Happy 6th Birthday Benjamin! Read his NICU/TEF story

Benjamin after his repair for his Esophageal Atresia and Tracheoesophageal Fistula.
His esophogus stopped 14 cm down from his mouth and the fistula was between his
stomach and lung. He had emergancy surgery to repair the anomaly when he was a day old
at Children's of Alabama. He recovered at Children's for 14 days before he was released. 

This morning I could hear Jerry retelling Benjamin his birthday story while he was getting ready for work...it is quite a story and though Benjamin has heard it a million times he always chimes in at some spot. This morning he said..."and where did my esophogus stop?" and "yeah, I remember that surgery...it tickled:)" If you know Benjamin you know that he has amazing comedic timing and is never lacking for a punch line. He really is one of the kindest, most sincere individuals I've ever met. Today is his sixth birthday and we could not be more humbled or thankful to be his parents. Since the day Benjamin was born I have had to fight the natural tendancy to fear. Even today as he is eating cupcakes with his precious kindergarten class to celebrate his birthday I told him "don't laugh and eat your cupcake...you might choke." When Benjamin was born was our first time to blog...here is the link to that blog and if you look back to the March 2008 entries you will see the journey we went on (many of you were on that journey with us and we are forever grateful!)..

Benjamin Blog first days

Burundi Kibuye Hospital NICU/Pediatric Ward is a special place and ministry opportunity for the Grant family for many reasons. But one way God has knit us to this place is because of a friend who is a physician there, Alyssa Pfister. One of our memories of our friend living and being a part of our church community in Birmingham is when Benjamin was born and was recovering from his TEF repair at Children’s. As you can imagine each day felt very overwhelming, especially with a child with a major anomaly. Often these children have other anomalies that have to be addressed and in that first few weeks it felt like we were waiting for the other shoe to drop as we waited to hear back about tests, ultrasounds, ect. We came to the NICU early one morning when visitation began (this was before you could bed in with your NICU child like you can now at Children’s…yay new Children’s of Alabama NICU!) and there was a small index card on Benjamin’s incubator. It read…

About Benjamin he said: "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." Deut. 33:12

God’s word is living and there are many moments in life as a Christian that you tangibly feel his word…this was one of them. Dear Alyssa had written this on his bed when she was there earlier during her rotations. We will be forever indebted to her for her friendship during those difficult few weeks.

Now we are working to help Alyssa in Burundi where she is on the ground working daily to care for babies and children. Here is the link to donate to adding oxygen to the pediatric wing of the hospital that will be underway soon! We have raise over $3,000 so far...we started on Jud's birthday, February 24th and today we are still working on Benjamin's birthday to raise more donations! Please consider contributing and if you are giving in Benjamin's honor thank you!!! Friends of Hope Africa University - Burundi NICU/Peds ward

Make sure to designate that your donation is for the Burundi NICU/Peds Ward at Kibuye Hope Hospital.

Benjamin with a central line in his head so he can receive antibiotics and
pain medication. This is after his repair but they are still feeding him down an OG tube
til they know the repair didn't have any leaks. The mittens are to keep him from pulling
his tubes and lines out. A NICU trick...we learned a lot while we were there.



 

Cherishing some "normal" at home infant time after a very "abnormal" NICU beginning. I know
many of you have had similar stories.

Sweet baby Benjamin, three weeks old.

This is from the top beam at the new Children's Hospital of Alabama. Jerry and I have served on
the Committee for the Future since Benjamin was there. Jerry signed Benjamin's name on the beam right before they finished topping the building off. Thankful for this place and the physicians that worked on Benjamin during his stay and since then. See if you can spot his name:)!

Our amazing 6 year old! Thankful for you Benjamin!