This is a long post, but we really encourage you to read it…
We first decided to create this website with the intention of keeping our family and friends informed on the progress of Judy’s pregnancy. But we also knew that there would be people that we had never met who would read about our story and be able to connect us with others who have gone through the same experience. A friend of ours who recently battled and beat non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma built a support network of strangers that offered him encouragement and hope and really helped him through that difficult time. We were hoping for the same.
A friend of ours who works in banking in Portland had a conversation with one of his clients. Somehow the conversation led to the client’s daughter who recently had a baby son with a congenital birth defect and survived. The daughter lives in Bellingham, Washington, of all places (our former home). Her neighbors, Matt and Carla, have a daughter, Lily, who was born with CDH five days after our daughter Katelyn was born in Bellingham (two years ago). These neighbors were directed to this website and contacted us last Saturday.
We called Matt and Carla that night and spoke for an hour and a half. Before hearing the survival story of their daughter, Lily, we discovered that they are believers in our Lord, Jesus Christ!
Lily was diagnosed with the same type of CDH as our daughter. At birth, she was basically without a left lung. Matt and Carla explained that her first days at Swedish Hospital in Seattle were up and down and were very emotional. Her eyes and ears were covered her first three days to keep any stimuli from agitating her. The biggest obstacle for Lily and for other CDH babies was getting stable enough to proceed to surgery. Her oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, among other things, had to check out before being given the go-ahead with surgery. On her sixth day, she went into surgery. Lily’s lung then started to develop and she went home after being in the hospital for five weeks. She didn’t need feeding or oxygen tubes, which some babies require after going home.
Matt and Carla gave us much more hope than we had been holding onto. As believers, they stressed that God is “so into our daughter” and wants the best for her and us. They committed to keeping us in their prayers and offered to continue to talk to us throughout the weeks and months ahead. We joked with them that they need to email us some photos of themselves and Lily or we may think that we had been speaking to angels sent from above.
Matt and Carla stressed that we ask people to specifically pray for certain things to occur. So here are the biggest things facing us and our daughter.
(1) Pray that our daughter will stay in the womb until she is strong enough to enter this world.
(2) Pray that our daughter will survive the birthing process.
(3) Pray that our daughter will be stable enough in her first few days to go into surgery.
(4) Pray that our daughter’s surgery will be successful and that her lungs will fully develop.
(5) Pray that we can find enough people to watch our two-year old daughter, Katelyn, while we are busy at the hospital.
Also, please pray for Matt and Carla as they are expecting their second child.
3 comments:
We'll be praying for these specific things. Thank you for letting us know about your biggest concerns, and please tell us if there is anything else that we can do. It is wonderful to hear about how God is at work through your circumstances. I've been praying and will keep praying that your faith will not be diminished in any way, but that it will be strengthened and grow.
How encouraging. I really believe that connecting with this couple is our marvelous Creators way of telling you to hold on and keep the faith. He IS in control.
And since I have your time and there's no way I can start crying in front of you, I'd like to say that you are truly an amazing couple. I see your courage and strength and love for each other as you prepare for the coming months, all the while loving and caring for Katelyn. It has been a true priviledge to share the day to day moments over the last few months with you. Witnessing your faith despite all of the unknowns has certainly impacted mine.
This is such exciting news! Please continue to keep us posted-- we read each and every update and continue to pray for you four. And-regarding your "Debbie Downer" moments-- don't be hard on youself for them. You are certainly entitled to the feelings you are experiencing and I know I appreciate how candid you are throughout this process. You wouldn't be human if there weren't "downer" moments along the way. The fact that you are clinging so tightly to your faith and being such a Godly example is what shines through. You really are an amazing family. The Knotts family loves you!
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