You might remember my friend, Tiffany. She's the mum on the ship who ran to Ghana with me last summer - she's also from Minnesota! Check out what I copied from her blog:
Meet Alseny.
This little peanut arrived in November at the age of four months. He weighed in at six pounds.
His cleft lip and palate prevented him from getting the same nutrition as his TWIN sister, Mariam.
Here are they are upon their first check in with us on Nov. 15th (yes, the date is important).
Mariam is an average sized baby, breastfeeding regularly from their
mama.
Alseny is not receiving anywhere near the same amount of
nutrition as his "big" sister.
Alseny's fight for life is strong though. He is alert, active,
responsive and engaging.
Our infant feeding specialist steps in to help
provide some tips to plump him up
so he is big and strong enough to
undergo surgery.
Mama has fought hard for his life - in a culture where this is viewed as
a curse - on your entire family and village - the norm is to abandon
the babies in the forest to die and escape the curse that has come upon
you. So the courage it takes to love your child wholeheartedly here
speaks volumes.
Here he is on NOVEMBER 27th - yes, just 12 days later.
You might not
see the difference immediately, but scroll back and compare -
his ribs
aren't protruding, there's a bit of meat on his legs, his arms,
his
cheeks have some flesh to them instead of just being pulled taut over
his skeleton.
Big sister Roughiatou (roo-guee-ah-too) has come with mom to help care
for the twins
during their time in Conakry awaiting surgery.
Mom, big sis, Mariam and Alseny
Is there anything more beautiful?
We watched Alseny grow at the Hope Center - our weekly visits saw a new -
fatter boy each time!
And now....
Meet the February Alseny! He has surpassed his sissy, Mariam.
He is happy, chunky, and ready for surgery.
We look forward to rejoicing even more with momma as her happy (now FAT) baby
gets a chance to view life in a whole new way.
How can this be the same teeny baby that lay nearly lifeless on this scale less than three months ago?
God is a god of miracles.
The night before surgery, the family moves onto the ward to prepare for surgery.
The surgery went very well.
Alseny gets lots of special love and care from his nurses in the OR, PACU and back in the ward.
His lip still has some sutures but it's healing so nicely
Can you say, "GLORY!"
No comments:
Post a Comment