In the last post we left off where 4 pound 1 ounce, Jacob was born on October 26, 1998...two months earlier than his due date. Once again, the Children's Miracle Network stepped in and helped us out with some finances. They paid for our meals while we were at the hospital visiting him. We also had several family members and friends help us out during this time by donating money, providing meals and taking care of our 3 year old son, David, while we were back and forth to the hospital. Jacob stayed in the NICU one month and just barely made it home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with us! He was 5 pounds the day we brought him home. Such a tiny little guy too!
Jacob continued to grow and do well over the next few months. In late February I noticed that he wasn't feeling well. He had a cold and his breathing seemed to be a little labored. It was a weekend and I took him into Urgent Care for the doctor to check him out. The doctor that saw him said that he was "Very sick, but not sick enough to be hospitalized, but that I should take him to his regular pediatrician on Monday to have him looked at again.
Well, long story short....because trust me, this is a long story and I'm sparing you all the details........I took Jacob (who continued to get worse over the weekend) early Monday morning to the pediatrician. Our pediatrician was SHOCKED that Jacob was not admitted to the hospital over the weekend! Jacob had RSV and pneumonia and was really having a hard time breathing. He told me to immediately put Jacob in the car and to drive over to the hospital. He said to go up to the pediatric floor and that they would know that I was coming! I was scared to death!
Jacob continued to get worse as the days passed by. The hospital staff was starting to show concern with his lack of improvement. Jacob had been in the hospital about 3 weeks when the pediatrician came into the room and told me that he just wasn't sure if Jacob was going to make it. They were doing everything they could do, but Jacob just wasn't improving. Brian had to go back to work and I was spending most of the time in the hospital with Jacob, but on this particular day my pastor just happened to be visiting when the doctor came in with this news. From what I was told, our Pastor had the church pray that entire evening for Jacob's healing. I'm not kidding when I tell you that the next morning Jacob made a turn...for the better! It was very evident that the Lord was being gracious to us and was answering our prayers. Jacob was discharged just one week later!
The next several months he continued to grow and recovered from such a frightful illness. We did find that he got sick easily as his lungs were still weak from the RSV and pneumonia. He was eventually diagnosed with asthma as a result of scar tissue on his lungs. He got pneumonia again later in the year, but was able to fight it off much better.
Here we were again with money being tight. Still no savings due to medical bills. I took on a full-time babysitting job to help make ends meet. Brian changed jobs in hopes of making a little more money too! Thankfully, we were able to pay our bills and put food on the table, but we still lived paycheck to paycheck....
If you missed the beginning of this series you can go to the following links:
The 1st and 2nd Years.
The 3rd and 4th Years.
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