1 Cor. 13:13

A friend's grandson was just born perilously early, at only 20-21 weeks, as they believed. When early labor commenced a couple of weeks ago, they tried to suspend it ith drugs and by the almost desperate tactic of sewing the cervix shut. In this way they managed to buy about six more days before the mother began hemorrhaging and had to be delivered, but in the meantime they got some steroids into the baby and lots of magnesium into the mother. The family then prepared for the worst, because there was little reason to believe the baby could survive birth.

Whether from pure mercy and good fortune, or the good effects of the steroids and magnesium, or because the gestational age had been misestimated and the baby was really more like 23-24 weeks along, the little guy began breathing, had an APGAR of 6, and has been doing surprisingly well for over a week now. He is taking a little milk and has suffered only a couple of concerning episodes which so far seem to have responded well to treatment. He's tiny, closer to 1-1/2 lbs. than 2, but hanging in there.

At one of the pre-birth crises, when both mother and child were in danger and rapid decisions had to be made in the operating room, the mother called out for quiet. She said she had to do something to calm down and be able to make decisions. The anesthesiologist backed her up and called for quiet in the room. Mom said she wasn't sure whether she needed to pray or to sing, so she began singing "Jesus Loves Me." Immediately the anesthesiologist joined in, and then so did the rest of the staff.

Perhaps many medical teams would have been flummoxed and exasperated by this non-medical interlude. It took kindness, faith, and courage for them all to recognize the mother's need and remind themselves to ask God for help in a moment of such abject grief and fear.

Early in the ordeal, the medical staff leaned toward terminating the pregnancy, believing that the fetus was hopeless and the mother was in unreasonable danger. The parents firmly told them to pull out all the stops to save their son. They had already lost their first pregnancy at an earlier stage, only nine months ago. They are strong young people.