SURPRISE

Dear Friends and Family,

We got a big surprise today!  Yesterday morning we visited Elliot in the NHDU and everything was the same-- still on the bili light, all other test results still pending.  Then we left to go to Jesse's dental appointment (he has a severe infection at the sight of the root canal he had in Burundi, and the fillings went too deep, so if his body can't adjust to the pain the tooth will have to be pulled, but at least he has antibiotic now).

Jesse was in too much pain to go back to the hospital until around 9pm, when we took the boys to see Elliot for the first time since he was put into the high dependency unit.  We came in the door and discovered that Elliot was no longer in the incubator!!  Hooray!  Jesse took the boys home to bed and I stayed until about 10:30pm and left him sleeping peacefully.  The nurses didn't say anything except that he seemed to be doing well. 

Then this morning we got a call from the NHDU nurses saying they were waiting for us to come pick Elliot up and TAKE HIM HOME! So we did!! We were happy and shocked and a little scared all at the same time.  

Shocked--because there was no communication-- we haven't spoken to the doctor in three days, we don't know what the final results of the last blood tests were, and the nurses didn't even hint at it yesterday. 

Scared-- the American embassy doctor we talked to last week said Elliot shouldn't come home until he was back to birth weight and nursing was well established.   At this point he isn't even close to back to birth weight-- he has stopped dropping weight and tabled out but hasn't gained any back yet, and he had only even attempted nursing two times before we brought him home.  Is he really ready? 

Happy-- I think the reason we were happy is obvious!!!

 

As we left the nurse said it was good to see him going home after he had given us all such a scare, so we weren't the only ones who thought we almost lost him earlier this week. Thank you SO much for praying him home and for supporting us through this in so many ways.  We are so thankful to the Lord for sparing our son.  Please keep praying that he will thrive through this adjustment. 

 

Some of you asked about Micah-- the ER visit was inconclusive, but the American embassy doctor assured us that Micah has a condition called vasovagal syncope, similar to what happens to adults that faint at the sight of blood or when they get blood drawn-- pain and shock make his heart slow down instead of speed up, and he faints.  He thinks Micah got a sharp pain in his ear from the infection and fainted in response to the pain.  Zach has this condition as well, and it is known to run in families.  We just weren't sure about Micah because we weren't here to see what happened and there wasn't an obvious source of pain, but the explanation about the ear makes sense, so all is well. 

We are sure thankful God sent that embassy doctor to this guesthouse on the night he did, and that the host family here arranged for us to talk to him!!!

Rejoicing,

Jesse, Joy, Zach, Micah, and Elliot