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Just me

Oh What Can 12 Years Do…

September 27, 2014 by Michael Coughlin

12 years ago today (in 2002) God preserved a little baby’s life. For anyone who does not know the story, I wanted to share the story of my first son’s birth.

To Nicholas – I’m so glad to know you. I only wish I was the father you think I am.

I wrote this 12 years ago. If you’ve only just met me, remember that at this time I was married to a woman named Julie (we’re now divorced), and I had no love for Christ in my heart. There is a chilling absence of God in my writing. Other than editing broken links and correcting typos, this is otherwise left as it was in 2002.


Nicholas was due September 22, 2002. That is why I rushed out of work at 4:00 on Thursday September 26 when Julie called and mentioned “hospital.” What she was trying to tell me was that we needed to go to the hospital because she was not noticing as much fetal movement as she is expected to notice. We arrived at the hospital around 5:30 PM. I was quickly amazed when I found out that their computers were being shut down from 6:00 to 7:30! Anyway, Julie was immediately put on fluids to lower her fever she had acquired. The on-call doctor diagnosed (from his home) that Julie just had a touch of the flu, and since she was not in labor yet, sent us home. We warily walked to the car, dazed that we were just in the delivery area for the first time since our tour of the facility. We got home after 9 PM.

Friday morning, September 27, 2002 @ 3:21 AM:

After experiencing contractions for a little while, Julie woke me and asked me to help count the contractions. After an hour of it, we called the number and the same doctor called back. Without any concern which we could perceive, he instructed us to count for another hour and then go to the hospital. So we prepared for our trip after another 30 minutes and left around 5:10 AM. From about 6:00 to 9:00, Julie lied in her bed experiencing contractions, discomfort and nausea without complaint. By 9:00, a doctor came. It was the new on-call doctor, whose shift had just started. She came in the room and swiftly decided to induce labor. Given Julie’s condition, (the fever), she wanted to expedite the birth to protect both her and the baby. So at 9:15 I was outside calling the family to let them know; it would still be hours before the birth so they had plenty of time to get there.

By 10, Julie didn’t seem to be progressing further into labor. Nicholas’ heart rate was consistently in the 170’s; below 160 is desired. The doctor recommended an emergency Cesarean Section. Julie was taken away to begin anesthesia; I left to put on my scrubs so I could be there too. While sitting in my rocking chair waiting to be invited in, a man walked up and introduced himself as Rick longlastnamewithalotofsyllables, Pediatrician. He wanted to ask me a couple of questions and let me know what he was thinking. I could not believe how much interest he took in my questions.

His main concern was the meconium in the womb. Meconium is the first feces (stool) of the newborn. It is thick, sticky, and greenish-black in color and may be seen in the amniotic fluid after 34 weeks gestation.

The doctors knew that Nicholas has already had his first bowel movement. They knew it was floating around in the amniotic fluid. The concern was getting any meconium out of his lungs which had gotten in there. The doctor didn’t seem too worried, so neither was I.

After approximately infinity hours, I got to enter the room for the C-section. We were having a quiet conversation when I heard some noise. I asked Julie what it was, and she said it was a baby crying. I couldn’t believe it. I looked over and the doctor was holding a tiny baby. He was gray. I wasn’t ready for that. The pediatrician and a maternity nurse grabbed him and began Apgar tests.

I kept waiting for them to bring him over. It had been drummed into me how important it was to hold your baby right away and bond with him. But they just kept sticking a tube in his mouth and trying to suck something out. They were routine about it though; they had a manner which exuded confidence and calmness. It made me comfortable. Soon they communicated the need to transfer Nicholas to another room. I didn’t know why, so they wrapped him up and brought him over for Julie to look at real quick. Seconds later he was wheeled out with me in tow.

In the back of the nursery the doctor and nurses worked without a break to give him oxygen. I was scared, but again it seemed routine. They were patient and efficient in a cold but compassionate manner. They had a way of doing what they needed to do, explain it all to me, and keep Nicholas going the way they needed to. I tried to understand what was going on, I could tell he had quite labored breathing, but I didn’t know why or what the effect would be. The doctor explained that he thought Nicholas had a respiratory infection; he just needed some help breathing for a little while. When I inquired about the seriousness of the situation he replied something to the effect that it is not very serious, or he would “send him to Children’s Hospital.”

So I went back and forth between Nicholas and Julie. Both doing well. I took pictures for Julie to see of her son. We had a relaxing afternoon overall. Soon it was 5:15 PM. My (now ex) father-in-law and I left the hospital to purchase some things for the house at the store. I left the hospital with my cellphone off, forgetting to turn it back on. This was before we always left cellphones on!

By 7:30, I was cooking dinner. I realized my phone was off so I turned it on and checked my voicemail. At 5:45, Julie’s mom had called to let me know Nicholas’ condition had worsened and he was on his way to Children’s Hospital. This felt very bad. I finally got a hold of Julie, and she told me how to get to see Nicholas.

I rushed to the hospital and waited. Nicholas got there around 9:00 PM that night. Less than 12 hours old, and he is hooked up to more needles than I thought he had vessels, a catheter, and a tube down his throat. The situation was explained as Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. If the infant breathes while still in the uterus or when the baby takes its first breath, the meconium/amniotic fluid mixture can be inhaled into the lungs. The inhaled meconium can cause a partial or complete blockage of the airways, causing difficulty breathing and poor gas exchange in the lungs.

As a result of MAS, Nicholas began to suffer from PPHN, Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn. Long story short, Nicholas’ body does not know how to breathe. There is an imbalance of blood pressure which is causing blood to draw away from his lungs, instead of toward.

So I stayed Friday and Saturday. Nicholas was on a high frequency oscillating ventilator. He was periodically having his lungs cleared as best as possible by the nurses. He is receiving Oxygen and Nitric Oxide. He has a nurse taking care of him and one other baby 24 hours a day.

It is unbelievable how wonderful they are. The people at Children’s explain everything in great detail and are so patient with us through all our questions. We have 24 hour access to see him.


This is Nicholas at 1 week old. It was the first time I (or anyone) held him.

A brief summary of the events which followed. Nicholas came home October 21st, 2001 after about 11 days in the NICU and 13 more days being relieved of drug addiction and progress monitoring. Children’s required regular developmental checkups for Nicholas until his 6 month birthday when he was just too healthy to require more.

If you research meconium aspiration syndrome in 2014, it is a very predictable and treatable situation. 12 years ago, it was not understood as well. Without treatment, he absolutely would have died. The loss of oxygen could have had terrible effects on his neurological system, but God protected him.

God preserved a healthy, athletic young man whose brain and lungs work just fine.

In a side story, there were about 45 beds in the NICU. An acquaintance of mine named Dan was there because his newborn daughter needed heart surgery. We had some good times just chatting in the sitting room. Nicholas came home before Dan’s daughter did as she was younger.

Let me set the stage here. Remember, I’m now home with my baby boy whose lungs did not work at birth. It’s a Monday night and I’m cursing because my son will not stop screaming. My (now deceased) friend Bobby calls me to tell me that he spoke to Dan that evening and that Dan’s baby girl, Taylor, had died. I remember feeling so terrible for being mad at my son for screaming. Oh how Dan likely wished for a screaming baby to hold.


For those of you who know Nicholas, I thought you might enjoy this bit of history. For those of you who only know Wesley or from pictures…well…this is the story of one of Wesley’s favorite people.

Thanks for reading.

Michael

 

Filed Under: Just me, Love

Use Dropbox to Protect and Share Your Files and Access Anywhere

July 17, 2014 by Michael Coughlin

A neighbor brought to me a common problem the other day. Another neighbor of ours was working on a document for school, is convinced she saved it numerous times – yet now she cannot find it.

There could be a few reasons this happens. One possible reason is that she never really saved her changes. That is HARD to fix, (although there are things which you could do to safeguard people against that).

But there is a free product out there (you can pay for upgraded or business versions) called Dropbox which solves many common needs.

