Sunday, March 16, 2008

Emerson Grace

The youth pastor at my church, Jason, and his wife, Kristin, had their second baby on January 6, 2008, at just 26 weeks gestation, 14 weeks premature. She weighed just 2 lbs. 2.4 oz, and was 13.78 inches long at birth. Emerson fought hard, and was doing well until Sunday afternoon, when she developed NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis) and her bowel perforated, and she died Monday at 12:20pm. She weighed 4 lbs. 14 oz. when she died, and prior to the sudden complications would have gotten to go home in another week or so. She lived for 9 weeks and 1 day.

I know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and that Emerson is in heaven with Jesus right now, perfectly healed and free, but something like this is still very sad for those left to miss her. But I guess that when we grieve over things she will never get to do here, opportunities she will never have, etc., we aren't really grieving for Emerson, we're grieving for ourselves, and the things that we will never get to experience with her because she isn't here. Because anything that Emerson might have experienced in 100 years here on earth, pales in comparison to what she is experiencing right now in heaven.

I guess maybe someone who recently lost a baby said what I'm sort of feeling best..."When Adam and Eve were created there was no sin in the world - no mess, no problems, no pain, no sickness, no death. God created humans with no intention of them dying. It's because of our affinity to doing the wrong thing that caused death in the world. I think that's why death is so hard for people to walk through. It's because we were never created to cope with death. We were created to live." (Susie Sams)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him."

Please pray for Emerson's mom and dad, and older brother Finn, who is only 12.5 months old.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

What a hard thing! My sister had her son Tayden at 24 weeks and he's still with us and doing well at almost four years old. It's hard for us to understand why some live such short lives, but I love how he gives us glimses through the years of how He redeems even the most tragic of losses, how He is glorified in our deepest pain and How He shows up to be our everything when we have nothing else. Thanks for stopping by my blog and I'm glad you enjoyed the book. I'm anxious to read some more of her books!
Sarah

Full of Grace said...

For me, the most difficult thing would be thinking that the tough part was over, and since all was going well I would have the hope and joy of bringing my baby home for something so unexpected to happen. I will say a prayer for this family today! Loss is difficult no matter how you look at it, but thankfully this couple are believers- God does care for us and brings us back around even when we are devastated. I had a hard time when I lost my daughter Grace at 20 weeks who only lived an hr and a half (hard is an understatement- I almost had a breakdown) but Thankfully God brought me back around too!

Thanks so much for leaving a comment on my blog- Sometimes I feel as though I am writing and posting just for myself since not many comment on there, so it meant alot to see that there was someone out there actually visiting! :)

Anxious AF said...

Nothing is a surprise to God, Im still learning that.
Thank you for checking out our blog, and learning about our little RTS angel. Spread the word in the medical field, RTS is still so unknown.

Thank you for your prayers