Friday, December 10

God is powerful. Prayer is powerful. Having my family together in one room-- having Jordynn and Easton get to meet their baby brother after 7 long weeks-- was such a clear answer to our prayers and to many prayers lifted to God on our behalf. God hears. God cares. “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28)

For weeks now I have been talking to one of the social workers at SickKids, Jess, about arranging some way for Jordynn and Easton to get to meet Walker. When we first started talking, she explained all of the Covid protocols currently in place and how difficult they are to work around. She said they really don’t make any exceptions right now, but she would try her very best because in our situation, she believed it was important and necessary for the kids to meet their brother. She spent a couple of weeks moving up the chain of command and doing everything she could to have them make an exception for us.

Finally on Wednesday morning, Jess came to visit me while I was with Walker in the NICU and told me that she had tried everything and they just were not willing to make an exception for us. She was very sorry and apologized many times. I made sure she knew that I really appreciated how hard she had advocated for us and all of the effort she had put into trying to make a visit happen for us. But of course, I was upset. 7 weeks is a long time. And now it was going to have to be way more weeks than that. It felt so unfair. I just wanted so badly for Jordynn and Easton to be able to meet their brother.

On Thursday morning I was at the Eaton Centre with Jordynn and Easton while Andrew visited with Walker, and I got a call from SickKids. It was Jess. She said she had some really good news for us and she didn’t even know how it had all happened. She put the manager of the NICU on the phone, who told me that they were going to be able to facilitate a visit for Jordynn and Easton to meet Walker that very day. She reiterated that this was not something that ever happens right now because of Covid and that she couldn’t believe that everything had worked out the way it had. She told me that somehow there was an empty isolation room that they could move Walker into on the same day that there happened to be an extra nurse (they are extremely short-handed right now) that could go with to take care of him while he was in there. Also, since he was not on oxygen support, he was easy to transport. She then said that this could only happen if the kids were completely symptom-free. Somehow in the middle of cold season, I was able to truthfully tell her that Jordynn and Easton were perfectly healthy with not even a sniffle. God’s hand in all of this was undeniable. He really had worked all things together for our good.

So, on Thursday afternoon we headed to the hospital with Jordynn and Easton. We were able to show them all around the hospital and bring them up to the NICU, explaining that this is where Mommy and Daddy go when they visit Walker. When we got into the NICU a nurse greeted us warmly in the hallway and brought us into Walker’s special room. The kids were so excited they were jumping more than walking. They were able to go right up to Walker’s crib and see their baby brother in real life for the very first time. It was so special. I took Walker out and they were able to get close to him and touch his feet and tummy. They each got to take pictures with their baby brother and we got to take a picture as a family for the very first time. They brought one of the girls who does music therapy at the hospital into the room with us and she gave the kids their very own special concert. I sat there beside Andrew, holding Walker and watching Jordynn and Easton, and just felt so complete and so at peace. My whole heart was in one place for the first time in over 7 weeks. I can’t even describe the feeling.

God is so good.