June 28, 2004 ~

(Rachel's story as my imagination would tell it...)


In late June, 2004, a most precious baby girl was born hidden from the busy streets of Shanghai, China.  But as "fate" would have it, this little one had more than gender against her.  She likely turned more blue with every passing moment... enough to strike fear into the heart of any mother!  How in the world could they afford the medical care that this little one would obviously need?  Regardless... they rushed her to the hospital and endured hours of waiting, while doctors worked well into the night to save their little girls' life through open heart surgery.  She made it!  But their money was gone...  They could hang on until she became ill and needed help again.  At that point they would be out of choices!  Months went by... the baby's chest scar faded... but it served as a constant reminder that should their be a "next time"... all hope would be lost!  For 8 months they'd been holding back the virus, the cold, the infection that would prove more than their baby could take.  This time, though, what began with the sniffles and a stuffy nose, progressed to a cough that would cause any mom to lose sleep... but for this mom... her baby's cough could mean the difference between life and death...  I imagine that she tried every possible remedy known to man to keep the cold at bay, but nothing worked... and as the cough worsened and the fever spiked, the moment that mom had dreaded was before her.  She knew that for her little girl to have any chance at life, she'd have to leave her and pray that someone would come and do what she and her husband could not possibly do themselves.  


Their child was so sick... there was no hiding it now...  They must have bundled her extremely tight that March morning and tried to hide her in a corner, safe from the cold wind blasts of early March.  And as she scurried away from her treasured "package" to avoid being discovered, I wonder how many times that mama turned back for one final glimpse of the baby she loved so much. God heard the cry of her heart and must have sent some special guardian angels that cold morning... It would only take one long wail from her crackling lungs to alert a passerby to her great need.  Thankfully, her burning fever and terrible cough, brought on by the cries for her mama, were all the villigers needed to see to know that this child didn't need an orphanage, but a hospital.  She was delivered directly there...


It didn't take long for the doctors to see what a desperate situation had been placed within their hands.  The little girl was deathly ill with pneumonia.  They decided that she was probably 9 months old.  She was frail and fragile and they agreed that she probably wouldn't make it through the night.  But when they returned to the hospital the next morning, she was still there!... and very much alive!  And then again the next morning, and the next.  They affectionately called her the "miracle baby"... if they only knew!  Despite all of the odds against her, she improved more and more each day, until the day came to decide her fate.  They diagnosed her with a very severe heart defect.  She would need surgery to give her any chance at a normal life-expectancy, but without a mom and dad to give her the personal care she needed and without a tender touch to be there for the many months following such a risky surgery, it might well prove to be a great waste of money.  A consensus was reached, that she should be sent to the local orphanage and allowed to die.  She was too risky, too expensive... an orphan without a name.  She was helpless and hopeless...

1 comment:

  1. ....until her MaMa flew half way around the world to come rescue her!

    To Be Continued......

    I am so glad I get a front row seat for this miracle!!
    I love you!!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.