a special phone call

About a week ago, our phone rang for about what seemed like the 20th time! I think I almost sighed as I reached out to pick up the phone.

On the other end of the line, a young girl shyly asked if she was speaking to Ruth Arteaga. I said yes and asked who she was. Turns out that our pediatricians (Dr. Jijon and Dr. Fernando) had given her our phone number so that she could call me and talk to me about our experience with Nathan and the Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) that he was born with.

Fatima (the name of the young girl) has 3 weeks to go in her pregnancy and two months ago she found out that her little boy will be born with CDH. In his case, both his intestines and stomach have moved up into the lung cavity and he will need surgery shortly after birth just like Nathan did. She is worried about many of the same things that we faced when Nathan was born.

However, she faces many more challenges than we did - she is just 21 years old and alone. The father of her baby has abandoned her. She lives with her parents in a town called Ambato about 3 hours south of Quito and they have had to find a foundation who will help with the birth of her baby and the expenses that will come along with a baby born with CDH.

We talked for more than a half hour - she had many questions about what to expect after her baby was born . . . it turns out that the foundation is going to help her with the expenses of a c-section delivery in the same hospital that Nathan was born in as well as the surgery and the time that her baby will need in NICU. So it was easy for me to explain to her what our experience was with the doctors, nurses and staff at Hospital Metropolitano (wonderful people!).

Then we talked about the importance of putting our faith in God and that only He can give us a peace that passes human understanding in situations like this. She agreed with me and told me that even though she grew up a Catholic, she realizes that she can't get this peace from the church, but rather from our Almighty God. She had recently been to some evangelical meetings and felt such a peace there.

We said good bye . . .my heart burdened for this young girl of 21 years, who already knows that her baby will be born with difficulties. But also encouraged knowing that God is still using the circumstances of Nathan's birth (and the miracle of his life) to be a blessing and encouragement to others. I told her that I would plan to come and visit her when she has her c-section sometime the first week of September.

Please pray for Fatima as she faces this difficult time and pray for her unborn baby - that God will use the doctors and nurses at Metropolitano Hospital to help him be healthy. And pray for us that we would be an enouragement and help to her.