An Exhausted Baby Peter Fights On

The Haitian nurses and I have been praying around the clock for Baby Peter. Saturday was a very difficult night for him - for several hours, Nurse Claudia had to stimulate Peter constantly to keep him breathing. I turned up Peter's oxygen, since a slightly higher flow of oxygen in their nasal passages can support premature infants' airways. This made a difference for a few hours, but Peter was tiring.

Late morning: the foreign staff went out to church, while I stayed behind to care for Peter. Our little man was exhausted at this point and it was getting more and more difficult to rouse him during each apnoea. His blood oxygen level was falling each time he stopped breathing and he would turn blue. He was showing signs of respiratory failure. It didn't look good.

I didn't feel a sense of panic, what I did have was a strong desire to see Peter live, and a real emotional investment in his survival, and so I took that to the lord in prayer. I felt led to give Peter a breathing treatment. I administered that, and I waited...

Shortly before 11am, Peter turned a corner. His heart rate shot up and he began flailing his arms and legs, protesting at our efforts to keep him awake and alive. From somewhere, he found that strength to flight. He opened his eyes and looked at us. There was an intense expression in those eyes; please, just let me be!

For the entire afternoon, I was able to do just that. Peter breathed steadily, rhythmically and without ceasing, right up until the point that I handed him over into the care of the night nurses.

We do not have any high tech equipment to support the tiny, fragile bodies of the premature babies in our NICU, but we do have our God; all knowing, all loving, wise, waiting to hear from us and ready to answer. In him, all things are possible.