2 weeks. Best nurses in the world there...

[the_pack_rat]

Prayers & best wishes all turns out well.

[JMan]

I can understand the helpless feeling. Prayers are in. It is amazing what modern medicine can accomplish today. Best wishes for a quick and complete recovery for your new bundle of joy! I think you need one of those bumper stickers I got for my mom all those years ago - "Had I Known Grandkids Were So Much Fun, I'd Have Had Them First!". :D

God Bless,

J

[Haggis]

We will keep the little one and your family in our prayers. Another victory for the Marauder.

[DEFYANT]

Congrats!

Our son spent a little time in the NICU in the beginning. He is fine today as will be your new grand-daughter.

Nice to hear MM stories like this one.

[FlyinMerc]

I'm a NICU veteran too. I will be thinking of your granddaughter. It really helps the NICU kids when a family member is there all the time. Keep switching off with other family members and hold her tiny hands if the NICU nurses let you. You don't want the NICU kids to miss the bonding opportunities that would normally be present.
God Speed.
-Kam

[LordVader]

:cool: Congratulations...and the prayers are on the way! Best wishes to you and your family!!

[Mike Poore]

So, Jeremy, how are things going with Katrina Marie & mom? We're praying for two things from PA. Most of all for the two folks earlier mentioned, but also that someone steals that godawful Cavalier POS and leaves a bagful of money behind to get another. Um, have you suggested leaving the keys in it?

Of course recalling it's recant history the thief won't get far.:drive:

[Mad1]

Katrina is improving greatly. She's still in the NICU for at least another 5 days. We don't expect them to say anything about her coming home until at least Wednesday. And we're waiting on blood test results, which they've told us won't be in until Monday. She's off the oxygen line and I think they were going to try to feed her today. (She's been on I.V. only since birth.)

Doctors think the seizures may have been due to a reaction with a medication that the mother was on. Of course, when it was prescribed they said it was alright to use during pregnancy. But the doctor did some research (re: Google) and found 11 other cases of similar seizures where the mother had been on this drug. Fortunately, it should just pass out of Katrina's system now.

Momma came home on Friday and though tired is doing fine. My wife and her just left to go to the hospital again. Unfortunately, unless they transfer Katrina to Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital next door, there is no place for momma or daddy to stay at the hospital to be close to the baby 24/7. But, since we're only about a 15 minute drive from the hospital it hasn't been too bad driving back and forth.

I really appreciate all the comments and positive thoughts from everyone here. I've shared them as much as possible with my family, even though my wife always thinks I'm just on here (re: the computer) looking at boobies.

Jeremy
Mad1

[JMan]

Around 44 years ago, I was in the same situation as Katrina. Look how I turned out - Wait - maybe you should be worried! All kidding aside, My drug interaction was penicillin. Look I can't even spell it. It may have stunted my growth also. I'm only 6'1 & 3/4" tall. Consider the fact my mom is a whopping 5'2" tall. Our wishes and prayers are with you,

God Bless you all,

J

P.S. Maybe you should be worried . . .:D

[Mad1]

Sorry to revive a thread I'd long since hoped was finished, but Katrina is back in the hospital again today (April 2).

She developed a staph infection, which is a resistant strain, and an absess on her leg that required surgery today. She's in the NICU again, but doctors said they hope she'll out of there by tomorrow. We're hoping it is not serious or a long-term threat to her health, but it's not easy when she's spending so much time in the hospital.

Meanwhile, I've got to take the wife in for a root canal tomorrow (her first and she already hates dentistry), so that should be a lot of fun to coax her into the car in the morning. (I'm thinking of telling her we're going to a hockey game, but I don't know if she'll fall for it.)

Jeremy
Mad1

[rayjay]

Sorry to revive a thread I'd long since hoped was finished, but Katrina is back in the hospital again today (April 2).

She developed a staff infection, which is a resistant strain, and an absess on her leg that required surgery today. She's in the NICU again, but doctors said they hope she'll out of there by tomorrow. We're hoping it is not serious or a long-term threat to her health, but it's not easy when she's spending so much time in the hospital.

Meanwhile, I've got to take the wife in for a root canal tomorrow (her first and she already hates dentistry), so that should be a lot of fun to coax her into the car in the morning. (I'm thinking of telling her we're going to a hockey game, but I don't know if she'll fall for it.)

Jeremy
Mad1

Prayers sent for little Katrina, best wishes. A shot of JD for the wife might loosen the anxiety abit. What ever you do don't make cracks about chipmonks when shes done. I'm still living that one down. :o

[grampaws]

Our prayers are with Katrina..

[martyo]

Meanwhile, I've got to take the wife in for a root canal tomorrow (her first and she already hates dentistry), so that should be a lot of fun to coax her into the car in the morning. (I'm thinking of telling her we're going to a hockey game, but I don't know if she'll fall for it.)

Jeremy: When I have to coax Stella into the car, I use Milk Bones. But she is a Labrador. :D

[RR|Suki]

Sorry to revive a thread I'd long since hoped was finished, but Katrina is back in the hospital again today (April 2).

She developed a staph infection, which is a resistant strain, and an absess on her leg that required surgery today. She's in the NICU again, but doctors said they hope she'll out of there by tomorrow. We're hoping it is not serious or a long-term threat to her health, but it's not easy when she's spending so much time in the hospital.

Meanwhile, I've got to take the wife in for a root canal tomorrow (her first and she already hates dentistry), so that should be a lot of fun to coax her into the car in the morning. (I'm thinking of telling her we're going to a hockey game, but I don't know if she'll fall for it.)

Jeremy
Mad1

Hope it turns out ok, more prayers commin your way :)

[Haggis]

Our prayers are with Katrina..
That goes for us too. All the best to you and your family.


What ever you do don't make cracks about chipmonks when shes done. I'm still living that one down. :o
LMAOPMP

[Smokie]

Sorry to revive a thread I'd long since hoped was finished, but Katrina is back in the hospital again today (April 2).

She developed a staph infection, which is a resistant strain, and an absess on her leg that required surgery today. She's in the NICU again, but doctors said they hope she'll out of there by tomorrow. We're hoping it is not serious or a long-term threat to her health, but it's not easy when she's spending so much time in the hospital.

Meanwhile, I've got to take the wife in for a root canal tomorrow (her first and she already hates dentistry), so that should be a lot of fun to coax her into the car in the morning. (I'm thinking of telling her we're going to a hockey game, but I don't know if she'll fall for it.)

Jeremy
Mad1

I was wondering how I missed this the first time around; until I saw the date. Bad things were happening in my life then. I want you to know that prayers have been sent for your little Katrina and family, congrats (a little late) grandpa. Lets us know how Katrina is doing.

[natedog1284]

Congtats from me as well, pops! I just noticed this thread; don't know how I missed it the first time. But either way, I've read it now, and so I'll keep little Katrina and your family in my prayers.

Quick question though: since you are such a young grandfather, and I was thinking you might have your car around for say, another 16 years....you gonna let her drive it? :P