Isaiah's story

On 13 September 2011 God blessed us with a perfect baby boy  - and a not so perfect birth story. At 41 weeks I was (finally!) induced, Lord knows I tried to walk that baby out! 4 1/2 miles every day! But for some reason he just didn't want to come....well, we were to find out why: his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and his shoulder was stuck. Once the head is out, there is a window of about 5 minutes in which the baby needs to be born or there can be difficulties. Since I had decided against drugs, the only way to get him out was via vacuum. He was tired and fussy after this stressful and traumatic experience but the doctor said we had a healthy baby. Little did we know that this was all going to change within the next 24 hours. I noticed he didn't want to nurse much through the night but rather snack and cuddle, other than that he seemed fine. He wasn't. In the morning, I tried to feed him and each time he would snack and fall asleep, never enough to get him full. We were only hours away from being admitted after his circumcision, I tried to feed him again but he was just too fussy. I thought he may have a headache again from the birth so I called the nurse to give him his dose of Tylenol. As she was scanning his medicine I looked down and noticed his face had turned blue. He had stopped breathing! He was taken to the NICU immediately, where they got him to breathe again. However, he stopped breathing a second time and developed seizures. And I was left behind in my room all by myself. After calling Joseph I broke down crying, all kinds of thoughts circling around my head. What if he didn't survive? I couldn't even bare the thought of losing him! And I didn't have to. It was a s though a soft, calm voice spoke to me and I calmed down, at least somewhat. I prayed and I thanked God as though the healing was already done. It took every fiber in my body and Joseph's encouraging words to not listen to the devil telling me my child was dead. After what felt like eternity, the doctor came to talk to us. Isaiah wouldn't breathe on his own so they intubated him. He suspected an infection. Several test were being run and Isaiah was scheduled for an EEG and an MRI, which revealed that he actually had suffered a stroke. A stroke? I knew adults could have a stroke, even young ones, but never would I have thought that an infant could have a stroke. Doing research, I learned that 1 in 4000 babies has a stroke, before, during or after birth. Most parents don't find out until their children miss certain milestones though.
It's been a little over 4 months since then, and Isaiah has come a long way. He learned how to suck again, regained control over the right side of his body and we've corrected his preference of looking to the right. He passed his hearing test and the EEG at 2 months came back normal. But we still have a long way to go before we know whether he has overcome the stroke completely. No matter the outcome, we love him the way he is. To us he is perfect! Whatever God's plan for him is, we accept it because He knows best. And we trust Him that He will not put more on us than we can bare.