Astounding news and Anne B.

Sharing your heart and offering strangers a glimpse into your personal life through blogging can be an interesting adventure.

Sometimes it opens you up to cynicism or unfair criticism, exposing the side of humanity you wish you didn't have to see ... the ugliness that can reside in people's hearts that is revealed in judgmental comments or hateful emails or ... whatever. But thankfully those instances, cruel or tasteless as they may be, are few and far between.

And then there are days like the last few days, when my faith is stretched a little thin and my emotions are running high and sleep deprivation is adding to the overall stress of everything ... and a comment in the comment section connects with my heart and opens me up to a possibility I didn't even consider. And suddenly I'm reminded of why I love blogging so much and why I opened myself up to readers in this little corner of the Internet in the first place .

If you've read my last two posts you know we went from an incredible high (absolutely easy and quick labor and delivery and healthy mommy and baby) to a scary low within the matter of a few days.

I didn't write about it in detail, and I will when we are back home again.. but the infection Madison developed in her belly button and cord stump - Omphalitis - can go from bad to worse in a very short amount of time. Worse meaning flesh eating and fatal. And Madison's looked like it was moving pretty aggressively - Wednesday morning her belly button looked a little swollen and pink, and by the afternoon there was a half inch bright red ring surrounding the umbilical cord stump. A doctor, a neonatologist, and a surgeon came in to take pictures (in case they needed to compare things later on) and immediately they ordered three very heavy duty antibiotics to be started in an iv. Again, I'll blog more about what followed, but things got even scarier at two in the morning a few nights later when the blood culture came back positive for a growing staph infection .

I wish I could say my first response was one of faith and confidence, but at two in the morning - functioning on very little sleep - I was falling apart .

I asked for prayer in a number of group texts, asked for prayer here and on Instagram, Sam and I held each other and prayed our hearts out several times an hour ... and things slowly began to turn around . The doctors told us we were looking at an additional seven to fourteen days in the NICU - after we got a blood culture that came back as clear of infection. And that starting point hadn't even begun. I was already having some meltdowns missing my kids at home, and the thought of being away from them that long, coupled with fear over what Madison could be facing ... Suffice it to say, my emotional state was less than stellar.

And then a comment on the previous post came to my email inbox, from a long time faithful blog reader ...

Anne B. has left a new comment on your post "Pray for Bunny":

Praying this morning, Lord God, that your healing touch on Madison Faith would ASTOUND the doctors and all of those caring for her and that you would receive all the glory for it! In Jesus' precious name, Amen and Amen!

And suddenly it dawned on me ... why am I just praying for Madison to "be okay" and that this infection wouldn't turn into the life threatening thing it sometimes does? Why wasn't I contending and believing in prayer for something ASTOUNDING to happen ? Where was my faith that everything could turn around for good, and that it could happen just as quickly as things had taken a turn for the worse ?

(View from cafeteria windows)

I told Sam about the comment and we both began to pray fervently for Madison to astound the doctors with a turn-around... that we would go home sooner rather than later, and that things would change dramatically in the next few days.

(Big brother Noah came to visit !)

The comment section on our Instagram account was flooded with love and support and assurances that people were praying, friends and family from all over texted us or called to say they were praying continuously for our Bunny, and all of you loyal blog readers left comments or sent emails saying the same. I knew we weren't alone in this, and I experienced the same thing I did in labor and delivery - I felt your prayers .

And on top of all this, my favorite and only brother from the other side of the country showed up in our NICU room on Friday night ... I had my back to the door and was putting on some Chapstick, I turned around, and there he was sitting in my blue vinyl recliner with a smug smile on his grizzly face (Chris, I hope you find a razor sometime soon.) I squealed in shock and delight and jumped onto his lap and gave him a big hug ... he was just what I needed at that precise moment .

So the next day, after saying goodbye to my brother, the doctor on call walked in with a cheery smile.

"I've got some wonderful news for you folks this afternoon," he said.

And then he proceeded to tell us that the new blood cultures on Madison came back totally cleared .. and that he had spoken to the doctor for infectious diseases upstairs (is it just me, or are all important people always somewhere "upstairs" lol) and her recommendation was to stop the antibiotics immediately and just observe Madison for the next few days ! He said he concurred, because we don't want babies on heavy duty antibiotics if they don't need to be, and he told us he was very hopeful that she was going to be just fine and on her way home in a few days.

The nurse came in to take her off oxygen, the iv came out, and just like that ... Things had turned around for good again.

(Kenzie and Lily came Saturday to spend the whole day with us !)

(Nap with Daddy in the NICU)

Madison has been nursing and taking her bottles filled with my pumped milk like a champ ... She did great with her oxygen as soon as they took her off it... She is waking up on her own to take her feedings every two to three hours ... And this morning the doctor told us that we would be going home in one to two days.

AMEN AND AMEN!!

So a huge thank you to Anne B. for encouraging me to stretch my faith and my prayers and believe God for ASTOUNDING things - you not only helped this exhausted Mama, you inspired my husband's Sunday morning sermon. He worked on it late last night here at the hospital, and then drove back to our town this morning to preach.

And now my little chubby Bunny is letting me know it is time for her to eat.

I'll be back soon with more pictures and more details of Madison's birth .

Thank you all SO much for praying and encouraging us with your kind words and outpouring of support - it means more than words can say .