Timothy James

I was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 8th because my amniotic sac was leaking and I had begun to dilate. I was ordered to lie flat on my back until the baby came ( I was due April 2nd!). Well, on Dec. 17th my water broke at 7:15pm and Timothy James decided to come early. He was breech and already on his way out, so the doctor did an emergency C-section and at 10:20 pm he was delivered. He went straight to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and has been there ever since. Timothy was only 25 weeks along in his development (a "normal" pregnancy lasts 40 weeks) so he still has a lot of growing to do.

Psalm 23 " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for You are with me..."

We are so thankful that we have such a big God who is always with us, no matter what we are going through! I was walking through that "valley of the shadow of death" on Monday afternoon. Through a set of circumstances Timothy had stopped breathing and I had to perform rescue breathing on him while his grandpa called 911. It was definitely the scariest moment of my life (and probably Grandpa's too)! You have no idea what it is like (unless you've had to do it) to have to sustain your child's breath while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. I was in such a state of panic that I know I didn't perform it exactly the way we had been taught, but praise the Lord for giving me the ability to do anything at all. When the paramedics arrived they stabilized him somewhat and took him to Loma Linda ER. We have been in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) ever since. Timothy is being treated for a possible pneumonia infection, but that is still just a guess according to the doctor in charge of his care. Mommy & daddy believe that there is an underlying kidney issue causing the respiratory problems, but the challenge for us is to get the doctors to listen to our theory, because it's not the "typical" treatment for babies in Timothy's condition.

God has been good. We trust that He is going to get Timothy what he needs and provide us with the strength to get through each day. Timothy is improving somewhat and definitely feeling better. Daddy & I take turns spending the night at the hospital and then I am there all day long while daddy goes to work. We both really look forward to those nights when it's our turn to go home and sleep in a real bed instead of a really hard chair that pulls out into some form of a sleeping apparatus!

Please pray that God will give us wisdom with regard to making decisions about Timothy's care and that He will give the doctors open minds and listening ears as we present our ideas to them.

Thank you for your prayer support!

Prayer Request: Timothy needs your prayers once again. He is back in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Loma Linda. He was having trouble breathing earlier today and was taken to the hospital by the paramedics, At this point, the doctors think he has another infection. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, rest and strength for Timothy (he hates being away from his normal surroundings), and strength for Mom and Dad as they are completely exhausted (they had not yet recovered from his last hospital stay).