Sweet Baby Girl

Today, Friday, August 13th at 12:55pm, a sweet angel was brought into this world. Only 29 weeks old and just 1lb 14oz. But she is here. And she is stable.

A few months ago I wrote about a wonderful friend who helped me secure the top pediatric cardiologist for my little girl. And today, she gave birth to sweet C.

God has amazing ways of working in our lives and bringing just the right people at just the right time. K is that friend to me. We met about 3 years ago at my brother's Halloween party in Austin. Her husband and my brother had been great friends at UT and had bonded over a love of college football and all things burnt orange. What can I say. It was just one of those times where you meet someone and feel an instant connection. And when we found out we both lived in Houston, a friendship was born.

Over the past couple of years, our friendship has blossomed --- dinners out with our hubbys, emails, phone calls, etc. We could, and do, spend hours talking.

When Q was diagnosed with her heart condition, K was one of the first people to jump into action, ensuring that we would have the best care for our daughter. And throughout my pregnancy, she would check in with me and see how I was doing. It was during one of these "check in" lunches that she shared with me that she was pregnant. Tears flowed (as they often did with us being incredibly emotional people!) and we talked about how our kids would be so close in age and hopefully grow to be friends.

Once Q was born, K was the best friend you could ask for during that time. She came to sit with me in the NICU and bring me lunch so I wouldn't have to be alone. We laughed, we cried, we took silly pictures of the babies. People asked if we were sisters. We just smiled and said no, but awesome friends.

K had a few health issues prior to pregnancy, but doctors were optimistic that she would have a healthy and safe pregnancy. God sometimes has other plans. The baby started having issues a few weeks ago, starting to show signs of slowing growth (basically a failure to thrive in utero). It seemed to correct and all was good for a little while, but then K got ill --- and eventually fell into the throes of preeclampsia, among other things.

Today, the only choice the doctors had was to deliver sweet baby C. And by His Grace, she is here and stable and K is doing well by all standards. They are in for a long road and had prepared themselves for that as much as humanly possible the last few days. But I don't think that anything can truly prepare you for your newborn child to be in the care of others and not in your arms.

I ask for your prayers this evening. For K and her wonderfully supportive husband, that they may find strength and comfort in trusting that God is in control. That sweet C will remain stable and start to thrive so we can get her healthy and into her mommy's arms as soon as possible.

God does some awesome things. He knew the road we were both going to go down and brought us together so we could share in this journey --- the good, the bad, the joys and distresses. Wow, He is good. I only pray that I can be as good of a friend to her during this time as she has been to me.