August 18, 2006
Dearest Friends and Family:
Langston and I are overwhelmed, in every sense of the word, by the love and support you have shown us and our precious baby girl.
Your prayers are felt and greatly appreciated.
We strongly believe we would not have made it to this point without your intercessory cries to the Heavenly Father on our behalf. Thanks be to God for his grace and mercy.
Someone described life in the NICU as a rollercoaster, and boy what a ride! Since our last update, the neonatologists have been working valiantly to wean baby Alison from her high levels of life support. Attempts to reduce the over-expansion of her lungs by the oscillating ventilator were successful (praise be to God) and little Alison tolerated a slight reduction in some of her blood pressure medications.
Over the last few days, as our precious baby lies paralyzed in her little bed, we have watched her gradually swell throughout her body. The swelling is dramatically altering the appearance of our beautiful girl and is painful for us to watch. In addition, the extreme swelling is taxing on her little organs and makes her care difficult. Please pray that her retention of fluids would be reversed, lessening the strain on her body.
On Wednesday, the doctors began weaning our little one of her oxygen support. The goal is to wean Alison of her oxygen, then her nitric oxide, and ultimately her oscillating ventilator. This would allow her to be switched to a regular ventilator, some of the medication removed, and the paralytic discontinued. The removal of the paralytic would allow her to move and squirm, working out the extreme swelling in her body. This would also allow the doctors to further evaluate her neurological condition.
At first, Alison tolerated a slow, gradual weaning of the oxygen support. On Wednesday morning, her support was at 95 and it had been reduced to 78 by Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately, by that evening Alison’s blood oxygen gasses began to drop and the doctors had to increase her to 85 and eventually back to 95 by nightfall. This setback has been particularly difficult for us. The doctors plan to reattempt the process on Friday if little Alison can maintain her blood gasses through the night. Please pray that her little body will tolerate the changes and begin oxygenating on its own.
I come to you with a heavy heart, burdened for our child. The weight of concern for little Alison is overwhelming. Our gracious heavenly Father has brought us thus far, and we are praying for the strength to continue.
We know the Lord is in control, and we ultimately desire for His will to be done, no matter the outcome. That is the hardest prayer we have ever had to pray – “Lord, your will be done; even if it means you will be taking her home to live with you in glory”.
However, the heavenly Father knows our hearts. He knows we desire for Him to intervene and heal our precious baby girl. We pray that He will give us this desire of our hearts. Please continue to pray on our behalf.
Thanks to your prayers and Gods unending mercy, I am healing rapidly. I have had very little pain and soreness since the caesarian delivery and have been off prescription pain medication since Monday. I count it a true blessing that I have not had to focus heavily on my health and have been able to instead concentrate on the healing of our daughter. Thank you for your prayers in regards to my healing.
The Lord has blessed me with the ability to pump breast milk for little Alison. Although she is too weak at this time to accept feedings, the milk is being stored so that it is ready when the time is right. It is such a privilege that I can contribute to her eventual healing by providing such a life-giving substance. Every day and night I spend a large portion of my time “pumping and praying” for our little angel. Please pray that she will be able to tolerate feedings soon.
As you are well aware due to the earlier postings, I am married to an amazing man. Langston is a true rock for our family. His unwavering faith and strength astound me. His hope and prayers for our daughter have helped to sustain me throughout the last 10 days.
Langston loves his little girl...
It breaks my heart to see him stand over her crib, pleading with the Lord to save her little life. Please pray for Langston as he tries to resume his career and care for his family. He is burdened by the unceasing demands on his mind and body. The gracious Father has sustained us thus far, but we have so much farther to go. Please pray for His grace and peace in our circumstance. Pray that Satan would be bound and would not dampen Langston’s spirit or allow any doubt to enter in.
We cannot thank you enough for your prayers, emails, cards and calls. We are overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of the many friends, family and complete strangers praying on Alison’s behalf. Please continue to lift our precious girl up to the Lord. Please pray for a miracle.
May God richly bless you and your families,
Stephanie and Langston
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