Birthday Boy

When I woke up yesterday and flipped my daily verse to June 7,  I read,
"My health may fail,
and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
He is mine forever."
(Psalm 73:26)

A year ago today, June 8th, things started to go wrong in the hospital.
Before we were discharged two days later, our baby boy had undergone several blood draws,
an echocardiogram test for his heart, an X-ray on his bowels, light therapy for jaundice,
and by far the most upsetting, had been placed on intravenous antibiotics.
He had tested positive for infection from the blood draw (a painful, awkward draw that resulted in skin contamination). Because of hospital policy, he had to be on antibiotics for 48 hours, undergo another blood draw from his tiny chubby arm, and have a clean result before they would release him.
We felt like the hospital owned our baby.
My sister, who was newly pregnant at the time, became determined to have another home birth
when she saw how they made our healthy baby seem so sick.

Of all those awful procedures, the only one he needed was the light therapy.
And my goodness, how he needed that.
When we finally escaped the hospital, I was determined to keep him home, safe with us, away from all tests and procedures and fear.
But he became dangerously ill with jaundice
(it turned out to be breast-milk jaundice, which lasted for 12 weeks),
and he needed another 4 days of hospitalization when he was three weeks old.
I spent a lot of time singing and praying Scripture over him.

I love knowing songs to Scripture.
The verses above sing beautifully,
"God the Lord is the strength of my heart,
He's my portion forever.
Yes the Lord my God is the strength of my heart,
Your nearness, oh God, is my good."

Happy Birthday, Malachi Jude.
May His nearness be your good,
all the days of your life.