I've been wanting to blog about my nephew Benjamin for a little while now, but I've had to gather in all my thoughts and feelings and think about how to properly write this all down. So I've decided to write this from my perspective as not only an aunt but a sister too. See Rose is my youngest sister out of us six girls, and we almost lost her.....
I believe that If Jesus tarries God has awesome plans for little Benjamin, it seems that from even in the early months of Rose's pregnancy the devil was trying to kill him. I can remember praying for Rose in her early months , being afraid that this tiny precious life even at 2 and 3 months would miscarry, as Rose was having a lot of bleeding and at one point even being at the hospital thinking she lost him, but there was his little heart beating.
Its wierd when you go through a traumatic event how you remember the littlest details, its like time just stands still in those crazy fearfilled moments. Yet there are other things you just can not remember, like I can't remember if my mom called or my sister Leah texted me that Rose was in the hospital having Benjamin. I think it was both. I remember thinking -praying GOD NO! At 26 weeks old how in the world could he survive and I'm thinking about Rose and Joel: how do you deal with your baby dying. It felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I was in the nursury making sure everything was ready for service which was going to start in 10 minutes and I ran out to the sanctuary crying telling Arty we had to pray right now and so we did. I immediately started texting people to pray for a miracle, not knowing if This little baby was born dead or alive. We were playing the waiting game. On top of that we had a first time visitor to church, so I had to pull all of my emotions together and that was the hardest thing to do, all I wanted to do was run to the hospital and make sure everything was ok. As soon as service was over I met my sister Leah at the hospital, where she was waiting to hear some news at that point Benjamin had been born at 2lbs 2 0z. So we sat in the waiting room just waiting to hear Something. Rose's doctor was so awesome, He would come out and talk to Leah and I and give us all the technical information. Basically what happened was the placenta tore away from the uterus and caused her to have internal bleeding, but nobody knew that till they did the c-section . Rose just kept on bleeding and bleeding, but we didn't realize how serious it was for Rose until the dr came to get us so we could see her before they wheeled her down to do this procedure to stop all the bleeding and he told us that if it didn't work they would have to do an emergency hysterectomy. I think that was when I started to freak out a little bit. She was way too young Only 26 years old. Looking back We just prayed with all of our hearts that whole day and I can just see the hand of God moving over that whole situation. I believe God gave Rose the Doctor he did, He saved her life. Rose looked like death , I cannot explain that statement, but Leah knows what I mean. So Rose got sent to the ICU , Benjamin to the NICU. Thank God my mom flew out that very day and was there for the next month. I belive my sister Jennifer came up later on that week, at that point I believe Rose had gotten something like 4 blood transfusions through out the week, but God kept her alive and our whole family is so grateful for everybody's prayers. The first time I saw Benjamin it was so surreal. Here was this little intsy winsy baby, my fist was bigger than his head! We all were in love!! He was perfectly formed! The most precious miracle I have ever seen. He was not even a week old when we got the phone call from my mom calling for my sister to tell us that they had done a brain scan on Benjamin and he had stage 4 bleeding on the brain and in the dr's own words he had 80-90% chance of having cebral palsy. Once again The emails, texts, phone calls went flying asking everyone to pray for a miracle. God is so faithful becouse at 5 1/2 months Benjamin is PERFECTLY FINE no signs at ALL! We are believing God that even in the future as he gets older he will not develop any symptoms of cp either. The hand of God was just all over him in that NICU. From the christian respiratory therapist who told Rose She sees miracles in that place all the time, to his amazing development the whole time he was there. Its been said that its a long difficult journey for preemies becouse they will do good and then regress continually, and that never happened for Benjamin, He only progressed and did good from day one. He had a hole in his heart- we prayed and believed God for a miracle and I believe God honors our faith and they decided not to do surgery and the hole closed up. Praise God! That was just one of the many miracles we have seen. Currently he roles over, smiles, pushes himself up on his little skinny arms and he nurses. That is a miracle!! Ask Rose!! I have to say That she is my hero! What she went through in those crazy 3 months, I wouldn't wish on anybody, but she trusted God and spoke words of Faith and we are seeing the results of that now. I want to thank everybody who has faithfully prayed for Rose and Benjamin(and the rest of the family) I have no doubt in my mind its because of those beautiful, faithful, incredible prayers of so many people and churches that Benjamin is where he is at today. Our entire family can never say thank you enough. We are so thankful for friends like you and a fellowship like ours. To God be the Glory Forever and Ever Amen.
Benjamin is now 9lbs. 21 in long. He's growing!
is to entertain our family and anybody that will give him the time:) In the Picture where he has a snow hat on, he has his stuffed animals stuffed inside =P and the picture of him on the door, well... he was trying to lock his big sis out of the house. I also included another pic of Benjamin, he's turning into a lil chunky monkey. Love it!
