The Story of Isaac, part 6

But a broken heart is a strange thing. See, grace truly is what we pretty much think it is, and then something large goes down, and then grace becomes something more... and what we knew is still the same truth, but different too.

So, when Isaac almost dies right in front of me, Chris and I, we find ourselves in the shelter of the Kingdom of God. Four touch-and-go days later, we get a report. His blood oxygen levels have unexpectedly stabilized at day one levels. And we get to stare a doctor in the eye and ask him for an explanation we know he can't give... Imagine beholding the glory of God in the stuttering of a UCSD research physician. God brought healing supernaturally. Hard time. Rad.

We stand on the edge of summer. One that would be filled with constant fluctuations, monitoring, lung function, tests, brain scans, heart tests, muscle therapy. When a baby is too immature to digest food, then what? Well, see, you pray. And the nurses, they feed one drop at a time hoping that a little something in the GI tract will lightly stimulate absorption.

It gets scary when we learn about gut-death. Turns out, too much food in a non-working stomach can kill preemie stomach tissue. Its like trying to make his organs do something theyre not ready for on a circulatory-system-infrastructure built for tissue development, the tissue runs out of oxygen if you ask it to digest anything it dies. Gotta remember, he wasnt planning on digesting anything for another three months.

Something a nurse told me on day one. Provided he makes it through the summer, the progress will always be two steps forward, and one step back.

Miracle after miracle, the summer will go on. Big, huge celebration, when he can finally keep a few milliliters of milk down. Big step for a courageous little man. Boris the nurse, our favorite Russian of the NICU, gives him the nickname Bugs as while sleeping he is snoog-asa-books-ina-rook (read: snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug). The next milestone is just ahead, looking for a kind of weight-gain inertia. Snowball growth. Bigger makes stronger which makes healthier, which makes bigger and stronger Parades and confetti and all, comes when his little frame hits the 1000 gram mark. 2.2 pounds.