Kenmore Prayer Circle: urgent prayer requests Sept 18

Dear praying family,

Let's join hearts with those praying for loved ones facing serious trials. May the Lord stand with them, keeping His hand of love upon them, and guide them all to safe harbor, in Jesus' Name.

1) A neighbor, Jackie, whose 45-year-old son is in Spokane hospital with life-threatening necrotizing bacterial infection. He has a wife and 2 children. We stand with them in Jesus' name to ward off any spirit of fear that would try to steal, kill, and destroy; we welcome Jesus' Spirit, who bring life, and life abundantly.

2) A family, details below, Lora and Wayne, with little newborns, Elizabeth & Veronica, in need of Jesus' healing touch.

3) All the needs, in body, soul and spirit, that we carry in ourselves and for our loved ones. May the Lord pour out His mercies through the Body of Christ, in Jesus' Name. May the great exchange that Jesus purchased on the Cross--our sin, our sickness, and our sorrow in exchange for His great salvation--be accomplished in our lives today, for His joy, the joy set before Him that sustained Him on the Cross.

Blessings to you in the Name of the Lord,

Katie Rhodes
Kenmore Prayer Circle

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <RevMJonasen@aol.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Subject: Urgent Prayer Request

Katie,

The following is a prayer request that came to me through a very dear friend of mine for two little girls who were born pre-mature, and who are both experiencing some very serious complications.  The little girls are Elizabeth (Betti) and Veronica.  The parents are Wayne & Lora.  A note from the parents is re-printed below.

Thanks,

Pastor Marvin 

Rev. Marvin R. Jonasen
Northlake Lutheran Church
6620 NE 185th Street
P.O. Box 82603
Kenmore, WA 98028
www.northlakelutheran.org

______________________________________________________

Hello everyone,

On Thursday the 17th, we nearly lost our little Elizabeth.  She's still not out of the woods yet, but she's stable and fighting it now.  Early in the morning she came down with something called Necrotizing Entercolitis (NEC for short).  It is an extremely dangerous condition and is potentially fatal.  Her case is rare in many ways—at nearly 4 pounds, she's one of the "bigger" babies to have it.  She's also one of the older babies to get it (normally it's only up until 34 weeks- she's 34 weeks exactly).  And it normally happens in the first two weeks of life (she's 7 1/2 weeks old).  NEC is basically when there is an infection and inflammation in the bowels, it has a potential to kill all or a part of the intestines.

Betti was transferred to the Hospital here in Colorado Springs (the same place that she had her PDA ligation surgery) because if surgery is need then she needs to be there.  Plus, from the hospital, she has a surgeon who is watching her closely, helping the doctors decide when or even if surgery is necessary.  Thus far her bowel hasn't perforated and she has stabilized and begun to get a little better.  So that means that so far, no surgery is needed.  They're still watching her, and will do it if necessary.  We strongly believe that God has already begun healing her and that she won't need the surgery.

They also found earlier tonight that she had a secondary infection that was sepsis, but because the treatment for NEC is antibiotics, they're already treating the infection.  They will be able to identify it today and make sure they're treating it with the exactly right antibiotics.  The secondary infection could be what allowed the NEC to happen this late in the game, and it could also be what caused it to escalate so quickly. (The night before she was totally normal.  At 3am she started showing some signs, but it wasn't full blown until 5.  By 8am we were close to losing her.)

It's hard to watch our little baby girl laying there stuck full of IV's, but at the same time we're thankful she's still alive.

So we're asking everyone to pray:

-For total and complete healing.

-Pray that her intestines wouldn't perforate.  That she wouldn't need surgery.

-For her blood pressure to stay up so that she will still pee (peeking will keep her kidneys functioning properly).

-For wisdom and guidance for the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and surgeons.

-No long term effects!  Antibiotics and NEC both could have long term side effects, but we fully believe that she won't have any. I had HIB meningitis as a little baby and they told my parents that I would definitely have long term side effects and I have none!  We're praying the same thing for Betti (and Veronica too, preemies in general have a lot of possible side-effects, we are trusting Him that they will have none.)

-That her oxygen saturation in her blood would go up.  Her monitors all say it's high, but when they test her blood it's not nearly as high as the monitors show.

-For I as we travel back and forth between the two hospitals.  We chose not to transfer Veronica because the hospital she is at is what is best for her (she's in an isolation room, so it's really really quiet.  Veronica needs the quiet atmosphere.)  Once Betti has recovered from NEC, we hope to have her transferred back to the hospital that Veronica is at.

-Thank God that she's still here, and that she's responding to treatment.  

-Prayers of thanksgiving for all of the wonderful doctors and nurses.  Her Hospital nurses and doctor were so scared for her, but as they were stabilizing her for transport they were praying out loud and also coming to pray with and for Wayne and I.  It was awesome to see these women band together in prayer around our little one, even when they were scared themselves.

-Pray for Veronica, that she would continue to grow and be healthy.  That her lungs would continue to develop (she's still on CPAP.)

Thank you for your prayers!  Already the prayers have been being felt here and in her life.   Feel free to pass this on to friends, family, churches, small groups, etc..

-Lora, Wayne, Elizabeth, & Veronica