Monday, May 16, 2011

Izzy's Birthday Party

When Izzy was born prematurely, five years ago, she weighed only 2lbs.15oz. Within a few days, she and her mother were flown to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh where they have the necessary facilities to treat premature babies.

Getting Izzy ready for the flight to Pittsburgh.

The ambulance that took Izzy and her mother from the airport to the hospital.

The Guardian Angel waiting at the entrance of the hospital.
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After much testing, it was discovered that Izzy had another problem: her stomach wasn’t connected to her intestines and that required immediate surgery.This was very scary for our family, although we had been through it once before.

Seventeen years earlier, our oldest daughter had given birth to a son about ten weeks early. He weighed three pounds and had to have heart surgery a few days after birth. Today, he is 22 years old, over six feet tall and very healthy. He will be graduating from college right away. Remembering that successful experience gave us hope for Izzy.

My husband and I drove to Pittsburgh to see Izzy during her lengthy stay at the hospital. Seventeen years had dimmed my memory and I was shocked to see such a tiny baby, her head about the size of a baseball. Tears filled my eyes when I realized how she struggled to live – several tubes running to and from the diminutive body. Her parents spent days on end at the hospital right by her side – always faithful that God would let their beautiful little angel survive. Thankfully, He did!


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Izzy is quite different today! We went to her 5th birthday party this afternoon. An Inflatable Bounce House had been rented for Izzy and her little friends to enjoy. And enjoy, they did - until a sudden shower came up and sent them scurrying and squealing to the covered patio. It was a good time to serve  birthday cake and ice cream.

We arrived late but it really didn’t matter; there were a lot of people there to celebrate with Izzy. Everyone was enjoying birthday cake. The inflatable bounce house was deflated. 

In just a little while, the sun came out and the house was inflated once more. All the kids scrambled to get into it again only to find that it was filled with water... but before anyone could stop them, they had already gone down the slide and landed in puddles of water. Every child was soaked! Out came the towels to dry them off and they were kept out of the house for the rest of the party.

The party was almost over anyway, and Izzy still had to open her presents. That took quite a while and was very exciting for her as well as for some cute little girls who assisted her.

I sat there watching that little bundle of energy and thought about the way things were only five short years ago. We are so grateful for Izzy, who now has a little sister, Gabby. Thankfully, she was born with no complications. 

God is good!  


            

9 comments:

Cindy said...

Happy Birthday to a lucky, beautiful little girl. So glad the story had a happy ending for you peg. Thanks for posting it.

sam said...

Nice story peg. you really have a lot of stories to tell don't you. sam

Anonymous said...

What a sweet story. Happy birthday Izzy.

Anonymous said...

God is good indeed. Sweet post!

hannah said...

What a beautiful story. Glad Izzy is okay and her sister to. good post.

suanne said...

Izzy is so pretty! She is very fortunate to have so many to love her and to have a wonderful family!

gina said...

Wonderful story. Izzy and Gabby are beautiful little girls -- and so lucky.

luella said...

I love happy endings!

Anonymous said...

Such a tender story. Never stop writing!

Hugh Jones