Geek Habitat

The last time I did this, it was pre-blog and my now 11-year-old nephew was in NICU due to being born blue (oxygen-deprived) and with a host of other issues, and his mom was trying to recover from a severely high fever and pre-eclampsia (including seizures/convulsions). Through the family’s church, prayers were solicited far and wide and, despite my rather amorphous spiritual beliefs, I prayed every day and night.

Why now, again?

Erika, aka “SnazzyKat,” is a blogger I’ve been following for quite awhile, but only recently linked. I enjoy her fun-loving personality, her obvious love of teaching at-risk youth, and her love for her husband, Jay. When I found out she was pregnant, I started following her blog more closely, and most of the news was good — it’s a boy! he’s a big boy! His name is Samson Daniel! However, there’s also a bit of not-so-good news — Baby Samson has HLHS, a congenital heart defect that requires immediate open-heart surgery, as well as additional procedures and monitoring as he matures.

Baby Samson’s due date is February 24th, but Erika is scheduled for an induction Wednesday (22nd) morning, if Sammy doesn’t decide to come before then. We’ve all had a virtual betting pool going on, and Sammy seems to really like it in there, so the 22nd looks quite likely at this point.

With the approaching birth of Baby Samson, it’s time to send some prayers, good vibes, positive energies and supportive comments to Mom Erika, Daddy Jay, and Baby Samson on the start of their journey. They have all the usual new baby excitement, stress and uncertainty, coupled with the inescapable realities of a newborn with a life-threatening congenital heart defect and immediate, life-saving surgery.

Erika and Jay have a good support system of family, friends (virtual as well as RL) and a few couples who also have HLHS kids. Sadly, one such HLHS family in their support network lost their baby girl, Grace, last week. She was only 5 weeks old, and had undergone ground-breaking HLHS surgery in-utero. So prayers and good vibes are necesary for the family of Baby Grace, as well.

You know I don’t do this prayer chain stuff lightly. Whatever your “flavor” of belief, please take a moment to send something positive into the cosmos for Erika, Jay & Baby Samson, and their friends who are dealing with the loss of their baby daughter. I cannot imagine what either family is going through right now…

- Shannon

The preceding thoughts follow in the footsteps of Magnolia Mom and A Mom’s Life, among others sending out their love and prayers to SnazzyKat and her family.