Praying for a Healthy Baby

Like any Christian parents, we pray for our children, even and especially when they're in the womb.  One thing we've always prayed for is the baby's health.  At the same time, we recognize that the more important prayer request is for our baby's salvation and walk with the Lord.  We pray that the baby would come to know Christ as the savior of their sins at a very young age, and that he or she would walk with God daily, pursue holiness, have a heart for the lost, remain pure until marriage, and we pray for our baby's future spouse.  These are the same things we pray for our children who are outside of the womb, in addition to other prayer requests for the kids.  And still, we pray for their health. 

Because of some of the experiences we had when our last baby was just a newborn, praying for a healthy baby means so much more and so much less than it did before. 

When my son was just a few days old, we had a flu epidemic sweep through our home.  Nearly all of my family who had visited came down with the flu, including Isabelle, our two year old daughter.  We had arrived home from the hospital the previous day, encouraging her touch and kiss her brother, but now we were terrified that both my husband and I and the baby would come down with the flu.

But God chose to protect Andrew.  He knew what we didn't know:  Andrew had a congenital lung defect.  At nearly six weeks old, an RSV cold would prove too much for Andrew's little lungs, and it was the trigger for emergency lung surgery.  I don't know what the flu would've done to Andrew at just a few days old, when RSV nearly killed him at an older age.  But I know that being an older baby, we'd had a good opportunity to establish nursing, and both his surgery and his recovery went incredibly well. 

God looks out for the health of our little babies.  I can never neglect praying for a healthy baby.

At the same time, to a certain extent, a healthy baby means a little less now.  I will never forget the feeling of being told that my child has a congenital lung defect.  My stomach hit the floor and I wanted to vomit in that ER room.  Life changed immediately, and I'll never be the same. 

In the days and weeks that followed, there were many uncertainties.  Congenital Lobar Emphysema is rare, and I could find little information about it.  Other than what the doctors told us, I really had no idea what to expect long term for my little boy.  And one day, while my baby was still recovering at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, the respiratory therapist mentioned that my baby had atalectasis, that is, a collapsed lung. 

I didn't know what this meant, but it sounded so permanent.  Now I know that it's not permanent, and that it's a normal consequence to the lung defect and surgery.  In fact, Andrew has had atalectasis twice since then, and it's one of those things that my husband and I consider to be "no big deal." A few days of breathing treatments will correct it, no problem.

But the first time I heard the phrase "collapsed lung" in relation to my baby, I remember being terrified.  It sounded like the lung was completely shot.  In my mind, it meant my son would have diminished breathing capacity his entire life.  Would he ever play sports?  Certainly, being a soccer player like his daddy would be out of the question.  Would he suffer from breathing issues his entire life? 

And then I got it all in perspective, again, hearkening back to some of the thoughts my husband and I had after that awful night in the ER. 

Should my baby never be normal, it's OK.  It's all part of God's plan.  What matters is that he knows Christ, that he glorifies Christ in his sufferings and in his joys.  If he's able to be a football player, let him do it for the glory of God.  If he's an engineer, let Him honor the Lord in his work.  If he's a garbage collector, a doctor, or an invalid, let Him bring honor to the God who made him and saved him.

A week ago, my church had a baby shower for my newest little bambino, who will arrive in a couple of weeks.  It was incredibly sweet and such a blessing to celebrate with our church family, who overwhelms us with love every time we're expecting a baby. 

Before opening gifts or cutting the cake, we had a time of prayer for our family.  The women prayed fervently for our little family, and it was a precious time of fellowship with both them and the Lord.  Over and over again, I heard prayer requests for my baby's walk with God, for our family's adjustment, and for a healthy baby.  In my mind, I echoed their requests.  And then one woman finally said what many of us were thinking.  She prayed specifically for this baby boy's lungs, that they would be perfect and healthy.  She prayed for our family to be free from illness when the baby arrived.  And of course, she prayed for the salvation of our children, as many others had prayed.  By the end of the prayer time, tears were running down my cheeks, and someone had tucked a Kleenex into my hand. 

Moms, we must pray for the health of our little ones.  God honors our fervent prayers and sovereignly answers them, much as he protected Andrew from the flu, but still knew that we needed to go through the ordeal of lung surgery on our newborn.  It was a journey that He had planned just for us, and there are lessons he taught us through that trial that could be learned no other way. 

But we can't neglect the spiritual elements either.  There is nothing in this life that is more important than a close walk with the Lord, and I pray that my children will know Him and honor Him. 

If you're wanting to pray regularly for your children, here is a great resource for praying daily for them.  Each day is connected to a different Biblical virtue to pray for your children, with scriptures listed.  I keep my list tucked away as a bookmark in my Bible.