Comfort in Time of Trial

I want to share with you all some of the thoughts that have given us comfort in this time of trial for our little newborn girl. First of all, your many prayers and your comments of concern have been a tremendous help for us. Remember that all of your prayers are heard and they do help.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16


Her name has also been placed on the temple altar at Redlands and she will be prayed for there over the next two weeks which gives me immense comfort.

Lastly Siobhan and I read a wonderful talk by President Kimball on priesthood blessings and the Lords power of healing. I gained from that article complete faith that the Lord has power to bring our little girl home. We realize that God is the one that performs the healing while the doctors do the most they can to provide a positive environment for her. We will continue to post updates about her condition and especially photographs of mommy holding her precious child once she is able to! Thank you all again for your prayers. May the Lords will be done.

Birth of Annalise Truly Abel

Siobhan underwent scheduled cesection early in the morning and gave birth to a beautiful 5lb 12 oz little girl. She had a healthy cry and color and I was able to hold her for the first few minutes of her life. Unfortunately she began to have difficulties breathing and was sent to the NICU. It has been a long road and she is still requiring intensive care, but good news is she has been progressing a little each day.

Here is a pic of Siobhan all scrubed up with Annalise's life support machines behind her. Far left is the inhaled nitric oxide which helps reduce her pulmonary hypertension. The doctors have been able to come down on it a little but she is still dependant on this gas. The next one to the right is her regular ventilator, followed by her Jet ventilator which has her breathing at 360 breaths per minute. Other small improvements she has made include her being stable with her chest tube clamped which means it will come out tonight and that her pneumothorax is likely healed. She also is no longer requiring pressors for blood pressure support which shows slightly resolving pulmonary hypertension. Slowly but surely she is healing and getting closer each day to comming home with us.