June 1, 2011

Prayers and Praise for Penelope

If you've been following the blog for the past few weeks, you are familiar with Clara's NICU neighbor, Penelope, who also suffers from CDH and has been having a very complicated ordeal on ECMO as well. Penelope's mom, Samantha, has been posting updates on her progress, and the next day or two are going to be very important in determining her outcome.

Just like Clara, Penelope's biggest barrier to getting off ECMO has been her fluid retention, but Samantha says that they have made some big strides with pulling off fluid in recent days and that her lungs are as dry and open as they have ever been, so they are going to be capping off her oxygen from the pump today to see how she can do without ECMO support.

Please pray for this to go well and for Penelope to succeed! As you all know from watching Clara, ECMO is certainly life-saving, but the longer a baby is on it, the scarier the complications become. Penelope has already been on ECMO for a week longer than Clara was, and she's had some severe circulatory problems and is at risk of losing several toes (pray for this issue too!). But our hope and prayer is that she's turning the corner now and can get off the pump and start the road to the same recovery that Clara is making now.

Pray also for Penelope's parents, Samantha and D.J. We know well enough how tough the road is that they are on, but we at least had the benefit of living locally and being able to sleep in our own beds every night and being surrounded by our support system of family, friends, church, etc. They live over an hour away, and I cannot imagine how much more complicated and stressful this has been for them.

So as you pray for Clara's final steps with her feeding and weight gain so that we can bring her home (we want this SOOO BADLY!), please pray even harder for Penelope, Samantha, and D.J. as they endure this "make or break" time. We serve a loving and powerful God, who has already shown us that he listens to our prayers and that he still performs miracles!

-robert

6 comments:

  1. Praying, wishing, hoping, PLEADING for this precious baby and her parents. I know the Hardy family has been a blessing to them, and I hope you're sharing with them how many strangers are praying for them. Breathe, Penelope, breathe!

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  2. DITTO the above message! Am praying so-ooo hard for BOTH babies!!!!! Keep your chin up, Chrissy, you have traveled so far and it will be over soon .... BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. I'm praying for little Penelope and her family, I pray that the LORD will bestow the same blessings on this family as he has yours. Let them know that we are strangers praying for their sweet baby, but,that someday we will be brothers and sisters in Heaven.

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  4. I so hope that Penelope's parents are staying at the Ronald McDonald House across the street! It truly is a "home away from home" and will bring some comfort to them! A nurse or social worker can facilitate that! Prayers for all!

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  5. When I included Penelope in my prayer (back when you first mentioned her)...Chuck said, "Who is Penelope?"...we will continue praying for her as we pray for Clara...thank you for continuing to update us on both girls...may Clara's eating progress and may Penelope breathe!!!

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  6. Hey would you post a link to Penelope's blog if it's ok with her parents? I'd love to see pics and "hear" from her mom firsthand.

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