Pray for Natalie
What Happened?
Natalie went in for outpatient surgery to fix a heart condition she’s had since birth. Read through selected social media posts from Natalie’s parents to their prayer network.
March 29, 2021
Just wanted to ask everyone for prayers for Natalie. She’s having her heart surgery on Friday at 8:00 AM. They will be doing a catheter ablation and Lord-willing it will be outpatient. We are all learning to trust the Lord through this time. Please pray for us all as we are excited and nervous.
April 2, 2021
Oh dear friends, pray! They perforated Natalie’s heart and had to take her into emergency surgery. They did cpr on her for 15 minutes. Her heart is beating on it’s own now. The svt was not fixed. Now they are afraid for how it affected her brain. Please, please pray with us.
UPDATE: We are with Natalie now. They have decided to sedate her until tomorrow. Please pray for her brain function to fully recover. God has her in HIS hands.
UPDATE 5:15 PM: Natalie is lightly sedated but they were putting probes in her hair and she opened her eyes and responded to us asking her to move her feet. Praise the LORD! She will be sedated through the night and they will know better tomorrow if there is any damage to her brain.
April 3, 2021
Natalie made it through the night. She kept trying to wake up so they’ve been working hard to keep her sedated just to let her brain and organs rest. She’s had great cough reflexes. The conversation has been to take her off sedation around 8:00 AM but we are waiting for the teams to come in for the day to make that decision.
Praises: Natalie is alive!! She is getting 1 on 1 nurse care and she’s at a great hospital. She’s been trying to wake up.
Prayer requests: that she will be able to wake up once off sedation. That her brain and organ function will be fully restored. That our sweet girl will have courage to face all of this once she is awake and that God would reveal Himself to her through this process.
UPDATE 1:00 PM: Not much of an update. They dropped the heavy sedation meds around 10:10. She’s moved her arms and legs but has yet to open her eyes. They need to keep the ventilator in and keep her temperature down. Those are the huge prayer requests right now and for her to open her eyes and respond to us!!
UPDATE 2:40 PM: Natalie wasn’t responding much but then they were moving here and she started waking. Curtis gave her a kiss but she’s hates his beard so I said “Do I need to tell Daddy to shave?” And she squeezed my hand!!! Cue all the tears! I was balling like a baby. Her temp was getting too high so they are needed to sedate her again but we are thankful for the little progress. Praise the Lord!! Please continue to pray for our sweet baby!
UPDATE 7:45 PM: They took the chest tube off and the compressions from the groin area. Natalie was awake for about 15 minutes. She lightly squeezed my hand several times. Her temperature is running a little high so keep praying for that. They are trying not to use the paralysis drug which they’ve been doing to keep her from shivering. They can’t take the ventilator out while still using that drug.
April 14, 2021
Well today has been unbelievably difficult. Natalie is being moved back up into the ICU and being put into a medical coma in order to try and get her to calm down so she doesn’t injure other parts of her body. For almost 24 hours now no medication has been able to break through and she has been head to toe dystonia with her heart rate 180-210 for long spells.
The neurology team had to take us to the small room for the very difficult conversations that seem to always occur whenever you go into those rooms. Please be praying for doctors as I can’t imagine having to have those conversations with families.
Unless God intervenes Natalie’s brain damage is going to radically change her life and our family’s life. The neurology team was gracious and kind and even allowed us to share a video of Natalie from before the injury. The video was of Natalie running around when it snowed in Palmdale and it was sunny yet snowing.
That is how we feel right now. We know it is sunny but it keeps feeling like the cold harsh snow is falling down on us. I’m tired of crying, it really is an exhausting emotion.
I was able to tell the neurology team that we understand the medical prognosis but Lazarus was worse off. If God so desires he can heal even a damaged brain.
God has been super encouraging as well in moments of fog. A nurse just walked in and she just proclaimed truth to us as a believer and she was so helpful. No idea where she came from or where she went but we sure needed to be preached to and that was gracious of God to bring her.
So now we are waiting. Waiting as we hear the agony of Natalie as she just keeps fighting. Deann hugging our nurse for the day and telling her to hug her little kiddos and Deann sharing videos of Natalie laughing.
Maybe one day all of us can hear that laugh once again. It sure would be a soothing sound to my weary soul.
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