To start at the beginning . . .

Ok, so this is the first time that Josh and I have ever blogged and apparently we are not very good at keeping it up. So this is my attempt to get caught up.

To start at the beginning . . . .
When Riley was born (February 21st) she was a hearty 8 pounds 6 ounces but she was not breathing. The doctors and nurses immediately took her out of the room leaving Josh and I with nothing to do but pray and wait. Soon the nurse came to get Josh and I was left in the delivery room with the doctors. Not knowing what was going on I just began to pray that God would be with our little baby girl and that He would guide the hands of everyone working on her & give them all the knowledge they needed to help her. Well, God is a good God and He did just that. A nurse came up to Josh later in the day and asked if she could speak with him. She told Josh she was one of the people who had worked on baby Riley right after she was born. She said that while working on our daughter she physically felt something take over her hands! She told Josh that she performed things on little Riley that she had never done before and she does not know how she did them!

After the amazing staff at Baptist South had worked with Riley for a few hours a transport team from Wolfson Children's Hospital arrived to take her to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit downtown at Wolfson. Riley has been there for the past two weeks and is steadily improving. At this point all that is know is that she has low muscle tone. The doctors and specialists have run all sorts of test to figure out what is wrong but every test has come back clear. She is now off the ventilator and is just on a high flow nasal cannula (to help her breath). They began feeding her my breast milk though a feeding tube a little over a week ago and now she is almost up to full feedings. She is getting stronger but still has a long way to go. Right now the big things that we are praying for are her lungs, muscles, and reflexes. She needs to develop some of the essential normal reflexes (such as gagging and swallowing) before the doctors will let her come home. Also her respiratory system needs to get stronger so that she can breath on her own. While they are still running numerous test to try to get a diagnosis, the doctors have begun physical therapy with her to work on developing her muscles.

The staff in the NICU at Wolfson is absolutely amazing and we are so blessed to have incredible men and women working on our daughter 24/7. But despite how amazing they are, Josh and I truly believe that the doctors and science are going to come to then end of what they are capable of doing and then that is when our God of the miraculous is going to step in in show off like only He can. Josh & I are in awe of God and His goodness. While this situation is far from easy, the Lord has carried us every step of the way and provided us with a peace that can only come from Him. Also the support of our friends and family has been overwhelming. We are so thankful for our amazing family, friends, and our Celebration Church family. Thank you all so much for all your prayers, love, and support. We look forward to sharing Riley's amazing testimony of recovery with you all. Please continue to pray for our precious little girl and we will do our best to keep you updated!

Much Love,

Becca, Josh, Ayden, and Riley

“The LORD is my strength and my impenetrable shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices and I will give thanks to Him in song. The LORD is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for me, His anointed.” -Psalm 28:7-8