Yay! Elijah is home. Such a blessing! Thank-you all for praying. Todd and Julie are still in need of prayer though, things are still going to be rough for a while. Here is their latest e-mail:
Dear Praying Friends,
We could not be more thankful for our Father’s faithfulness! Our hearts are so grateful to know that we have YOU asking the Lord to help us – because He really has.
Elijah left Neo-Natal Intensive Care on Monday (June 12th)!!! God answered your prayers to get him off the last bit of oxygen, and to better regulate his own temperature. We’re still having to feed him through a tube into his stomach, but at least we’re home!
We also asked you to pray that he would sleep, since his last three nights in the NICU he cried and fussed for many hours at a time. I can hardly believe this, but Elijah slept this morning until 10:45 (getting up every two or three hours to eat)!!! I keep saying to Todd how amazed I am, and he keeps reminding me that I shouldn’t be so surprised…we have such great prayer support.
Last Thursday, the neurologist reviewed his MRI results with us. They believe that Elijah had a “severe, global injury” to his brain sometime shortly before birth, and told us that every part of his brain has been damaged. If his results are typical, he will probably have serious physical and cognitive problems. We can’t begin to put our feelings down on paper. I felt like a drowning person, with wave after wave of grief suffocating the life out of me…so burdened. However, God is beginning to give us hope again, and whatever the outcome, Elijah’s little life is a true BLESSING. We absolutely know God’s going to heal him; it just might be in heaven! Keep prayin’!!
Some specific things to pray about:
- For Elijah to learn how to suck so he can bottle feed / nurse
- For him to sleep, and to have alert, quiet times
- Our patience and emotional strength
- Healing for his little brain
We love you and thank you, thank you for praying. We use up your prayers daily.
In the strength of our Lord,
Todd and Julie Harkins
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