Gianna Grace, Our Little Miracle

The Story

Gianna Grace was born on March 1 at 4 pounds, 11 ounces. She looked like any other healthy little baby, just a bit smaller. The doctor told us we would most likely be able to take her home the next day.

 

An hour after being born she stopped breathing. Sitting on the hospital bed (just after a failed attempt to breast feed), I saw multiple hospital staff rush into the room. It all happened so fast and we didn’t know what was going on. From across the room I saw her limp body as they were working hard to resuscitate her. I saw the look on the face of one of the nurses who I recognized from when I gave birth to Mia almost 3 years earlier. Her look reassured me and caused a flood of emotions, both relief and fear.

 

The emotional whirlwind was far from over; it was just the beginning. Over the next couple hours she stopped breathing 3 more times before they could stabilize her enough to transport her to Cook Children’s. Donovan and I were able to head over about 2 hours later after the hospital released me.

 

Walking into Cook’s was surreal, devastating, felt like a dream. That feeling has revisited me many times in the last 4 and a half months, for sure not as strong now, but sometimes this all just does not seem real. Over the first 4 weeks, we saw our daughter get rescued by nurses and doctors too many times to count. Multiple times we thought we were losing our sweet baby girl.

 

Those are emotions I never thought I’d have to live through or process.

 

Even in all of the craziness, God’s presence was so real. Philippians 4:7 reminds me of that peace that doesn’t make sense but gives us confidence that God is in control.

 

We KNEW that God had a plan. Not knowing the details, we trusted Him with our baby girl no matter the outcome. Our faith has changed in unexplainable ways. From day one, and even before birth (we now realize), there have been multiple miracles and the grace of God shown over Gianna Grace and this family. God led Donovan to read and meditate on the healing miracles of Jesus throughout the New Testament.

 

One story that I kept coming back to was the faith of the woman with the issue of blood. Matthew 9:21-22 says “She said to herself, ‘If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ He said, ‘Your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed in that moment.”

 

We had to learn the balance of taking in information from the medical professionals while standing on God’s Word and promises.

 

We made the difficult decision to put in a trach and a feeding tube directly into her stomach (g-tube) when she was about 4 weeks old.

 

Over the next 4 months we slowly saw our baby girl stabilize and grow. Many ups and downs, but God always kept us going and optimistic and positive. We have lived basically at and near the hospital for almost 5 months, displacing all other ways of life and in a whirlwind of something we never expected.

 

Finally, for the very first time, Gianna came home with her family on Monday, July 22!

 

The Need

Days before she was released, the home medical equipment flooded into her hospital room. To be completely honest, it was extremely overwhelming and the 4 hour training that followed was also draining.

 

 

We quickly realized that our vehicle fits 3 children (tightly) but does not fit all of the extra needed for this tiny little baby. On top of that, although she is stable, she needs constant trach care and needs a nurse or one of us sitting next to her in the car to avoid or foresee an emergency.

 

We are blessed to have nurses come to the house to help care for her. It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet, but it is already a huge sigh of relief to have our family finally under one roof at home.

 

How You Can Help

We are specifically in need of a van to be able to transport Gianna and all of her equipment safely. Many have asked how they can help and in the past it was hard to even know or articulate what is most needed. Many have not even known about all that has happened because as we were living it we didn’t even know how to talk about it.

 

Any support of this great need during this completely unexpected crisis would be a complete blessing to our family. Thank you so much for your love for our family and your support during this new journey we are all on.

 

Excited to see all that Gianna is going to be and do in her life. Her journey is already strong and she is our little warrior.

 

Love you guys and thank you for your support and prayers. Our God is big enough!

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.