I'm a little behind with my blog posts ... by about 3 years! At any rate, when I adopted my Texan Princess, she was born at 32 weeks and was diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Each time I visited the hospital NICU, the nurses would explain that she wasn't feeling very well and that her withdrawal symptoms were bad. Every time I saw her, she was asleep. Sometimes she had hiccups. Apparently that's a withdrawal symptom. She had many of the symptoms listed in the link above.
Because I had absolutely no experience with this, I went to good old Google. I learned that babies born exposed to drugs are often born early and, because they're born early, they do not suffer through their symptoms so much. They sleep through them! So, she had symptoms for 4 months, gradually reduced over time, but she slept through the first 2 months of them.
It is so cool to me that God provided a way to protect innocent children from the most severe consequences of their parents' poor choices. I realize not all children are born early and do not sleep through their severe symptoms. This is how it worked out for us and I feel so incredibly blessed by it, and so is she. Although she was a little behind in most of her developmental milestones, she is on target and doing well. I know God has a plan for her life and I can't wait to see how He uses her.
I have no words to explain the blessing that she is to me. I was well beyond child-bearing years. I felt I did a horrible job raising my first babies as an unsaved mother. She is my "second chance", my "round two" in parenting as a saved mother. What a difference! I am forever grateful.
If you want to see how God has worked in her siblings' lives, check out the links in Who We Are.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart..." Jeremiah 29:11-13
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
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