Neonatologists did several tests and the miracle of ALL miracles in that though this baby is still premature (between 27 and 30 weeks..they still can't decide on a number) it is PERFECTLY HEALTHY. I can't believe it survived all the trauma that was inflicted upon my sister.
Yesterday we had decided that we wanted the baby removed by C-section today so that we could take Sarah off of life support and let her fully "go" (though I know that her spirit has already left her body)..we wanted to do this, I think, more for having our own closure because we need to get on with our grieving, but we realize that this baby needs to be given a good chance at surviving, because this baby boy (his name is Josiah, per my sister's wishes) is what we have left of my sister. We have been told that if we leave my sister's body on the life support for another 2 weeks, it gives the baby a 95% chance of total survival, and this is a hard decision, but we have decided to leave her body on the life support to help her baby.
At first our family didn't want anything to really do with this baby (it is hard to describe why...grief, the baby being part of the man who murdered my sister, etc. though we realized the baby has been an innocent bystander to this all the whole time)...My brother and his wife (his wife cannot have children for gynecological reasons) are going to seriously think about raising this child as their own. If they decide they really don't want to do this, then Larry and I have decided that we will raise this baby as our own.
My brother and his wife will probably go home in a few days and then my mom and I will go to Hawaii for when they deliver the baby (10 day or 2 weeks or so) to give my brother a break from all of this. That way we can be with my sister when her body is allowed to die and we can have her cremated and brought back here. Though my mom is still ill, she seems to be getting this amazing strength from this tragedy. I can't even believe how things work in such strange ways. She feels really strong right now, when you would think she would feel exactly the opposite. I have total confidence that my mom will FULLY RECOVER from this cancer (and she knows she will and she has asked God to get her through this) because she needs to be here for her surviving children and her grandchildren. I feel much more hopeful about things, though I still can't believe that my sister is actually dead. That will take some time.
My mother and brother were part of an actual "hearing" (which was a teleconference) just a little bit ago and they were given co-guardianship of this baby.
I feel a little bit of relief temporarily from the sorrow of my sister's death knowing that that her baby will live from this tragedy.
Life is so strange.
