Thursday, March 5, 2009

Nathaniel- what a blessing


Nathaniel is my son who will soon be 7 years old, in April. When I was 5 months pregnant with him, I fell. My husband rushed me to the hospital and I had lost some liquid, it was believed to be amniotic fluid. I was hospitalized. The technician performing the sonogram just stayed quiet and looked at me with sympathy. I could tell by the look on his face that something very wrong and bad was going on. But, I believed in a great God. I believed in Him and knew He would see me through this. The doctor later gave me the results of that sonogram and she said that the placenta was detached from the uterus. That within hours I would have lost my baby to a miscarriage. Because at 5 months pregnant it would be impossible for my baby to survive. Instead of crying and fearing the worse after hearing all this, I had this peace. How great is our God, because after being in the hospital for so many days, there was no miscarriage!! The doctor just couldn't believe it. She ordered another sonogram and it showed a healthy placenta. There was no gap as I had seen days earlier on the monitor when the sono was being performed. I cried because I was so thankful to the Lord. I was released from the hospital. That year we celebrated Christmas days later because I was in the hospital Christmas eve and didn't get out until 29th. Not losing my baby was my Christmas gift from God. Reason why I named my baby Nathaniel - gift from God.


Nathaniel was just days shy from his 1st birthday when he fell. He had this huge cut on his forehead which required medical attention. Not only did he get a scar on his forehead but he also stopped talking. After so many doctor opinions, I finally found my present doctor (a Christian). She referred us to a speech pathologist. He was almost three and wasn't talking. He started speech therapy. I had noticed since he was born that he didn't like being held and didn't like loud noise. I mentioned that to the speech therapist and good thing she listened. He was evaluated and he was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder. Apparently, touch and noise hurt him. That was the reason he was always crying. He had his treatments for almost three years. To top that, he had asthma. There were nights I couldn't sleep because I had to be checking on him. There were nights he was sitting on his bed crying and almost blue because he couldn't breath.


When he started Pre-Kinder, he changed a lot because he was interacting with kids his age. But, that year in December, he had the worse asthma attack ever. I rushed him to the ER, my husband stayed with our other kids at home because it was too cold. At the ER, doctor noticed that he would not react to the medication. The doctor called the nurse to start an IV, well she couldn't find the vein. By the time I knew it there were about 6 nurses around Nathaniel's bed. His veins were collapsed and they were trying to figure out what was going on and there was Nathaniel with breathing problems, too. Nathaniel would turn to look at me. It was hard to stay strong but I smiled at him and said 'don't worry'. I heard one of the nurses say "God, he's so young". I just prayed and said "God, my son is yours. I accept your will. But, if this is just the enemy's attack, help my son". He answered my prayer and Nathaniel stopped having breathing problems. Later, the doctor said that he was dehydrated and that his systems were shutting off slowly one by one. The first system that was shutting off was his pulmonary system. But, How great is our God. That He was there and Nathaniel pulled through. Nathaniel was hospitalized for a couple of days. We went home on Christmas Day. Another gift from God.


I brought a different boy home that morning. He hated being hugged and kissed. All noise bothered him. But, that day we noticed that Nathaniel couldn't stop kissing us and hugging us. He was so loving and that has not changed.


At church, everyone loves the way he is. He's always smiling and shaking hands and saying "God Bless you". They call him "the boy who likes to shake hands". I'm so thankful and I can't stop giving thanks to the Lord for giving me this wonderful little boy. I'm so thankful because the Lord has given him healing. At school, he's one of the top kids in his grade level. He reads a lot. He talks a lot. He smiles a lot. He hugs us a lot.


I can't stop giving praises to the Lord for the blessings He has given me. Nathaniel is just one of my blessings. Later, I will share other blessings. (all my four kids are a walking testimony of how Great our God is). God bless you. If you're going through a trial, I hope this testimony will encourage you to press on for He is with you.