Answer Me, O Lord

Donley, our premature baby boy who arrived from Cazale 2 weeks ago, developed diarrhoea on Monday. On Tuesday he was dehydrated, and had to be started on IV fluids and antibiotics. He perked up within a few hours.

Last night, though, was a hard, hard night for Donley. He was in a lot of pain. This morning, I gave him some morphine. He settled immediately, but proceeded to have seizures. Then, shortly after lunchtime, he stopped breathing and his heart rate plummeted. I managed to resuscitate him with an ambu-bag. Clearly, he was a very sick little boy.....

Donely stopped breathing for a second time early this evening. After several rounds of medication and over an hour of resuscitation, he wasn't making any effort to breath on his own. I prayed repeatedly, yet were no signs of life. We stopped. Clamped off the IV, shut down the oxygen machine, wrapped the baby, and held him.

Colour drained. Heart rate slowed, and had all but stooped, when, all of a sudden, there was a gasp, and another, and then steady, laboured respirations.

Back in the incubator, oxygen on, IV unclamped. Tears. 'Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. (1Kings 18:37).

The baby opened his eyes and looked from one nurse, to the next. Within a few minutes, his vital signs were normal. Then, just as suddenly as the breath had returned to his body, it left again. The Doctor who was with us couldn't hear a heart beat....Donley gasped, and gasped again, his eyes rolled before focusing again.

'When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes ' (2 Kings 4:32-35).

It seemed, that every time Donley's oxygen saturation rose above a certain level, all at once, his heart would slow and he would stop breathing.

We can guess at the reason....a cardiac problem, and electrolyte imbalance, maybe something metabolic......but we will never know quite why, Donley died and rose three times tonight, and then died a final death.