Scar's Story Part 2

The next minutes are a huge blur. They rush us back to a room and in less than 5 minutes,  there are 12-14 different doctors and nurses working on Scar. They do not have an oxygen mask small enough so they punch a hole in the bottom of a small styrofoam cup and have me hold that over his moth and nose. They work for what seems to be a LONG time.  All we know is that things don't look good.

They get him "stable" and up to ICU we go. They will not put him in the NICU because he was outside of the hospital and do not want him to bring anything in to the NICU from being in the outside world.I start making calls and rallying the prayer chain. Mr. Dad shows up and I give him what little info I have.

Once they get him in ICU...our pediatrician has been called and she comes in asking me tons and tons of questions, like "Do you do recreational drugs? Have you been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease?" 

It is like 12:30 now and that small spot that was on the x ray at 6 ish is now full blown pneumonia. They pump a lot of fluid off out of his lungs. They call in all kinds of specialists. I talk to a cardiologist and a pulmonoligist. I talk to pediatricians. They evidently called in almost half of the doctors from our clinic.

Friends start arriving at the ICU waiting room. I am making phone calls. All the doctors can tell us is that 'He is a very, very sick baby."

I am standing in the back of the room looking out a huge window. Watching the cars light shine off the damp streets. There are about 15 other people with us in the room. Then I see this one older man walk in and my heart falls out of my chest. It was the Chaplin. He was the one person I did not want in that room. I didn't know why he was in there, but I was afraid that I thought maybe I did. He spoke calmly and softly to us and explained the situation in more of layman's terms to us. 

Shortly after that, 2 doctors walked in carrying a HUGE book. They explained to us what the problem was-Esophagial Atresia and how it needed to be fixed-surgery. They explained that based on x-rays, it appeared that Scaar's esophagus was not connected to his stomach, but to his lungs...which would explain all the fluid that was there. I was instructed to call insurance and see if they flew him to St. Louis Children's or Cardinal Glennon Hospital. Cardinal Glennon was our hospital.

We waited for the flight crew to arrive and were praying that they would be able to get a small jet that way we could go with him. But that was not what God wanted for us.

The helicopter and crew arrived about dawn. Meanwhile we were praying for him and giving him what comfort we could with out holding him. The flight nurses came in and we signed all kinds of papers. Papers allowing them to fly him to St. Louis. Papers allowing them to get started immediately once he landed. Papers acknowledging that we understood the risks...tons of papers.

We said our good byes to Scar and the nurses assured me that he would be very well taken care of and that he was where he needed to be. They put on baby earmuffs to dampen the sound of the helicopter and a sweet little hat that said "Glennon loves babies". We went back to the waiting room.

A few minutes later, we stood at that same window we had been earlier and watch 3 total strangers load our newborn baby in a clear plastic box onto that helicopter. We watched as the rotor blades began to whirl. We watched as that helicopter lifted of and glided north and then was gone. We all stood there for a minute or two longer and then gathered all our things. We  had plans to make.

Mr. Dad, Mom, Skipper and I arrived home soon after. We had to pack for what we were told would be about a 6 week stay. Mom and Mr. Dad immediately got busy packing, loading and  making phone calls.

Not me. I stood there. I stood in my bedroom and did nothing. I stood in the hall. I stood in Scar's room and wondered if he would ever come back to it. I needed God to show himself to me in a big way. I have never felt so alone and helpless as I did then.

Little did I know that we had 4 sets of friends who were making plans of their own. God was about to show himself in an incredible way.

To be continued....