Ruth **Updated**

There are many moments and things that I will forever remember about my first born’s birth. The first words from the doctor, “Oh, that’s not supposed to happen”; Jes noticing that he was having trouble breathing and the nurse whisking him away to the nursery for the first of dozens of times that first 12 hours of his life; trying to nurse him and watching him slowly turn blue, the nurse grabbing him from me and running out of my room with him; Jes sobbing in the corner after seeing him for the first time in the NICU, covered in tubes and wires, forbidding me from going to see him; the discussion we had with the Neonatologist and ENT telling us there was a major flaw in his skeletal make up of his skull and they were going to have to reconstruct his whole face; begging the doctors to do just “one more” CT scan after a night of tearfully begging God to please heal my son. All of these things, and many others, are seared into my memory, coloring that otherwise happy time for Jes and I. I will forever remember the short time we spent with Caleb in the NICU, sitting next to his isolette, just willing him to take the next breath without trouble and cheering each time he did, all the while watching the monitors like crazed maniacs. However, the thing that I remember clearer than any other is the little boy who was just across the room from Caleb. He was born the same day as Caleb, but was much too early to be in this world. Everyday I watched his mom and dad absorb more and more bad news about their son as he was poked, prodded and switched from ventilator to ventilator. I can clearly, even this day nearly 4 years from then, remember her face as we were being wheeled out of the NICU with our healthy, and HEALED!, baby while she stood in the corner after getting yet more bad news. She told me congratulations and I think I thanked her but I couldn’t and still can’t imagine the feelings she was experiencing, even though they were written all over her face. Shortly after we were discharged that little boy went on to heaven to his forever home. I supposed that is why I was SO emotional today when I received news about a friend of mine who had her baby, Ruth, just over a month ago at 24 weeks. It seems that little Ruth has a fungal infection and is not doing well at all. Please pray for little Ruth and her mom, dad and big sister as they have to endure this excruciating time in their lives.

** As of 5:30 this afternoon, little Ruth is on complete life support. They are waiting for her to pee to show that her kidneys have returned to full capacity. We are all obviously praying for healing here.**

**As of this morning, Tuesday, around 9, little Ruth is doing so much better. She has been weaned off all medication to keep her blood pressure stable, is showing signs of responding to the antibiotic and antifungal and is peeing like a champ! She is actually putting out more urine than the NICU staff have seen a baby of this size do in a long time! She is no means out of the woods yet, but she is improving significantly. Thank you for all your prayers and concern for this family. Please continue to pray for little Ruth and her family through this difficult season. I will try to update as I can. **