My nephew's wife, Rachel, is passing through town on her way to visit Chad (her husband) who is in specialized Army training in North Carolina. She and her two babies spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and I got to visit with them for a few minutes last night.
Her daughter, Reagan, is our latest miracle baby. She was born in trauma, having aspirated myconium before birth. She was very sick and they didn't expect her to live. She had gotten an infection from the feces, which had spread to her blood while still in the womb.
They put her on a machine that recycled her blood, cleaning it out, then pumping it back into her body, in addition to other life-support equipment. After an extended period of time on the blood machine, she began having little mini-strokes and had numerous brain bleeds. The situation looked hopeless, but her parents never lost hope.
I took my mother and sister to visit our little baby in the ICU Unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital, fearful that might be the only time I saw her this side of Heaven. She was absolutely precious, with red hair and blue eyes, but her skull was distended twice it's size and we knew the fluid was impacting her brain. It was a hard visit, but we were able to talk with her and love on her.
Well, she lived. It was a miracle. The swelling in her head eventually went down but the doctors told Chad and Rachel there was no way to know how significant her brain had been damaged through this trauma. We would just have to wait and see what developmental milestones she missed.
She'll be 2 this August, and has missed NO milestones. She's an active, happy, SMART little girl, full of life and excitement. As I sat there this morning, watching her tuck her head under her arm to grin at me while she was pulling Great-Grandma's sweaters out of their neatly folded stack, I discovered that I just wanted to watch her and ponder God's goodness. When children are active or, later, rebellious, it's so easy to lose our perspective and forget what miracles they really are. Each one is a gift from God, a miraculous creation, but some bear the stamp of being even more miraculous, like Reagan.
My three were all incredible miracles. It's easy to forget that in the throes of life, but I do find myself gazing at them often, thinking about the fullness in my life because of God's gracious gift to me of these three beautiful children. My heart absolutely bursts with love for them, and I know they feel that.
As I watch Reagan, I just want her to know a couple of things: God loves her and saved her very life; there has to be a marvelous purpose for the great miracle of her, completely healed; we love her more than we will ever be able to express to her.
If she can get those three things firmly planted in her mind, she'll be far ahead of most of us and right where she needs to be.
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