Little Daniel

All You have made will praise You, O Lord; Your Saints will extol You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might, so that ALL men may know of Your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.  -Psalm 145: 10-12

I used to think miracles were a very rare occurrence. I actually thought I might go my entire life without even seeing one. Then I moved to Liberia.

Here is the story of one of our “little” miracles…

Serena Bai came in on the morning of April 14^th with belly pains. She was 16 and this was her first time giving birth, so we buckled in for what we anticipated would be a rather long day, and maybe even a long night.

With every delivery it always seems like the last hour or two are the hardest to get through. Everything is progressing normally, then you tell the mother to push and it seems like the baby is NEVER going to come out! Serena, being a first time mom and only 16 was having an especially hard time with pushing.   To make matters worse, the baby’s heart rate started dropping. The sun had already gone down, a C-section is not an option at the clinic, and the baby probably wouldn’t survive the 2-plus hours it would take to transport Serena to the hospital. We had to get the baby out, ASAP.

After quite a bit of effort by Serena and our Midwife a baby boy, with a cone-shaped head, was born at 8:45pm. But he didn’t cry. I took the baby, dried him and pinched his feet. Still no cry, no breaths, and his heart rate was going down even more. I started breathing for him with our Ambu-bag and mask. His heart rate improved, his color improved, but he still wouldn’t cry. I stopped bagging him, suctioned him, still no breathing. I bagged him more. He was even moving his arms and legs, but he wouldn’t breath. Every time I stopped bagging he made no effort and his heart rate would drop. So, I kept breathing for him.

So what do I do? If I stop bagging the baby stops breathing and I have no idea how long this will last. So, in the midst of my panic I prayed (aka. shouted), “Father, in the name of Jesus make this baby breathe. In the name of Jesus make this baby breathe.” Almost immediately the baby gasped. I kept bagging and the baby gasped again. I stopped bagging and the baby started breathing on his own. He didn’t cry, but then again I didn’t ask for that.

By the next morning, and after a round of IV antibiotics, the baby was not only crying, he was eating like a champ!

His grandmother, Hellena, asked me to give him a name. At first I told her “No,” this is not something I feel I have the right to do. Besides, the last time someone asked me to do this they thought I’d named their child “Trouble.” We can’t have that. Hellena persisted so I told her I’d have to think about it. I came up with the name Daniel. Not only was Daniel man of great faith, he was thrown to the lions and survived.

Daniel is now 5 months old and healthy as ever.