A Moses Basket Story

Life is full of the unexpected…

This sweet baby girl definitely topped the unexpected chart for our family this past year. In December, we got the privilege of meeting this little one. Holding her tiny premature body in our arms and looking into her helpless eyes, we were asked, “Will you…?”  Talk about a suddenly…! We had no plan and no paper work, and yet we all looked at each other and knew what we had to do…How could we say “no” to this left behind newborn baby girl?

And so sweet baby came home to our house 2 weeks before Christmas. She was two months old and weighed a measly 2.3kgs (just over 5lbs) when we left the hospital, and what little we knew about her start in life was heartbreaking. She looked like she was drowning in every piece of newborn clothing and generous folks jumped around to donate preemie sizes. It was back to our storage shed once again to dig out the old bassinette that has held little ones like this multiple times before. It was back to the random forgotten diaper shop down the road that we hadn’t been in for years. It was back to searching for formula and trying to find the best prices and who could import it the cheapest from South Africa. And it was back to scheduling daily life around every 3 hour feeds. From our oldest to our youngest, everyone learned and re-learned how to give a bottle, hold and rock baby, change a diaper and sing her lullabies. It was a team effort that included our extended family as well. And little one started to thrive and respond.

After the holidays, little one started to struggle. Her eating diminished and her responses decreased. We knew something was very wrong. After a long agonizing night at the trauma center, sweet baby girl was readmitted to the ped’s ward at the government hospital and thus began 8 long weeks of the fight for her little life.  There were countless blood draws, IV’s and tests. There were 2 to 3 daily trips from our house to the hospital downtown to bring fresh hot water in a thermos, formula, diapers, wipes, clean blankets & clothes. There were phone calls to doctors and neurosurgeons, trips around town to locate the needed medications and medical supplies. It was long, exhausting, and difficult, and at times seemed utterly hopeless.
Everyday I would carefully pick her up, being mindful of her feeding tube and oxygen tube, cradle her in my arms and sing “Jesus Loves Me” softly into her ear. She was non-responsive then, unable to even cry for the excruciating pain. I would whisper in her ear, “Lord Jesus, please hold her in Your arms even when we cannot. Let her know she’s never alone.” On two occasions, we just weren’t sure if she would make it. But I felt such peace. Jesus was right at her bedside, and I knew even if she went home to Heaven He would carry her every bit of the way.

And then finally, it was her turn for surgery. It was a miracle she had made it through the long wait. The surgery was a success and huge answer to so many prayers. Six days later, she got to come home. And thus began the long road of recovery. A huge team effort was put into place that included our tribe, extended family and loving helpers. Baby girl had lost so much ground over those two months. A strict eating and nutrition schedule was implemented by generous specialists who gave out of the goodness of their hearts to see this little girl begin to thrive again. Every two hours around the clock was food time. She no longer had any sucking ability after a feeding tube for 6 weeks and then after her surgery the hospital only allowed cup feeding. And so each of us worked tediously to reintroduce sucking and bottles at each feed. Then the next half of the feed was with a little cup, waiting for her to sense the milk and lap it like a kitten. 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by like this, her entire care team working patiently every two hours while we all continued to pray for her miracle.

Then finally, it started to come, slowly at first, but sucking her bottle all the same. Her eyes started tracking and her mouth started smiling. Her fingers started gripping and her legs remembered how to kick. And then it was open mouth grins and little coo’s and recognizing our faces. We all rejoiced at each little milestone returning. Her very life is a living breathing miracle and she brings joy where ever she goes. We have all grown to love this amazing little blessing.

So as our little tribe gets on a plane to leave Zimbabwe and fly across the globe, part of all of our hearts will remain behind with this sweet little angel, this little unexpected miracle that has us all wrapped around her little finger. We have loved her with open hands and open hearts. We don’t have any answers other than that. But looking into her eyes that now sparkle with life, hearing her coo’s that fill a room and once in a while her little giggle that sounds like it’s straight from heaven itself, there’s not a single moment regretted. We look back to that day in December that feels so long ago, and we are so very grateful we said “yes.”

Life is full of the unexpected, but we can face it head on because we can trust that the One who writes our story is also writing hers.