This year has been a year full of changes and firsts. Definitely an eventful year, even though the events centered around one major thing: my wife’s pregnancy.
The year started out with Debbie finding out that she’s pregnant. I was overjoyed. Our prayers have come true. We started about doing what first-time parents-to-be would probably do, which is to research as much as possible into the pregnancy. But it was a pregnancy full of ups and downs.
I think the worse “down” came during the last trimester. Debbie was diagnosed with polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid in the water bag). And it went pretty much downhill from there. She was hospitalized for a total of about a month.
I think God has really been good to Debbie and me. I thank God for all the friends who stood by us since day 1, when Debbie was first admitted to Gleneagles Hospital. It made that entire month just that more bearable.
The journey was difficult, but it taught me what it meant to let God’s will be done in my life. There was a night when I was praying, the Holy Spirit prompted me to say those exact same words that Jesus said when He was in the Garden of Gethsamane. It was hard saying it, and I did not know if I would mean it, but I said it anyway. I think that did something in the spiritual atmosphere, and right there and then, I surrendered everything to God.
Against all odds, Izzie came into this world without much complications. Even the suspected hydrops (accumulation of fluid in heart and head) wasn’t there. She was out of the NICU within a couple of days, and within a week, she was back home. Although she has some congenital heart-related issues, the doctors have so far found that she displayed no symptoms of those issues. We keep praying everyday for total healing and for her condition to never take a turn for the worse.
I think for Debbie, those first few weeks at home were quite torturous for her. After having been confined in the hospital for a month, she had to be confined at home for another month (the Chinese tradition of confinement). Add to that the challenge of having to learn how to care for a newborn as we are new parents.
I think it’s undeniable that God’s hands has been at work through all this time. The challenges that He has placed in our path definitely brought us closer and stronger as a married couple. For me, it taught me what it means to be a parent. I can begin to understand all that my parents must have gone through when they were bringing me up.
Izzie never fails to melt my heart with her smile. It’s so amazing that every morning when she wakes up, she’ll spend some quiet time on her own without disturbing anybody. Mind you, she would have spent 9 to 10 hours without milk as she has started sleeping throughout the night. What makes it even more interesting is that she’ll give me a smile every morning. No stimulation required. She’s just happy that Daddy is there to say good morning to her.
All in all, a pretty good year I would say… Praise the Lord!!