Page 13 - Journey of Hope by Raymond Moldenhauer

DAY10

EMERGENCY SURGERY

Today was going to be Kathie's and my day to rest and recover
from the stress and anxiety of the past 9 days. We planned to
stay home and let Jim's parents (Dan and Peggy) have a special
day with them and the baby since they were planning to travel
back to Maine (where Jim's dad is a Pastor) on Sunday morning.
But as we have come to realize now, there are no sure courses
in the development cycle of a 25-week premature baby!

Alyssa actually had a very good morning. Her heart rate and
breathing were fine. The X-ray they took that morning of her
intestines (a routine check they were doing to make sure that
everything was working OK since they began increasing the
amount of milk that they were tube feeding to her) was also
looking very good. There was a little residual milk still in her
stomach but since she had not had her first bowel movement
yet, they attributed that to a full intestine. Later that morning
she had her first bowel movement - also a major positive
milestone in her development.

Everything seemed to be going as hoped for. But at the next
"care time" they noticed a discoloration of her abdomen and a
slight distention of the belly. An X-ray revealed that waste had
in fact entered her body cavity - indicating a rupture of the
intestine had occurred. The situation was now very
life-threatening! The extent of the rupture could not be
Show me Your ways O Lord, teach me Your determined without opening her up. It was determined that
paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for they would need to transport her to Dupont Children's Hospital
for emergency surgery.
You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You
Kathie and I got to Dupont around 3:30 PM to join Jim and Heidi
all day long. Psalm 25:4-6 and Dan and Peggy in the NICU waiting room. Alyssa had just
arrived by ambulance transport about 30 minutes earlier and
was in stable condition. She had been carefully attended too