We've gotten to help our first family through foster care! After receiving our license we (sort of) patiently waited three weeks for a call. At 4PM the Wednesday after Valentine's Day, Hannah got a call that as soon as DCS could find whose house she was being babysat at, they would pick up a little girl and bring her to our house.
They called back at 6pm and said, "We'll be there in 15 minutes." Fifteen minutes later a very congested 6 month old little girl arrived at our house. Hannah told Lake City Bank that she wouldn't be returning and since they've been expecting this for a while, they were excited too.
After two days, M didn't feel any better so we took her to see a doctor who said she had a cold. Two days later we had lunch with an OB nurse and EMT who happen to be close relatives. They said dessert needed wait, we had to go straight to the ER and be prepared to call an ambulance en route.
M stopped breathing twice in the ER and was diagnosed with RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). So she began receiving breathing treatments, oxygen and suction treatments. We took turns spending the night in the hospital room with her until the doc said she could leave.
RSV is very contagious but only really dangerous in very young children or the elderly. Hannah seems to have caught it and we've been trying to keep M away from people with little kids. The doctor said she'll continue to cough and be sick for a couple weeks, but the worst is over.
M has definitely perked since coming back from the hospital. She's been smiling and looking around. She's much more alert and curious and she's sleeping and eating better too. She's just as tolerant as ever of Fenley's licking which he is particularly earnest about when she's crying!
So that was quite a crash course in fostering for us. Who knows? Maybe God just needed us to watch M for a few weeks and bump into our experienced relatives to save M's life. Whatever our role, we're happy to be able to support M's life and her family however we can.
And we've also enjoyed being a part of the team that's helped take care of M. So many people have texted and called us to check in on her, people have been praying and bringing us clothes and meals...Everybody has been doing a little bit to help-we're just the only ones who get to see what everyone else is doing. Now if we could only find someone to sleep for us too...
In other big news, we found out that for the past two weeks, M's not the only girl Hannah's been carrying around. For 20 weeks she's been carrying another baby around and Friday we found out that it's a girl! Baby girl looks really healthy and we look forward to meeting her in July!
It has been a nervous few weeks as we passed 13 and then 17 where we lost our other babies and our hope continues to grow with each passing day. So I guess M seems to be benefiting from spending a little time in our house, but we're thankful for the training too!
