Blessed Assurance

At 4pm on Friday, Dixie Bickel admitted a 2 day old infant to the NICU. The baby was born by Ceasarean section on Wednesday evening and she has severe hydrocephalus. Her head measures 54.5cm at the widest point.

The average newborn baby has a head circumference of 35cm. Thankfully, infants have soft skulls and the bones are not fused. Our little lady has so much fluid around her brain that the sutures have been pushed wide apart. This limits the amount of pressure in our baby's head. An adult in a similar situation would die.

Without prompt treatment, though, our baby might be permanently brain damaged. She might not even live. She needs surgery to drain the fluid and prevent it from building up again. Unless there is a neurosurgeon who can do this in Haiti, and we do not believe that there is, Dixie will have to arrange to get our baby out of Haiti on a medical visa. While it is likely that GLA will be able to find a surgeon and hospital in the states where "Baby S" can be treated free of charge, it may take several weeks to obtain the visa. Baby S does not have several weeks.

This though, is not a time to despair. Shortly after Baby S arrived in the NICU, I cleaned her off; she had not been bathed since she was born 2 days earlier. As I was bathing her, there was a nudging in my spirit. Baby S had not come here for dignified care alone. As much as God wanted that for her, he had other things in mind. He sent her to GLA because he wanted her to live. And he knows that the faithful people of GLA, will pray his precious child back to good health; they have done it before.

The baby's family believe that their daughter was born with hydrocephalus because of a curse on their lives. In Haitian culture, "cursed infants" are tossed out onto rubbish heaps, or dropped down pit latrines.

Baby S's sisters, though, just could not allow that to happen. They had mercy on her. I believe the holy spirit moved them to bring her here and I am thankful that they yielded to that spirit, and no other.

Medically, Baby S's situation is urgent. I have never known a baby to be born with so much fluid on the brain. All ready, her limbs are stiff and her eyes are deviated downwards because of the pressure on her brain. She is having difficulty feeding. We need a miracle.

So please bombard the gates of Heaven on Baby S behalf and when you pray, pray in the knowledge that God wants to heal her. Petition him to give us his wisdom as we stand in the gap for this Angel.

While we wait for our miracle, and wonder how God will bring it to fruition, baby S is being loved and cared for the best way we know how. In the past 24 hours, I have watched Miss Esther hold Baby S on a pillow to splint the baby's head and protect her neck from the weight of that bulging head. I have seen Miss Cami, late at night, patiently feeding Baby S, time consuming and laborious though it may be.

I see these things and I know that the love of God is here, moving in this place.