Inspirational Stuff

 

Hello everyone, I wanted to share this short prayer.  It was a blessing to me today so I wanted to share the blessing. Enjoy

 

I'm writing this because I promised I wouldn't forget and that I would never let my son forget what the Lord has done for us....My son Zenock Tuavale Siuaki Livai was born Dec 30th 2004 and right off i knew something was wrong. The pediatricians immediately took him aside and had to revive him. I knew something was wrong but i guess i was blocking. I wanted to see my baby and gush over him like all new mother's want to at that time, but I couldn't. I didn't even hear him cry. when I asked if he was OK nobody answered me. a few minutes later I heard...a little squeak.....then a weak little cry..it was beautiful...immediately after, they took him to the nursery to be put on the ventilator.."It's normal for an infant to be on one" they said..I didn't know any better it was my first time...anyway throughout the day and most of the night he was ok but closer to midnight he started going downhill...the doctor's kept coming into my room telling me that he was getting worse but that hopefully he would pull out of it...Now that i look back i don't think they really believed that...anyway by the next afternoon he was in the NICU at the Univ of Utah hopstial and his doctor was talking about transferring him to Primary children's hospital next door "just in case" he needed to be put on the ECMO machine...My poor baby looked horrible...he had wires coming out of everywhere..at that point I told my husband to call my uncle to come and assist him in blessing my son...after a while we realized that he couldn't wait and that he needed to be transferred now so my husband and two doctors blessed my son...when they got him over to Primary's my husbands companion(from his mission) and uncle arrived and helped to give him another blessing....when i was able to go and see him an hour later the doctor's sat us down and told us that his situation had gotten worse and that he would need to be put on the ECMO machine...(my son had some type of bacteria in his blood and it damaged his heart and lungs...ECMO is a heart and lung bypass machine...it does all the work for the heart and lungs so that they can rest and heal themselves....) by this time it was about 10 o'clock at night on the 31st of december...There were three doctors in the room with us to give us the news..the female doctor told us straight up that he had less than a 5 percent chance of living...she all but said my son was gonna die...I think she was immune to human suffering...anyway they also told us that my son had a hemorrage on his brain and that IF he lived he would not be able to eat on his own or do anything that a normal child does...they said he would be mentally handicapped and that we might want to think about not putting him on the machine and letting him die since his quality of life ,if the surgery was successful, wasn't going to be good....at this point I was emotionally spent...I had nothing left...I had just had my first child and nothing was what i expected it to be...i was really angry..angry at everybody and everything..i didn't understand why MY baby had to be so sick...I remember praying and begging the Lord to put me in my son's place..I also remember praying and begging the Lord to give him the strength of the men he is named after...Zenock, is a prophet in the book of Mormon...(alma 33:2-10)...Tuavale is my grandfather..a man who lived the gospel to the fullest and never wavered....Siuaki is his daddy's name...His faith can move mountains....I never prayed so strongly for someone else in my entire life...and now I'm praying that that someone else, my son, can live...anyway by now my family (i love them so much) was there with us and my cousin Ui told me to ask my uncle curry for a blessing..(her baby died at only 4 days old so she knew how I was feeling) I didn't really want one but I asked for one anyway...after the blessing I wasn't feeling any different but i couldn't really dwell on it cause we needed to hurry so my husband,uncle and cousin could bless my son before he went into surgery...when we were leaving the room (they had given us a room so that they could tell us the bad news in) I was the first one out and my husband followed me...on the wall across from the room i had just walked out of was a sketch someone had donated to the hospital/ It was a picture of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ holding a newborn...and that is excatly what i needed to know. That my baby wasn't alone. That no matter what happened He would be there with him...See I was hurting mostly because I couldn't comfort my baby...I knew he was hurting and I couldn't DO anything about it..A mother's first reaction to hearing her child cry is to comfort him and I couldn't do that, as much as i wanted to I couldn't, but seeing that picture brought me so much comfort knowing that He was with him..the funny thing is I didn't see that picture until I needed to see it..a short while after my husband blessed him, while I stood by the door..there was alot of commotion at that time because it was an emergency procedure so the nurses were rushing around getting things prepared so I couldn't hear what was said..afterwards my husband asked me if i heard the blessing and i told him i hadn't. He seemed confused and said "Didn't they all quiet down during the blessing?" and I told him no and he said that my uncle and cousin also thought it was quiet during the blessing because all they could hear was the words my husband was saying...anyway i was pretty shaken up so my husband pulled me to the side grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me in the eyes and said "He's gonna live..I don't know how i know, i just do...he's gonna live..." It was hard to explain what i felt at that moment but i too knew that he would make it..

The doctor's originally gave my son 10 days to be on the ECMO machine...He came off after only 4 days...They said he would be severly mentally handicapped....Today he's as strong, if not stronger, than any child his age ...throughout the 4 days my son was on ECMO my husbands spirits were always positive...I remember another doctor had asked him how he was doing that day and my husband said "GREAT! I'm great!" I remember that doctor said "man you are truly amazing...to have a child as sick as yours is and to have such a good attitude is rare"....my husband knew...he knew he was coming home so why be sad...lol...whenever my son had a setback, like when he wasn't urinating enough(he was being given 12 different medications at one time and that caused him to swell up to double his weight and the only way to get rid of that was for him to urinate) My husband would tell him "Aye you need to pee more" and sure enough the next day the problem would be solved...he even pulled out his feeding tube four days before he was released...(they have to be taught to breathe,suck and swallow again before they can be taken off the feeding tube)he was telling them I don't need it anymore...

Originally the doctors said he would need 6 months in the hospital to recover....four and a half weeks later he came home...(we brought him home on his origianl due date..he was 5 weeks early)...My son is a fighter. He fights for everything...We can't take him to the nursery at church cause he beats up all the kids...lol...i love my baby and everyday that he's here with us i treasure...yes even when he's naughty!! lol...I know it can be hard but it's worth it...He's worth it....I know that it is because of our faith that he is here today and I also know that The lord giveth and the Lord taketh...I know and I believe...families are forever

"Stand still and know that he is God and there's no need to cry for the battle is not yours the battle is the lord's".

God has done great things for me in my walk with him and he has always been faithful. I find myslef in a position where I have to believe that he can exceedingly abundant things for me even though the reality is saying the contrary. Sometimes I get weak and doubt but then I am reminded that that God did not bring me this far to abandon me. I thank God already for the blessings that he will bestow upon me. Please keep me in your prayers.

"Stand still and know that he is God!

You will be in our prayers Mercy.
Welcome!

 I am happy to report that Gos has started to move in my sitution. Even though things are not working out the way I wanted them to. I remind myslef that "All things things work for the good of those who love God". I pray that God will move in your situation Meekalo. Remember to be patient because God will step in when accoring to his time table not ours.

 Let his will be done in our lives.