We are a military family, and with that come many deployments and long separations. While stationed in Washington, DC, we found a church family in The Alive Gathering Ministries. We were saddened when we were re-stationed to North Carolina.
God had blessed us with two girls?one seven years old and one five. Happy with the family we had, we decided we were done having children. With my husband being gone, often two children were more then enough. Our plan was not the same as what God had for us. Shortly after my husband returned from being stationed overseas, I found out I was pregnant. This was quite a shock as we really thought we were through. To add to the surprise, we found out about a week later that my husband was set to deploy again. He was going to be sent to Iraq for one year. As you can imagine this was a very stressful time.
We made it to the fourth month of pregnancy before my husband had to leave again. He would return home for two weeks in January when the baby was due. We had a two-week window. The baby had to come within the two weeks. If it didn't happen then, my husband would have to go back anyway. There are absolutely no extensions unless of a life or death emergency. We were ten days into the fourteen, and still no baby. My doctor agreed to induce me so my husband would be home for the birth.
I was scheduled to be induced on a Monday morning. My husband was scheduled to leave on Thursday. I was induced and had the baby Tuesday morning. We had a beautiful baby boy. He was 8 pounds and 3 ounces. Everything seemed to be perfect. We were healthy and doing well. We came home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. I was glad my husband had been there to see the birth of his son. However, he was now leaving the very next day.
We woke up on Thursday morning, and much to our surprise, it had snowed the night before. In North Carolina, this doesn't happen often. As a matter of fact, this was the only day the whole year that we did have snow. We were excited about the snow and quickly checked to see if my husband's plane was delayed. We were praying for just a little more time. Well, the plane was still scheduled on time. So once again we said goodbye, and he went to the airport. About an hour later, he was back and knocking at the front door. We were very happy to see him again. He had another 24 hours. We took that blessing happily and enjoyed another day together.
God knew my husband could not get on that plane that day. If he had left then, it would have taken at least six days for him to get a Red Cross message and to return home. That night our beautiful new baby began to have seizures. We did not even know what these were or what was happening. He had his first one around dinnertime. However, never having seen a seizure, we did not know what was happening. He looked as if he had spit up and chocked. As the night continued, they got much worse. By midnight they were so bad he was turning purple and not coming out of them as quickly. We called 911 around midnight. We were taken back to the hospital emergency room. Now my husband was supposed to leave in eight hours.
We arrived in the emergency room around 12:30am. The seizures still continued and were getting worse. The doctors did not want to give him anything to stop them because they wanted to witness them first. This was to help diagnose the problem. Also, they wanted to get a CAT scan of the brain. They finally gave him medication through his IV, and the seizures were under control. We then went in for the CAT scan, which indicated blood on his brain. The doctors said they couldn't help us at that hospital, but needed to medivac him up to a better hospital with a pediatric neurologist.
They came to transport him, and I watched my little 8-pound baby be wheeled away and put into another ambulance. We were not able to ride with him. I prayed God would go with him in the ambulance and keep my son safe until I could be with him again.
While all this was happening, my husband was desperately trying to contact his chain of command in Iraq. We needed permission for him to stay longer. It was about 5:00 am when we finally got word, and they granted him another week. We were so thankful.
We arrived at the next hospital, and he was admitted into the pediatric ICU. The neurologist quickly came in and examined him. They wanted to do another CAT Scan, and we agreed. They were looking to find the blood that was seen on the first one and needed to find out if it was a continuous bleed or a blood clot. If they found a continuous bleed, they would to take him to surgery immediately. They also started three types of medication through his IV to treat for infection. Signatures were required because one of the medications could cause hearing loss. We signed the paper, and medication was started. We thought we needed to stop the seizures and later deal with the possibility of hearing complications.
They took him down for the CAT Scan and came back to tell us that it was not a continuous bleed. Praise God! It was a blood clot. But the seizures were still coming. They were just being controlled by medication. In the effort to stop the seizures, another medication was given. Now we were are up to five medications.
We began to call and contact everybody we knew to pray for our baby, including all our friends at The Alive Gathering Ministries. We did not know what was going on in his body, but God surely did. There were all kind of specialists at this hospital, but they couldn't determine why he was still seizing.
The next day they took him for an MRI. This was to get a better picture of the blood clot and see the extent of the damage it had caused. Well, the results of the MRI came back, and the doctors couldn't explain what happened. A day after seeing a blood clot, they saw nothing. They could not find it. It was gone! This was the day after we called everybody to pray. The doctors were trying to explain how this could possibly happen. They could not do it very well. I will tell you why -- God took care of it.
We spent seven more days in the hospital. They ran tests everyday. Every single one of them came back negative. They couldn't find a thing! We came home and continued medication. He was on two different types of medication four times a day. Some days I felt like all I did was give medication. The neurologist wanted to see us back in six weeks.
My husband went back after one month of being home. This was a huge blessing because they do not often let soldiers stay home that long when they are deployed.
The next six weeks went well, and we went back to the neurologist. They said the baby looked great, but also said if there were still any complications, he would have developmental delays. He did not! He was growing and developing as he should. We started to reduce the first medication, and he did awesome. No seizures!
In the meantime, we were asked to schedule an appointment with a pediatric audiologist to test his hearing for any damage from the medication that was given in the hospital. Three weeks later we went in for the test, and he failed in both ears. We were shocked. They scheduled him to go for a more in-depth test. This would tell the extent of the damage and where exactly the damage was. Once again we called everybody we knew to pray. We knew if God could heal him in the hospital, He surely could heal a little bit of hearing loss. It took us five weeks to get an appointment for the next test. He had three different tests done in both ears. He passed them all!
We were now down to one medication. We went back two months later and everything is still looking great. The neurologist was once again pleased with what he saw. We started reducing the LAST medication, taking six weeks to get off of it. He is now completely off all the medication and is seizure free. There is also no hearing lose or damage from the medication that they were sure would damage his hearing. Our Father in heaven made all this possible! We are so thankful for all the prayers of our family and friends.
GOD IS SO GOOD!
