1Sept 2006 - A good week and a really bad day

Mich and I have spent the day in NICU today with our little 2 week-old boy who started desaturating (not oxygenating his blood) badly last night. Having left him looking okay at 23h00 we came in this morning to find an ashen-coloured baby with another infection of his gut –a massive one compared to last week’s that has moved to the rest of his body and is causing his tummy to blow up and squash his lungs resulting in an inability to breath properly. So unfortunately he’s back onto the ventilator and has been hit with four antibiotics, each one trying to smash what could be causing this infection. By midnight we’ll have a better idea if any of the drugs have worked and by tomorrow we’ll know either way which way he is going and hopefully the lab will be able to identify the bug. If the infection does not clear the risk increases that his gut will start to die (necrotising enterocolitis) and perforate which is very bad news. Please pray that God will heal this infection and for Paul, Bernadette, Alison, Tracey, Imelda and Ursula who are his loving medical staff (supported by a whole bunch of others).

As an encouragement to you who we know are praying, 100% of last week’s specific prayer requests were answered. We’re so grateful that:

- The tummy infection cleared in a day

- He was off the ventilator and onto CPAP (nasal positive pressure) for five days before this infection hit (this was a huge leap forward)

- He came off the sedation, the blood pressure drug, and one of two prophylactic antibiotics he was on

- He was taking 1.5ml of Mich’s breastmilk an hour yesterday (another big step)

- The sore on his neck is long gone

- Mich’s uterine infection has cleared up and the milk continues to flow steadily into the NICU freezer

- Matt was fully healed of his tummy bug in two days.

This morning though the paed’s sobering words were that with today’s quadrupling of the antibiotics we must quadruple our prayers! We left his rooms under no illusions that our son is not fighting for his life (and certainly will not be for the last time if he makes it through this one). Every hour and day is precious.

We trust in and place our hope is a God who understands every part of us, who heals, who loves, who creates, who breaks into the physical world in miraculous ways and who has a plan for us all.

With love and (relative) peace

Terence