Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Be careful what you wish for

I shared two posts ago about the decision for Chaia's middle name to be joy after a pretty strenuous labor/birth experience and my own meditations on James 1:2.

My prayer for her life is that she will know the supreme joy of God in her life, even in the midst of trials and heartaches.

Well, we are testing her resilience in this pretty early on.

Sunday, Chaia went essentially the whole day without eating anything of significance. We hit the 36 hour mark of minimal eating, maximum screaming and took her to Barberton Hospital (at this point, July 4th).

The Maternity Ward noticed the jaundice butternut squash appearance of the little lady and after a phone call, we were off to the Emergency Room at Akron Childrens.

It's now July 5th and we appear to be on the brink of staying another night. Chaia is just not eating very strongly right now. But, her bilirubin levels, her electrolyte levels are where they need to be. However, she is dehydrated. It seems like a vicious cycle...she won't eat, so she won't get the energies/blood sugar she needs to thrive...when she doesn't thrive, her appetite is bad, so she doesn' eat.

Anyways, Shaina and I are both beat. We are tempted to get discouraged and frustrated. But what God is convicting me of is that His joy is not based on my circumstances. It's based on His Presence.

God give me joy that is unshakable.

Chaia is a trooper and if her appetite begins to peak, we will get to come home.

On the plus side, because we've been in hospital rooms quite a bit, I've gotten to watch three Indians games with Chaia (we don't have cable at home). They are 3-0 including a win against the dreaded Yanks last night...Chaia is napping...that means its time for Ben to be napping.

Pray for resilience for Shaina and Chaia and for joy for me.

4 comments:

Jackie Thompson said...

my prayers are continuous, and Shadow is fine.

Terri said...

Keeping you all in my prayers!!! Love you1!!

Roberta said...

Peace, strength, joy and a hungry baby girl...that's what the Woodards are praying today!

Jeff Honnold said...

Praying for all three of you today.