Looking back at your child’s EA/TEF journey can give parents a new perspective about past events. Guest blogger Maggi Gale shares how her look back clearly showed her how God was with their family during their daughter’s very unusual first weeks of life in 2002.

Three months after arriving in Tanzania, I discovered I was pregnant. Dar es Salaam offered an easier life than the area of rural Africa where we’d previously taught. So, being tough skinned and with a resilient trust in God, but no house of our own in England, we decided to stay there and have our baby.

Late in my pregnancy, despite being the size of a small elephant, a scan revealed that my baby’s weight had decreased. Not being medically minded, this meant nothing to me. A friend urged me to go for a follow up scan, so I did. I was told I had a lot of amniotic fluid but a small baby. Again, this rang no bells in my head, so I merrily carried on.

The alarm bells rang out loud and clear when our daughter didn’t cry after she was born on a Friday afternoon. As she was rushed away by nurses, I lay on the gurney, my body reeling from giving birth, and my heart spiraling out of control. What are you supposed to do when the birth of your baby doesn’t go according to the script you had worked out in your head?

Finally a doctor appeared beside me, his energy a little jumpy as he explained his diagnosis. He said our baby had swallowed secretions from the birth canal so he’d put her on antibiotics as a precaution in case she had picked up an infection.

He had lost me at “There’s nothing to worry about, Mrs. Gale.” I knew instinctively that both his assumption and diagnosis were wrong.

Even though we were newcomers to the community, God enveloped us with his family at that time. Visitors came to the hospital, provided meals, and made sure my parents who were visiting and our two-year-old were taken care of. They also offered many, many prayers.

Watchman Nee wrote that “Prayer is the railroad track of God’s work.” What tracks are to a train, prayer is to God’s work.

We began to see the train of God’s provision roll down the tracks during this agonizing time of crisis.

A colleague’s wife, who was an experienced pediatric doctor, visited us in hospital the day our baby was born. Although this friend didn’t say anything, she saw that something was off with the diagnosis. She went home and spent the night franticly researching what could possibly be wrong, based on the clue of my excess amniotic fluid. She was back on Saturday morning, when she privately challenged my doctor. Due to her boldness and wisdom he agreed that there was something not right with our daughter’s esophagus, and that we should fly to South Africa or England as soon as possible.

Saturday my husband arranged for an emergency passport. Meanwhile, I walked out of the hospital and hailed a taxi home to haphazardly throw clothes into a suitcase. By Sunday morning, we were on a plane with our new doctor friend and our daughter’s IV bag taped to the bulkhead. My daughter’s eyes seemed to plead with me, as if she knew she was ill. She reminded me of a tiny bird, so frail and vulnerable. Looking at her face, I ached to do everything in my power to make her well, to make her live.

God’s train of help continued to rattle down the tracks. Sue, a member of our church in England, worked both in intensive care and in repatriating people from overseas. She had arranged for an ambulance to meet us at Heathrow Airport in London to take us to the hospital in Southampton.

On Sunday evening, we sat with a brilliant surgeon who patiently explained what was wrong. As he talked and drew diagrams, my mist of confusion began to dispel. She had esophageal atresia/tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) We were offered no guarantees about the surgery, which was scheduled the next day, but a semblance of relief came from understanding the problem better.

Everything was not smooth sailing after our daughter’s dramatic entrance into the world and her successful surgery. There were infections with nights of coughing and antibiotics. There were food blockages with surgical removals. On top of all that, there was the frustration and pain of an unanswered question: Why?

Every EA/TEF family has a unique story. In our case, I can testify that along with the troubles, we also experienced God’s help and the capacity to get through them. People bent over backwards to help us medically, practically, and emotionally. Slowly but surely, our daughter’s condition improved so much that she now lives an independent, healthy life.

Psalm 34:19 says that the righteous person may have many troubles; but the Lord delivers him from them all.

When you are looking back at your child’s EA/TEF story, may you see how God’s strength and the people he sent helped you get through your troubles too.

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Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash