I thought I would share a happening from the beginning of this month that I still remember very well.
On July 3rd we had a woman in labor at clinic and the baby ended up arriving before we could get down there! Of course we rushed down as fast as we could and we found a tiny baby laying on the bed. I believe one of my first thoughts was how tiny the baby was! We had thought the mother was close to full term but from how the baby looked he had come early! He was not breathing the greatest so we took him to another room where we were able to give him breaths with the oxygen bagger and continued to moniter him closely. He appeared to be stable for the moment; he weighed a little over 4 pounds!
During our clinic day I was in the emergency room when Kayla rushed over holding our little baby boy- he was blue and not breathing at all! We immediately started doing chest compressions and giving him breaths. It felt like a long time. I know we were both praying hard. Finally, he started taking some breaths on his own again. But it appeared as though he had turned a corner for the worse. Every now and then he would have spells where he would just stop breathing. We were beginning to think that this baby’s lungs were not developed like they should be and he needed higher help than we could give him. I sat there on the emergency room bed just holding him- watching his little chest rise and fall as he struggled for each breath. His chest would sink far in and it looked so pitiful! We decided that our best option would be to drive him to the nearest hospital with a good NICU. We didn’t trust to send him on an ambulance so the only other option was to take him ourselves. Before we left a special moment was when the mother came over to where her baby was. She gently laid her hand on him and began to pray. Her mother heart was hurting and yearning for her baby to live. We had her hold the baby, too, and it felt so right. Not so long before she had birthed this baby and now things were not going the way any of us had expected...... Eventually, we were on our way out the trail. It took us four hours to get there and we had to give the baby breaths the whole way there. By the time we finally arrived at the hospital we could see that he was just about done fighting. The poor dear. After we had the baby and mother dropped off at the hospital there was nothing more to do except leave; we felt he was in good hands and we hoped for the best. Around midnight, Kayla got the call from his mom that our little baby had died. I think it took it a while to really sink in. The past 24 hours had felt crazy and now he was gone. I was sad. I grieved for his parents and the loss they were feeling. But I also knew that he was no longer suffering on this earth; he was well!!!! He was no longer struggling for each breath and most of all, he was safe with Jesus! Yes, it was sad, but that hope gave me something to hold onto. The Lord giveth and He taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Also, I thought I would give an update on a certain little girlie that I wrote about in February. She was the baby(Jiana) that was born at clinic not breathing and with no heartbeat. She came in for monthly checkups with her mom and we were always so happy to see them! Every time we saw Jiana she was bigger and chubbier and just seemed to be doing extremely well! I can so clearly remember the day she was born and it was just a miracle to see her thriving! Not long ago some of us actually went to visit her and her parents. It was really nice to visit with them and they all seemed so happy. Jiana was of course the center of attention. She is certainly a miracle baby. I have attached a picture of her below- you don’t get much cuter!!!!
Thank you for your support and prayers! Pray for us as we strive to shine our lights brightly here in the mountains of Haiti!
