Sarah Danielle Dunham

arrived into this world at 6:47 AM, on Saturday August 6th, by C-Section. Although she was nearly 3 weeks premature, she came in at a very healthy 7lbs, 1oz and 18.25".

Unfortunately, the combination of being premature(thus having immature/underdeveloped lungs) and an infection she got during birth resulted in her getting pnumonnia! So, they had to transport her, by ambulance, from Crozer/Chester's NICU to the NICU @Children's Hospital(aka CHOP) late Sunday night/Monday morning.

I got to ride in the ambulance with Sarah from Crozer/Chester to CHOP. I wouldn't mind repeating that experience(blitzing down I-95 @75MPH!), just under DIFFERENT circumstances!

But she's doing MUCH better now, thanks to good docs, good meds, good med machines, mucho prayers on the part of many and, last but certainly most, GOD! They've already completely weaned her from the miracle drug that saved her life(literally, no exaggeration here!) Sunday night, they've weaned her(externally forced) oxygen down below 40%, etc.

And, in an interesting "twist of fate" that may not have happened were it not for the dire circumstances we found ourselves(or, more specifically, Sarah) in on Sunday night, we've learned that Katrina CAN breastfeed Sarah. She'd origionally been told by her neurologist that she couldn't, cuz of her being on Tegritol, but other docs not only countered that, they said "I can't believe a neurologist would be that mis-informed"!

This is VERY good news! Not only cuz Kat wants to breastfeed and this is our last kid, but also cuz she wants to lose weight - and, mostly, cuz as GOOD and as GREAT as breastfeeding is for kids anyway, it's even better for premies!

Side note here: We had a 100% positive experience @Crozer/Chester. The folks there are GREAT and I'd recommend that hospital to ANYONE. So, if you live anywhere near Chester, Pa(and even if you don't, lol), consider it recommended.

It's really neat the way God worked all this out. I mean, Becky was born at Mercy/Fitzgerald Hospital and our experience there was SO positive that the ONLY reason we didn't have Sarah there too was that Mercy/Fitz closed their birthing unit in August '03. BUT not only is it the case that Mercy/Fitz never had a NICU(not to our knowledge, anyway), Crozer/Chester's the ONLY hospital in this area(outside of Philly or Wilmington) that has one(that we know of)! When you consider that we might have had Sarah @Delco Hospital, Riddle Memorial, or elsewhere, it's pretty neat how this all worked out. And that's just the tip of the iceberg here, as far as "providential coincidences" go!

So, since Kat went into labor late Friday night and since Sarah went into serious distress late Sunday night, this hasn't been the best week for my sleeping, eating, or medication schedules. However, since "all's well that ENDS well" and both mom & baby are doing GREAT, I'm not complaining.

Sarah still has at least 10(or so) days left @Childrens before she comes home, with a LOT more tests and stuff to come and go in that time frame. So, it's not all over yet. But I honestly believe that the worst is beyond us. And for that I'm VERY thankful.

P.S. If anyone knows how to block a particular user ID from making comments to your blog, please let me know. I got my first SPAM comment today(to an earlier post) and I wish to block the person who posted it from doing it again. So, if anyone's aware of a way to do that here, PLEASE let me know! Thanx!

Testimony Of A Life

I got a phone call Monday night. A friend was calling to let me know that a mutual friend of ours had died, very unexpectedly, Sunday. This mutual friend was only 47(I'm 42)! He left behind a wife, a daughter, both parents, and 3 sisters.

He was a schoolteacher and he was also very active in his church(one that I went to for about a decade roughly 10 years ago). So, he left several "families" behind; not just his biological ones.

He also left behind a very powerful testimony. I hadn't been in contact with him recently; it had been about 2 years since we'd had any direct contact, but I still remember a lot about him, almost all of which is a very strong, consistent, God-glorifying testimony.

I've done a lot of thinking about him since I got that phone call on Monday. Yes, about how shocking it is when someone dies before they're 50; before their parents, leaving grade-school-aged kid(s) behind, etc. But also about what a quality, character guy he was, the legacy and impact on others he left behind, etc.

If I had to sum up his life(from my perspective), I'd say that he was a servant. He was, truely, a very giving, serving, others-focused person. And, because he had his personal act together, spiritually and otherwise, he was giving and serving with and from his fruits, not his roots.

How many messages have we, as Christians, heard about how true "fruit" is an OVERFLOW from a healthy "tree"? About how fruit production isn't an effort or a burden to a healthy tree, it's a natural result of it's health. Well, Bill lived this. His life backed-up, echoed, and validated his words. How many people do we know of - whether personally, professionally, or publically - that we can say any of that about?

Christian martyr and missionary Jim Elliot is known for having said "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose". Bill Paxton lived this as well as anyone I know.