Breath

posted by Sarah O

This morning we woke to one of the maternity staff members knocking on the door saying she had a very sick baby downstairs. I dressed quickly and went down to see who was there and found a truly ill little 3-month-old girl. Her mama had brought her in yesterday with cold symptoms and a fever and we treated her with antibiotics. Sometime in the night things went downhill and she worsened…stopped eating, started breathing with more effort, fever rising. I am in no way a Peds person, and this was a sick baby. Without extra oxygen, her little body was not doing well staying oxygenated…for those of you who are medical, her pulse ox hung between 67-82%. With the oxygen support, her breathing eased a bit and she made it up into the high 90s.

I was reminded that breath is truly life.

As we loaded her up into the ambulance to transport her, we realized that none of us knew how to attach the particular regulator to the oxygen tank…and the ambulance siren wasn’t working. This was a baby who needed that oxygen and we needed the siren to get us through traffic and to the hospital quickly. It is in those moments of need that I so desire to have what it takes to meet the needs myself – instead we prayed…for someone to figure out the oxygen and for the siren to start working. In the next few moments, Winnie (a beautifully gifted Haitian nurse) connected the oxygen regulator and Dornbos worked her magic and got the siren to start.

Sometimes prayers are answered quickly…I wish they all worked that way! :)

So tonight we are praying for this little one who is in a local hospital with oxygen and IV antibiotics…praying that she is breathing easily and that her body will heal tonight. Praying that this wonderfully attentive mama will rest peacefully this evening…

Spirit of God,
You are the breath of creation,
The wind of change that blows through our lives,
Opening us up to new dreams and new hopes,
New life…

(Christopher Ellis)