We are Going Home

Noah and I have spent some time over the last few days trying to find words to add to the blog, but it wasn't until today that we felt as though we were ready to share all that has happened this week. We arrived to the hospital on Monday thinking that we would be bringing Magdalena home Wednesday or Thursday, and we would spend the night in order to learn how to best care for her. By Tuesday we knew that the earliest day would be Friday so that the hospital staff could have the time to get us ready for the big day.

Tuesday night we had our first "real" encounter with what Magdalena's syndrome consists of on a daily basis. We had just begun to feel comfortable with the type of feedings that we would give her. The day was ending when Magdalena's apnea alarm sounded to let us know that she was not taking in the amount of oxygen needed. After giving her a second to pull it up on her own, which happens frequently I began to rub her to help her a bit. I picked her up and rubbed her harder, but her oxygen levels and heartrate kept going down to dangerous levels. I really began thinking that this was it. This was the time in her life that I had dreaded. She looked as though she was a complete shade of blue. Everything else happened so quickly, but basically Noah called the NICU. Before I knew it the nurses were here giving her a little oxygen and getting her lungs and heart going strong again, as I sat on the couch crying and watching it all happen. She started breathing on her own, but the nurses decided to leave her on the oxygen for the night, and Noah and I agreed that would be good. Then, she became fussy to a point that Noah and I knew that something was wrong. After talking through it, we decided that she must be constipated which had caused her to drop in her oxygen level as she had to push so hard. This got her to the point where she was unable to recover her level because of her apnea.

While this was a great reminder to us of how fragile Magdalena is, we are so thankful that we get to keep spending time with her.

We are Going Home

Tomorrow morning we will be taking Magdalena home for the first time in her little life. We are so excited to be able to take her to her own room, but we are also a bit nervous about what will happen there. We know that God is sovereign, good and faithful to us, but we need the faith to trust Him fully. Please pray for us that we will be ready for whatever is to come!

We are also very excited that this Sunday, August 24, Magdalena is going to be baptized.  Please come and celebrate with us! While we are eager for this day, we will also need to be careful with Magdalena. Although we would like to share our precious miracle with everyone, please forgive us for being overly protective of her. It may not be best for everyone to meet her just yet.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers that have sustained us through these very trying times. Your prayers are God-honoring and we are so blessed by them. Dr. L, one of my professors, asked me about Magdalena yesterday and then said, "That little girl has mobilized more prayer from people all over the world than any of the rest of us ever could have." He is so right! What an amazing blessing she has been. May God be glorified in her!