A year later and I am reminded...

It is amazing to me that just one year ago today we were blessed with our first and only daughter, Ella Grace McNichol!  She was a perfect baby the moment she came into the world, although her delivery was not as perfect...she was not like the three boys we had prior to her who came out screaming!  In fact, she was noticeably different...almost angelic.  She came out silent and peaceful with only a few soft noises, however, I remember that peaceful silence not sitting well with me?  It is weird how a Mother instinctively knows when something is wrong with her child....just as I knew right as she came into the world. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later, after she was all clean and cute, that we found out my gut instinct was right, something was wrong.  We were informed that Ella could not regulate her body temperature which, they explained, was a relatively easy problem to fix and that she just needed to go to the NICU.  We just had no idea that the tiny, easily corrected issue would take us down the path it did. 

Although, it started off with them just wanting to run a few tests and keep her under lamps to keep her warm...Ella's problems kept getting progressively worse as the days past. To make matters worse we were unable to have Ella see her own pediatrician who we knew and trusted because I wanted to deliver at a hospital where my doctor practiced not thinking she would need hers for any reason.  I guess no one ever expects that their healthy baby will need specialized care when they have had top-notch prenatal care since they were 5 weeks pregnant and no issues were detected.  Yet, despite my excellent prenatal care, they did test after test, called in specialist after specialist and all they could find were more problems but not a single "disease" "disorder" or any logical explanation as to why her body was not working as it should.  Eventually a body temperature issue also became a hormone problem/Cortisol deficiency and then even a blood sugar deficiency.  They thought it could be a brain problem, a tumor, a liver disorder, the list goes on and on...in fact most of you reading this already know our story and I am just repeating myself but it should be mentioned she was in the hospital for weeks in an incubator for her body temp, with a 24 hour feeding tube and a 24 hour sugar water drip for her blood sugar, bili lights for her jaundice, on six medications for all the other issues and when she did finally get to come home, she went right back three days later only to have more doctors with no answers.  

Needless to say Ella's health issues, that could never be explained by any specialist (from many states) have come and gone throughout this past year.  It is by the grace of God that we have a perfectly normal and healthy baby girl today who is not on any medication, no feeding tubes...not anything.  Which in itself is a small miracle since we were told our child would likely have a 24 hour feeding tube for her entire life and if a tumor was found on her brain she would need brain surgery and whose liver could very well be failing.  

A year later, I recap this story not to be redundent but because I am reminded...God is so good! Our daughter, being perfectly healthy is a specific and very real example of answered prayer and of the amazing miracles God works every day.  Although, I can say when we were in the middle of all of those tests and health scares it was really easy to focus on everything that wasn't going according to our plan and totally forget that we should have been focused on God's plan.  I am still not sure why exactly we went through what we did but I am grateful for it. I am so grateful that God blessed us so greatly! I am grateful that God blessed us with an amazing little girl who is so strong.  And it is that overwhelming love and thankfulness to God that has me here once again sharing with you that no matter where you are in life, your struggles, your ups and your downs...God wants what is best for you, He has plans for you to prosper and do amazing things for His kingdom and although the times are hard remember God loves you!  But more than anything remember on the darkest road, the hardest path and the deepest valley God is with you always and he is so good!