Witnessing the Miracle....

SHE'S HOME!!!!

 Those of you, who receive our weekly email, have already read this story, 

but for journaling purposes, I wanted to post it on our blog.....

The pictures aren't very good...they are taken from a phone.

I can't wait to get some REAL pictures of our beautiful little baby!

Wow, What a week! It has been a roller coaster! 
The ups were UP, and the downs were DOWN! 

It’s definitely a week we are glad to see come to an end.

We were blessed with our 7^th grand child on October 19^th...a beautiful, tiny baby girl, Isabella.  We were so happy to share the birth on Skype with Gretchen and Dave!  We told Gretchen she should have 10 children! She makes it look so easy! Our little Izzie was 5 lbs. 11 oz, a bit smaller than we had expected!  We were all on a “High” and then the bottom dropped out!

Izzie’s blood sugar was extremely low.  They immediately put her on a glucose IV.  They also took her off breast milk and gave her a lactose free formula.  Bad went to worse….they took a hearing test, and one ear didn’t test out.  Then… the specialist said she was developing cataracts on her little eyes.  Her blood sugar stayed consistently low and she became lethargic and didn’t respond to pain. She wouldn't even flinch when they poked her for blood samples. The doctors wanted to run some tests on her brain.... her bilirubin count was up, (but that was the least of our worries), until the doctor said it wasn't the regular yellow jaundice bilirubin, it was something different, where her skin turned gray...it was the "Bad" bilirubin.  The doctor’s took tons of tests, sending some up to Salt Lake.  They had a genetic specialist come in to talk to Gretchen and Dave. They were sure she had something called, “Galactosemia,” a rare genetic disorder where the body lacks the enzyme to break down the sugars in milk.  It sounds pretty minor, but it is a MAJOR thing.  It can come with lots of other complications such as learning disabilities, cataracts on the eyes, slow motor skills even mental retardation….just to name a few.  We were all absolutely devastated!  The doctors acted like little Izzie would be in the hospital for a very long time.  As the days rolled by, we were taking one day at a time, and Lonne and I were trying to decide if we should fly home to be with Gretchen and Dave to help with the other kids until the baby could come home.  I was so proud of Gretchen and Dave through the whole thing!  On the seventh day, Gretchen asked one of the specialists, what the chances were, that the baby would be fine. He looked at her like she was crazy and said, “About 2 out of 100.”  Gretchen and Dave were devastated but were relieved to finally hear a "Number" so they would know what to expect. They said they knew Heavenly Father would not send them a special baby if they couldn’t handle it, and that He must think they are good parents to send them one of His special children.  We were so relieved to hear Gretchen say these words, and for the first time in many days, we knew that things were going to be ok, no matter what the circumstance.  After hearing Gretchen's strength, I knew she and Dave could and would be fine, and that we are just so lucky to live so close to each other for strength and support. We had a special family fast for baby Izzie. 

We prayed for a miracle.   

Late that night, Dave gave Izzie another Priesthood blessing.  After the blessing, he and Gretchen both felt at peace as they left the hospital to go home to get some sleep for the first time all week.  I was so proud of Dave and Gretchen!  They were so strong after all the BAD news they had received during the day! 

The next morning, when Gretchen arrived at the hospital, little Izzie was awake, alert, and screaming her little head off for the first time! She was responding to pain!  Her blood sugar was up and they had her off the IV, but were monitoring her very closely.  I’m not sure the sequence of the miracles, but they happened within hours of each other….The tests came back from Salt Lake after 7 days of waiting, and the “Galactosemia” test (that the doctors were so confident would be positive) came back negative! They told Gretchen to go ahead and nurse baby Isabella again and see what happened…Izzie LOVED it, & her blood sugar stayed up! Later that day, they checked her eyes and said they were CLEAR! No cataracts! And the final miracle was when Gretchen went into the NICU and saw a little sign on Izzie’s bed that said, “I passed my hearing exam!”  That night, they let Gretchen take her into a private room to sleep, and everything stayed stable….and tonight, after nine days in the NICU, Isabella was able to go home to her brother and sisters!!

It is nothing short of a miracle!  Heavenly Father has blessed us with a wonderful miracle, and must want us to stay in New Zealand! He knew we would fly home to help our daughter, so he showed us the power of prayers, fasting, faith, and Priesthood blessings!  We will never forget this week.  We were told we would receive blessings if we served this mission….nothing can compare to this blessing we have received!  We love our tiny little Isabella, and can’t wait to meet her!  But we are happy to say, we won’t be kissing her and holding her until our mission is complete.... next JuneJ

2 Nephi 27:23

“For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.”

We asked Him in faith.

We trusted His will.

He showed us a Miracle.