  1. Have you ever saved a file and then computer crashes and you can’t find it?
  2. Have you ever saved a file and then you’re at a friend’s house and want to open it, but cannot because your laptop is at home?
  3. Do you ever want to share large files or a number of files (vacation pix, for example) with a friend or family member? — Kinda hard to do over email!
  4. Do you ever collaborate with others on a project? Do you recall emailing a document, then it gets emailed back, but by then you’ve modified it again?

Dropbox resolves all these issues. Here’s how it works.

When you sign up for a Dropbox account, Dropbox gives you a chunk of space on one of their computers. You can actually use is online and just upload files to their server if you like. But the read power is in the desktop application. When you download Dropbox to your PC and connect it to your account, what Dropbox will do it automatically upload any changes you make to that folder to their central server. Dropbox will also download any changes to that folder to your PC and any other PC which is connected to an account sharing that folder!

For example, in my Dropbox, I have a folder called Church. In this folder, I maintain all of the powerpoint documents which we use to display lyrics and sermon notes at my church. All I do is create a document and save it on my computer. Then I walk away. While my computer is connected to the internet, Dropbox uploads the file to their central server.

Now, when I get to church I have a few options. One option is that I can go to the Dropbox website, log in and download my file. I can do this anywhere I have internet access. But what we did is we signed up for a Dropbox account on the church computer and so actually when I get to church (assuming the computer is connected and on) the file is already downloaded onto the church computer where I run the powerpoint. Pretty easy!

I’m able to move and modify files between folders on my Android phone, as well. And if one is changed or accidentally deleted? Dropbox keeps a history of versions of each file, so just find a deleted file or a preferred version.

Any questions? Leave a comment and we can discuss ways to use Dropbox or setup. By the way, if you are interested, please click one of the Dropbox links in this post. For using my referral link, we each get an additional 500MB space. Trust me, once you start using it, you will need it!

Filed Under: Just me, Technical Tagged With: logic

Enmity with God as Cognitive Dissonance

April 25, 2014 by Michael Coughlin

“In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the excessive mental stress and discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time. — From Wikipedia

Let me summarize. As images of the perfectly rational Creator, humans strive for internal consistency. When we simultaneously hold contradictory beliefs or our actions deny our beliefs, there is a stress reaction measured by psychologists.

It happens in families, in churches, at school, work, everywhere. Here’s how it plays out: An honest discussion begins, it doesn’t have to begin with a confrontation (although it sometimes does). At some point, one of the participants knowingly or unknowingly says something or asks a question which exposes a logical inconsistency in another. Usually, it is in the form of the person has said two things, both of which the person still says they believe even though they are contradictory.

Usually, the inconsistent one reacts with some form of sin (maybe anger or malice) expressed in different ways. This is the manifestation of the cognitive dissonance which beings made in the image of God experience.

In more personal relations, it manifests sometimes through actions which don’t comport with a person’s stated beliefs. Sometimes, there’s more to the story, so be careful if you think you’re going to go point it out in others (especially your spouse).

But for the sake of the discussion, I offer “Bob” and a brief excerpt from what became an insanely long twitter conversation. Can you see Bob’s failure to be able to defend his own arguments? When confronted, he quickly makes up a new argument.

This can be frustrating. Not everyone “argues” fairly. Spotting this early is important to getting yourself into fruitful/useful conversations. Bob is unteachable. He simply hates God so much that he will say anything, even if he cannot support it to contradict God’s Word. Ultimately, men people like Bob resort to hurtful tactics like ad hominem arguments.

Of course, that is what was done to our Lord. Should we expect any better? (Mark 3:21-22)

The twitter exchange has been removed because the other person no longer has an account.

Filed Under: Just me, Theology, Witnessing Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, logic, people, pride

A New Species: Calvidispenpresupobaptist?

April 18, 2014 by Michael Coughlin

The good folks over at Veritas Domain graciously gave me a chance to share my views in a personal interview. I hope you will click through and read it.

Click Here to read the interview.

Here’s an excerpt

I try to help people who are willing and honest to see the logical fallacies of their own arguments and how those inconsistencies are rooted in their presuppositions. I am not opposed to asking a nonbeliever to consider that my worldview makes sense, ‘assuming the Bible is my foundation.’ I’ve had a few people vehemently opposed to my preaching about hell or against homosexuality who have agreed with me that ‘assuming I really believe the Bible,’ my preaching was the most loving act I could do toward them.

