Keep Praying

Having a baby is one of the most exciting times of your life. The ride is filled with extremes, low and high. I think God uses these times on my life to help me appreciate the things I have.

When our first baby was born, Alana, she got admitted with jaundice. The spiral just went down from there. They started telling us of infection in her blood, they did spinal taps, poked her until her skin peeled from her heels, and soon she ended up in the NICU and they were telling us she had heart problems. I will never forget that night we waited in the NICU waiting room while they shocked my baby’s heart to get it back into a normal rhythm. The loneliness and the pain was almost unbearable. After leaving the hospital when she was 2 weeks old, post partum depression hit me like a ton of bricks. I was put on two different anti-depressants which made everything worse. The only thing that held me together was God. I was eventually healed of the post partum depression and as for Alana, she is a beautiful, very healthy and smart 4 year old.

3 years later, we were blessed with the birth of our son Evan. Evan was a healthy baby and we were so thankful. After about a month or so it was diagnosed that Evan had colic. He cried for the first year of his life. Unfortunately post partum depression again hit me and once again, God healed me of it. When Evan was only 4 months old, he got very ill. We took him to the hospital where they discovered he had a UTI and he had ecoli. Evan was hospitalized for about 1-2 weeks. Evan is now a very healthy and happy, and energetic 19 month old.

Here we are 19 months later and we have welcomed a third child into the world, baby Owen. Owen has been in the NICU since he was only 4 hours old. The doctor said he had Premature Lung Disease, even though he was a full term baby. Owen is doing well and is expected to come home next week some time. He is a week old today. Post partum depression has been trying to creep back in to my life but I know that the power of God is stronger than that. I thank God for his healing power and His love because without it I would have fallen apart by now.

I felt the need to write this because I wanted to give my testimony as to how wonderful God is. He has spared my three children through very difficult times and held me and Chris together when we didn’t even have the strength to stand. I wanted to let it be known how wonderful God is and sometimes it is much easier to write due to emotions. If anyone doubts God, please call me and I will be happy to show you my three beautiful children who are all living miracles.

I am also writing this to ask for prayers. Our family needs your prayers. Please help us pray that Owen will be healed and that I will not have post partum depression. Also pray for the strength of Chris and me and that we and our children, Alana, Evan and Owen will grow strong and healthy in body, mind, and spirit. But also remember all the other babies in the NICU and their parents. The NICU is not a fun place to be. Pray the babies will be healthy and get out of there soon and that the parents stay strong and grow in the Lord through it all.

Thank you for reading this and thank you for praying for us. God bless you all!