(Updates from Bro Shemaiah and Sister Bethany will posted at the bottom of page)

Hello friends! I am Heather Martin, the pastor's wife at Faith Tabernacle in Blacksburg VA.

I have started this fundraiser to help a special couple from our church who is going through a very difficult time right now.

Brother Shemaiah and Sister Bethany Beach will be celebrating their 20th anniversary this fall. Though they have longed to have children from the beginning, it was only back in January that they were able to announce that the Lord had done a miracle for them and that they would be expecting a baby in September. They have shown great faith in the Lord all these years, trusting that He would give them a child.

Within the last few weeks Sister Bethany developed serious complications that necessitated the delivery of the baby at almost 27 weeks (Saturday, June 8th). He weighed 1lb and 14ozs.

This of course, was completely unexpected and now they are in a very different situation then they ever imagined.

Since his delivery, Sister Bethany's health is improving and the baby is also in stable condition. We are very thankful to the Lord for these things!

However, they now face a long road ahead, of spending possibly up to 3 months with baby in the NICU.

They live over 40 minutes from the hospital but are able to stay near by, that way they can be with baby as much as possible.

Please bind together with us in prayer for this family. And if you feel to give in any way, we know it would be a tremendous blessing!

All funds will be given directly to the family to help with medical expenses, as well as travel, and any other necessities they may have.

God bless you!

-Baby's name is Shubael Arden-

Update 3 - 6/18

Baby Shubael is continuing to do well. He is quite the little fighter and the nurses say he is feisty!

The ultrasounds looking for brain bleeds came back with absolutely nothing negative to show. Praise the Lord for that!

He is on the lowest form of oxygen, a bubble CPAP, just to help keep his lungs open, but essentially he is breathing just fine on his own.

Please continue to be in prayer for sister Bethany, her health is still having some ups and downs.

Update 1 - 6/12/24

Sister Bethany is improving and will hopefully be released tomorrow (6/13). They will be able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house near by.

Baby Shubael is doing well considering. They are slowly weaning him off of the oxygen. Please be praying for him this weekend as they will be doing an ultrasound on his brain to be sure there are no brain bleeds. They will also be putting in a pick line so as not to have to be constantly pricking his heel for lab work.

Update 6/13

Making progress. Praise the Lord! Sis. Bethany was discharged today. Please pray that she will regain her strength quickly, also that the Lord will help with the anxiety of leaving him over there without us.

Shubael was able to be taken off the ventilator today and also was done with his billyruben treatments.

Praise the Lord for all he has, is, and will do!

8/4

Shubael weighs 4lbs., 8oz. He's 16" long. They've begun training him to take a bottle, this week. He's having to learn to breathe in between drinking. Tonight, he took 10ml of milk from the bottle. In the last two days, they've started him on a steroid to help strengthen his lungs. Shemaiah says he can already tell a difference in Shubael's ability to maintain his oxygen level.

7/22 am

Shubael is very pale, today. He's gradually become more pale over the last few days, but right now, he's gray and somewhat mottled. His body temperature at 11 this morning was low, even though Shemaiah had been holding him, which had always kept him warmer than necessary, up until this time. He's had a lot of trouble with the nasal prongs (connected to the CPAP), lately. They weren't sitting deeply enough in his nose to stay in properly, though he was wearing the right size. Yesterday, his day nurse asked a respiratory specialist to come look at him, because she thought his nasal passages might be swollen.

The nurse who cared for him last night got him moved to a CPAP mask, which he isn't fighting, but I think she said it can be hard on the bridge of the nose and the septum. Shemaiah is actually having them put him back on the nasal prongs, this afternoon. Shubael has several oxygen desaturations this morning, and his color seems worse than before. He wants to see if the trouble Shubael has had today has anything to do with the mask. Please continue to pray for wisdom and compassion to be used by all who make decisions about his care. It's hard to watch, but in all this, we trust God to see our baby through. We appreciate everyone's prayers so much. God bless y'all

7/22 pm

Shubael is doing better! The CPAP mask was apparently the problem. The strap goes around the back of the neck and they had it strapped extremely tight, which we didn't realize at first. When we discovered that, we had it loosened. After 20 minutes, Shubael's color improved immensely. Shemaiah did push through on putting him back onto the nasal prongs. A different respiratory specialist (a man who's been really nice and seems to be more gentle), who had _not_ been assigned to this pod today was the one to take care of it. God is so good. The CPAP mask was actually crushing his poor nose, which was likely part of why he just wasn't breathing well and causing his O2 to dip.

8/15

Shubael is breathing without assistance! He completed his second room air trial this morning and is off of CPAP and does not require a cannula. He's much less fitful without the extra air being pushed into his stomach.

His feeding line has been moved to his nose, so bottle feedings should become much easier on him. We're hoping he'll start learning to nurse before long. He weighed 5lbs. a couple of days ago and is getting the sweetest baby cheeks We are so thankful!