Brooke and I are holding vigil next to our baby's bedside. It is all we can do for him at the moment ....
Our son was born with part of his brain missing. They don't know what happened, but something obviously did while he was being formed inside my wife's belly. Devastated? Yes. We won't lie to you. Yet we refuse to give up on Carrigan Daniel and it is obvious that God brought him into this world for a specific reason. We don't know what it exactly is just yet, but one day we will find out.
They (our son's doctors) don't know if Carrigan will be able to see, hear, talk, walk, etc. They have done tests on him and so far he hasn't really responded to any of them. It is very disconcerting, but we have an army of people who are already lifting up our precious little newborn boy in prayer.
Our next order of the day is to find a way to break the news to our older child, our four-year-old daughter, Cassidi Faith. Cassidi has always had a tender spirit: she hates to see animals (or other children or even grown ups) suffering or getting hurt somehow. I know it will not be easy to tell her about her new little brother, but with God's help, we will find a way to do just that.
Carrigan looks pretty normal enough: that is, he has ten fingers, ten toes, eyes, mouth, nose, ears (ears are a little misshapen, but we don't know if that is caused by his rough journey from inside Brooke's birth canal to the openness of the world outside or the birth defect itself. Only time will tell.
He has my red hair and my wife's blue eyes. It is too soon to tell whom he favors, but one thing IS certain: he IS rather cute, if I must say so myself.
Our son could be a vegetable, sitting in a wheelchair, unable to see, hear, eat by himself, walk, etc., or he could have nothing more than some learning disabilities or a weakened arm or leg. It could go either way, but from the way the doctors are talking, there might have been some significant brain damage. Even if there was, we would still choose to love our boy and give him the best life possible. We would prove these doctors wrong and show them that even a brain damaged child like our son has a known purpose in life.
~To be continued.~
