The Summer of David

My husband and I were reflecting on the summer, or rather, I was probably worrying about something and he was trying to get me to see the other side.

There was soooo much I didn't get done. Printing wedding photos (from last year)? Getting together with friends? Taking the baby with us to the park on a picnic? Introducing my husband to more of my favorite hometown people and places? Blogging???

"This was the summer of David," my husband said. It wasn't the summer for any of those other things. I had to take care of my health, then we had to travel to the NICU, then we had to (try to) resolve breastfeeding issues, while tackling medical insurance details and obtaining all the papers that David would need to travel to another country at 7 weeks of life.

There was essentially one thing I could get done each day-one phone call, one form, one e-mail. Other than that, each break consisted of taking care of the basic tasks I needed for survival: This is the break when I eat breakfast, next time I'll brush my teeth and get dressed, maybe after the next feeding I'll have lunch...oops, it's 5pm and the business day is over.

Another thing that happened was all of the siblings gathering for the first time in several years. At my wedding last year we were missing Nastia and Masha, but they made it this time. So David got to meet all of his aunts and uncles and cousins.

My older sister with the "twins"

In addition, David's little cousin Alexander made a surprise early entrance (at 9 pounds, 9 ounces) less than a week before our departure, so we got to meet this new precious blessing!

Along the way

At church last Sunday I realized that I hadn't been in a "corporate" worship setting in a long time. It had been a rough night, but we decided to go anyway.

I hadn't made it to church the last few times before David was born, and the times we did show up with him, I went to the nursery right away to feed him. That meant I pretty much missed the worship time but was able to listen to the sermon.

But this time, there were a few worship songs at the end. When I began to sing, I realized that I hadn't been able to sing in that setting for what seemed like a long time, even if it was only a month. There is something powerful about being able to proclaim those words of faith. And I have to admit, they sometimes reach deeper in one's native language.

There was a girl there who had just lost her mother that week, but she was singing to the Lord.

Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering; when there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name...

There are many ways to worship, but singing is one of my favorites, even in the midst of imperfection.

Biggest little boy in the NICU

Going backwards a little bit here.

Little David was born with a SPLASH of meconium! I think everyone attending the birth got a little shower, never heard of that before. There was no "delayed cord cutting" or "skin-to-skin" bonding that are the trend in birth plans nowadays. When they broke my water, they saw meconium and knew that he would need to be checked out as soon as he was born.

Pretty hefty compared to the preemies!

Up at my end of the bed, I was barely aware of what they had actually done with the baby once he was out.

 I saw the pediatricians standing around the warming bed working on something, so I knew he had to be over there somewhere.

At some point a little later, a member of the staff explained that the baby would be transferred to another hospital that had a CPAP machine, a special ventilator not available in our hospital.

They put him on antibiotics in case of infection, so his first week of life was spent in the NICU.

To be continued...

Coming up for air

Baby David was 1 month old last Thursday. Not that I was waiting for him to be a month old to write an update or anything like that, just finally finding the time.

Please, please, please, little boy, stay asleep so I can finish this post.

There are many new and interesting experiences that we have been through in the past few months. Of course I would love to write about them, but find more and more posts staying unfinished. I think I will have to come up with a new system, perhaps taking 5-10 minutes a day to write just a short update.

The other day I was thinking about my English students from this past year; recalling their faces and personalities and the interesting conversations that we had. God only knows if I will see any of them again. Lord, will you bring any fruit out of it? Will any of them be saved?

And of course I can't reminisce about special people without thinking of the orphans. I can picture their mannerisms and the way they did their homework with me-some carefully, some hurriedly...some chatting away and others timid. Many grumbled about having to work on their English, but even their grumbling seems endearing now.

I took it as a good sign that I began to think of these "old" interests (as of a few months ago). The Lord has not taken away my heart for them and I can look to the future, even if it is only one day or one hour at a time.