Stephen and Hope Gustafson have been so blessed to become parents to a miracle baby, Benjamin (Benji) Gustafson! With an early diagnosis of fetal growth restriction & absent end diastolic flow, doctors predicted Benji would need to be delivered by 23-24 weeks, before he would even be viable. But God! At 25 weeks there was some reversal of flow & we were again told delivery would be necessary in 7-10 days. Yet God intervened again & Benji stayed in the womb until 29 weeks + 3 days!!! Making his grand arrival on February 4, 2026 at 5:45PM, it truly was a miracle! Benji did well his first 24 hours of life until doctors urgently called us in explaining they needed to do emergency surgery to try to save Benji’s life & that it didn’t look good, but the only chance to save him was to operate immediately. We signed the consent forms & prayed…and prayed and prayed. That evening Benji was not doing well & they told us we may lose him before morning. It was the hardest news any parent can hear & yet God was with us and sustained us & more importantly Benji through the night!!! Benji still has a long road ahead that will require at least one more surgery as well as other hurdles of prematurity that we will tackle one by one. We are eternally thankful to God for saving Benji’s life & pray continually for full restoration and healing in Benji’s body.

As we navigate having a baby in the NICU, we are realizing we may need some help. We live an hour from Benji’s NICU & the commute back and forth multiple times per day has really worn on us. We have had so many ask how they could help & have continually been at a loss because no one could do what we truly feel like we need most - which is to heal Benji!!! But we thought this would be a way to help us be nearer to Benji. We plan to use any funds donated to stay at the hotel across the street from Benji’s NICU. Thank you for loving & supporting us through every step of this journey - the prayers you all have prayed have truly sustained us!!!