This is the story of our second
child's PROM and his birth 13 weeks
later.
"Thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise thee; for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are thy works, and that my
soul knoweth right well. My substance
was not hid from thee, when I was made
in secret, and curiously wrought in
the lowest parts of the earth. Thine
eyes did see my substance, yet being
unperfect; and in thy book all my
members were written, which in
continuance were fashioned, when as
yet there was none of them."
Psalm
139:13-16 KJV
Our son, Josiah Ian Lowell, was
due to be born in February of the year
2000. His membranes ruptured at
sixteen weeks gestation. The amnionic
sack never healed, so he continually
lost water. On the advice of our
doctor, we saw a perinatologist who
advised us to "terminate the
pregnancy" because our child would
have severe lung problems, brain
problems, and his limbs would not
form correctly. We informed him that
abortion was not an option for us.
A couple weeks later, there was a
partial abruption of the placenta. We
decided to drive down to Loma Linda
University Medical Center for help.
After putting me on the monitors, they
determined that the baby was in
distress and wanted to give me
Pitocin, which would have ended his
life because he was to young to
survive. I told the doctors to just
leave me alone and let me sleep. In
the morning, things settled down, and
after a few days, the doctors released
me to go home.
Through the rest of the
pregnancy, we made several visits to
Loma Linda because we didn't know when
the baby
would be born, and we knew that they
had the best neonatal unit around. At
one point, I had a fever, and they
suspected infection. At that time,
they wanted to give me Pitocin
again. I said no, and instead asked
for some antibiotics. I got
intraveneous Gentmycin, Clintmycin,
and Penicillin G. The next day, the
fever was gone, and a few days later,
I again returned home. I also
received Betamethizone steroid shots
for the baby's lungs.
Throughout this time, we had many
faithful prayer arriors entreating the
Lord on Josiah's behalf. We asked
them to pray that he would be born
breathing, and that I would not have
to have a cesarean section because of
him being breech. We were all asking
the Lord to spare Josiah's life.
Josiah was born at twenty-nine
weeks, on Thanksgiving day, 1999. He
was three pounds, twelve inches long,
born frank breech, and breathing! His
eyes were open, and he cried out! They
rushed him off to the nursery to put
him on a ventilator. They blew a hole
in his lungs, placed a chest tube for
draining, and then told us he wasn't
going to make it.
This was the beginning of the
long haul. He had pneumonia twice (60
days i think). At one point he had to
be parylized so that he could rest.
Another time they had to turn the
ventilator up so high that they said
they didn't know how much damage he
would experience later in life because
of it. When Josiah was about four
months, they offered us tracheostomy.
The offer was hard to swallow,
but with the encouragement of some
nurses who really cared about Josiah,
we decided to give it a try. The
tracheostomy allowed him to nurse,
take a bottle, and chew toys. After a
month, he was off the ventilator and
onto just oxygen. He also had a
central line placed because his veins
were all shot.
About six weeks later, he
graduated into the cannula for oxygen,
and they let the trach close up. He
was still on one to two liters of
oxygen. Once they had him stabilized
on his medications, they let him come
home, after eight long months!
For a long year, we administered
several medications, breathing
treatments, and carried about our
third child, the oxygen tank. One
day, we went to visit a friend's
church where they were having a
special speaker. There we met a
fellow who took an interest in Josiah,
and happened to know something about
nutrition. He advised us to put him
on inositol powder, because preemie
formulas are deficient in inositol
compared to mothers' milk. Research
shows the relationship between
bronchial pulmonary dysplasia and
retinopathy of prematurity with the
lack of inositol. HE also suggested
vitamin C powder, vitamin E, and flax
seed. Since we have been on this
nutritional regimen, Josiah has no
longer needed diuritics and other
medications. He very seldom needs
breathing treatments, and he has been
off of oxygen for five months. His
development has blossomed during this
time. We strongly urge parents of
preemies to give it a try.
We thank the Lord Jesus Christ
for allowing our son Josiah to live
and to grow up in our family. We are
grateful for the faithful friends who
helped us and prayed for us, and for
all those who have had a part in
helping Josiah.
Thanks for reading our story.
Sabrina and family
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