My daughter, Nicole, went to the hospital Saturday morning, October 8, and was admitted around 5 a.m. Things went very quickly, and my grandson, Wesley, was born at 9:27 a.m. The cord was wrapped around his neck several times, the vein that carries food/nutrients to the baby had been pinched. At some point in time (doctors unsure as to how long ago), Wesley was under stress. He of course aspirated quite a bit as well. When he was born he encountered a small cardiac arrest, his oxygen was below 80.

They whisked him away to work on him and told the kids that they would probably need to send him downtown to the NICU. After clearing his lungs they placed him on oxygen and gave him fluid since he was so depleted (due to the vein being collapsed). They got an IV going and continued giving him sugar water. He responded really well to the fluids…even gained weight… and they decided to keep him there for a while.

God planned to have just the right pediatricians there at the time of delivery. If he had been born at home they tell us he wouldn’t have made it. They had all kinds of wires and tubes hooked up to him. It was hard for Chris, his dad, to see him like that, but Wesley was very calm. The docs and nurses were awesome. Wesley continued to improve and Nikki was able to start feeding him, trying to wean him off the sugar water and keep an eye on his blood sugar level.

God answered prayer and all went well. Wesley was able to come in with Nikki Sunday night. He then developed a blood clot, but they caught it and were able to take care of it. They needed to change his IV site since he was continuing to receive antibiotics, but it was really hard to find good sites and they had used just about every vein….except the top of his foot. Wesley then went through half a day not wanting to eat. Once again we were on our knees to God, and once again, God saw fit to answer. It took a while but when the night time nurses came in (his favorites), they tried a few tricks and Wesley began to improve.

From that time on, he has been wonderful! The blood cultures came back fine after 48 hours, and we were able to come home. The first night was super: Nikki is doing great, and Chris has seen God at work and said to me he knows that it was only because of God’s will that Wesley is here. We are all thankful to the Lord and want all to know! 

I know there are more serious conditions with babies and their births, but this was Wesley’s journey, and we will be telling him how God healed him and used very gifted doctors and nurses.

Our seniors Covenant Group restarted in our home after an 8 week summer break. We first shared specific blessings of the summer, then the most difficult battles of the summer to tie into a meditative study of Psalm 31. The average age of our group is over 80, and at 92 Jack Wills is still the store house of biblical knowledge (he has taught in weekly jail ministry for over 40 years). Betty Thompson gave each of us five or more written prayer requests from jail inmates to include in our daily personal intercessory ministry. We prayed in unity that the Holy Spirit would so fill us with love that we would consistently be those who fulfill the command of Psa. 31:23: “Love the Lord, all his saints!”