Filed Under: Gospel, Just me, Love, Open Air Preaching, Theology, Witnessing Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, Love, Open Air, people, prayer, pride, Scripture

Heaven is for Real is not for Real

April 17, 2014 by Michael Coughlin

I had an interesting twitter conversation with a kind man named Brian today. It was predicated upon my shame that one of the leaders of a ministry called AWANA is publicly endorsing the Heaven is for Real garbage movie. You can read the thread here, click the links I provided in my tweets and, hopefully, see the problem that Brian had even defending his endorsement.
Here’s a snippet:
4-17-2014 12-47-36 PM

Click here to see the ENTIRE thread.

May I commend Brian for what I would call decent behavior in a world where online disagreements “escalate quickly.”

As a side note, EVERYONE is teaching something, and directly teaching something falsely about God is WAY worse than teaching me falsely about diet or rainforests, etc. Let me know what you think of the thread and if you read the book or saw the movie what you think.

If you think I cannot judge this book or movie because I haven’t read it, then I’d challenge you to go watch every porn video on sale at the local pervert adult bookstore and not judge the contents until you’ve watched.

And if you are one of the people who claims to be a Christian and cannot find what is wrong with this movie or book, contact me. I will help you. I’ll get my pastor to help you. I won’t mock you for ‘missing’ it. It is OK to not be very discerning, IF you have the humility to admit it and the desire to be taught. Don’t make the same mistake as the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23-33).

God’s Word is sufficient. If that statement bothers you, your problem is not with me. 🙂

Filed Under: Just me, Love, Movie Reviews Tagged With: Bible, Jesus, Love, Movies, Scripture

You Really Should Blow Some Money on Today’s Noah

April 1, 2014 by Michael Coughlin

If you haven’t read enough reviews of the Noah movie which is in theaters starring Russell Crowe to know that no Christian needs to see it, then that isn’t my fault.

Here are the three best reviews (possibly ever) for the movie. (Links will open in new tabs)

Matt Walsh (witty) | Dr Brian Mattson (deep) | Lyndon Unger (No Holds Barred)

If your hermeneutic forces you to interpret the Bible in such a way that you can only see the Noah movie as a good thing because the cinematography is something Christian film-makers need to emulate, then the problem is how you interpret scripture.

Now, maybe what you really plan to do is go see Noah, then give it a really scathing review. That way, everyone will know how much more you know about Genesis than the atheistic maker of the movie. Or maybe you are thinking you will evangelize your friend or family member.

Stop. Just stop. Stop lying to others and to yourself.

Share the gospel with your friend or family member. Stand outside the theater and hand out tracts to people or The Biggest Question. Be sure to click those links they will open in new tabs. Both the organizations at the end of those links need your $10 more than the makers of the Noah movie.

And then, take your $8 for the ticket and the other 8-12 dollars for snacks, lunch, whatever and send it to someone who is actually laboring for the gospel. I don’t care if you boycott Hollywood or Starbucks for the sake of a boycott.

But let’s face it: you have nothing to add to the internet when it comes to evaluating Noah. Your review is already too late, and it won’t be more sarcastic, smart or biblical than the articles already published.

No, dear Christian, don’t be fooled and don’t even let a postmillenial hope bring you to be such a poor steward of what God has given you that you would waste your $20 on this experience. Instead, give it to your local church or one of these faithful evangelists listed below.

Bobby McCreery | Tony Miano | Mike Stockwell & Robert Gray

Yes, these men are today’s Noahs: Preachers of Righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). These are the Noah’s who you ought to support. You really should blow some money on today’s Noahs!

Click their links and read their statements of faith, watch their videos. And if you really want to part with your money to support a 2014 version of Noah – click the paypal link on one or all of their sites.

Filed Under: Just me, Love, Open Air Preaching, Theology, Witnessing Tagged With: Bible, God, Gospel, Hollywood, Holy, people, pride

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