Things are a bit unconventional over here at Shades of Shayes today.
First of all, this is going to be my first post of two today, and it certainly wasn't something that I planned. But my heart is heavy for this family right now and I feel the need to share this with you.
I have known the Noetzel family since 1995...that's 17 years. Their daughters Brittany and Lacy babysat for me and my siblings when we were younger and their younger brother Jared was best friends with my young brother Ben. The Noetzels have been like a second set of parents to me and I love their family to death.
The Noetzel's two daughers, Brittany and Lacy are both married. Lacy, the oldest, has two boys and in April was pregnant with their third child -- a daughter. Just before Easter, in the midst of the absurdity of our Easter pageant (in which Mr. Noetzel played the lead and Mrs. Noetzel was the director), they learned that Naomi (the little girl's name) had a severe heart defect known as Ebstein's Anomaly. According to her CaringBridge site, "The main issues with Naomi's heart are that the right side of her heart is extremely enlarged due to the improper function of the tricuspid valve. In addition, the blood flow that should be going from her heart into the pulmonary artery and upon birth to her lungs is actually flowing backwards into her heart."
She was doing alright in utero, but would need extensive medical intervention post-birth, including surgery.
Naomi was born at 1:03pm on April 25, weight 5 lbs, 4 oz. and measuring 18.5 inches.
I don't know all of the details that have taken place since Naomi's birth nearly two months ago, but I know that things are not good. While Naomi was doing well initially, things have not gone well recently and at this point, the prospect is not good. They've been updating on facebook and their CaringBridge site quite often, and it's looking like Naomi is closer to going home to be with the Lord than going home to be with her parents.
My heart breaks for the Noetzels. I love this family so much and I only want happiness for them. This is the latest update from Adrin (Naomi's dad) that Jared posted the other day:
Hello all-If you are any kind of praying person, please pray for Naomi and her family. It hurts my heart to think that this beautiful little baby girl may only have a little more than two months on this earth and won't be able to grow up to really know her mom and dad and her two big brothers who I know adore her beyond words.
It is with much sadness I come before you all today. Naomi is resting in mom's arms. She has music in the room and is comfortable. She has pain meds and a sedative going. She still has the ventilator helping her with a nitric-oxide. We have continued her nutrition and even given her some breast milk each hour. But with the doctors counsel we have stopped the rest of the meds. She is not getting any blood pressure meds, meds for the PDA, steroids, or antibiotics.
We are loving on our little girl and so grateful that our parents and our boys are here with us. We hand and foot printed her earlier and are going to have the boys come over later to do the same. We will do some family things when they get here like read stories and play Angry Birds. We want to celebrate our family.
Things are not looking well for our little princess. Things continue to get worse for her. After a long talk with Dr. Andrew Van Bergen last night I had some more understanding and clarity as to where we were with her care. He helped me understand that there is no more they can do for her. As believers, we know that God can do miracles. But we know that man can only do so much. Without saying it specifically, Andrew said that she is beyond the point of no return medically.
I went to bed with all this new knowledge, but felt strangely peaceful. When Jed got me up this morning, I knew Lacy was still not feeling great so I got him back to sleep. Then I had Gabe get ready and took him out to breakfast with me and a good friend. When we got back I let Lacy get some work done and said I would share with her when she was ready.
After lunch we sat on the back porch and I shared with her. We had many things to talk about and decisions to make. Then we came over to Naomi's and talked with Dr. Melissa Nater. Melissa listened as I shared what Andrew and I had talked about. She agreed that things are much worse and helped us make some decisions. We have made some changes, but there are more that could be made.
We are not giving up on our little princess. We are going to love her and hold her. We are going to continue to pray for healing. And as I heard from my pastor, and have clung to since, she will be healed. We just need to wait and see if that healing comes this side of heaven or if it comes in His arms in heaven.
We love our family and our friends. We love our God and continue to worship him for all He has done for us. Jesus is our Saviour and we worship Him. We ask the Spirit to intercede and give us the words we need all the time. God is good all the time. All the time God is good.
Please keep them in your prayers and thoughts and I will be sure to let you all know if anything major changes.
--Shayes.