Chapter 11 
Chapter 11 You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
—ISAIAH 26:3
AL: The medical team was cautiously optimistic about Anna, and they made sure I knew we were in an hour-by-hour situation. They spoke quietly and solemnly, not wanting to discourage me, but they were hesitant to say anything that could be interpreted as particularly hopeful. Everything was “wait and see.”
To me, Anna looked like a skinned squirrel. She had little tiny arms and legs, and her skin was so translucent I could see her intestines through it. Her face was narrow and her head was flat; she was almost completely covered with wires, tubes, medical devices, and a central line. She seemed so helpless in her little bed.
I was overwhelmed.
I had tears running down my face as I tried to take it all in, wondering if our baby girl would live and thinking about Lisa and how she would react to this situation. In the middle of our crisis, a nurse walked up beside me and gently put her arm around me. She told me that she too had had a premature baby who was about Anna’s size when he was born. Her child had lived, and she encouraged me with their story. She was the first person to ever refer to our daughter as “Anna Banana,” a name that stuck for years.
I now realize the nurse’s message of encouragement was the kindest thing anyone could have done for me in that vulnerable, frightening moment. Not only was it kind; it was powerful. Something about her words turned the whole situation around for me. As soon as she spoke, I felt a surge of hope and confidence that Anna would be okay. I had no doubt she would survive and eventually be healthy and strong. I had no idea what her journey to health and strength would entail, but I knew, somehow, it would turn out well.
LISA: By the time Anna was a month old, her condition was worse, not better. Al and I still had not been able to hold her, and we had spent a very somber month visiting her at appointed times in the NICU, where we did not see a lot of victories. We saw some situations that encouraged us and gave us hope, but we saw more that frightened us and broke our hearts. We met some parents who eventually took their babies home to live fairly normal lives and some who left the hospital with empty arms. We felt the weight of Anna’s situation and absorbed everything that happened around us, but we also knew God’s grace was with us and felt supernatural strength every day.
Nevertheless, we could not deny that Anna was not doing well. She needed to be gaining weight but had lost three ounces instead. She could not be weaned from the ventilator, her color was not good, and her lungs were not developing. The medical team discovered she had a heart murmur and needed surgery.
Through an amazing series of events, the surgeon who would operate on her had once served as the personal physician for the ousted shah of Iran. He was one of the world’s very best and had ended up right there in Monroe, Louisiana, after the shah fell. When he told us that a successful surgery would consist of his being able to tie off a duct the size of a cat’s hair in Anna’s heart, we could hardly believe it. It was a delicate procedure, but the surgeon felt confident in his abilities. Things did not look good for her, but we could not shake the feeling that everything would be all right.
The doctor told us that a successful surgery would consist of his being able to tie off a duct the size of a cat’s hair in Anna’s heart.
The doctors told us Anna had a 60 percent chance of not surviving the surgery. Maybe that’s the reason they allowed us to hold her for the first time just before the operation. Now, that was an emotional moment! A 40 percent survival rate does not sound very good, but we had complete faith that the 40 percent would win out and she would live. We had no choice. Without surgery, she would have definitely died because her little body simply had to work too hard to breathe and pump blood. With the surgery, she had a chance.
As concerned parents, of course we were nervous, but at the same time, against the odds, we believed her chances were excellent. We were either too young to truly grasp how frightened we should have been or we had a lot of faith. We now think God simply graced us with a gift of faith for those extremely trying circumstances.
Anna did survive the surgery and soon began to improve. Almost immediately, we could tell by looking at her that her circulation was much better. Slowly but surely, she began to gain weight and become more alert. By the time she was about two and a half months old, she finally came off the ventilator. That was a major milestone for her and for us, because it meant we could hold her. She was eating and drinking from a bottle but still struggled with bradycardia (low heart rate). Sometimes she would forget to breathe, but a good thump on the foot always got her going again. At that time, she weighed more than two pounds—halfway to the four-pound mark, at which we could take her home.
LISA: In early June, the doctors gave us good news. Anna was strong enough to be moved from the NICU to a step-down unit called special care. Emotionally, this was good for us because there was so much sadness and there were so many extremely difficult situations in the NICU. We had entered that intense environment every day for about three months and will always be grateful for the wonderful care Anna received there. But for Anna’s sake and ours, we were glad to move to a place that meant she was improving significantly. Since the beginning of our journey with her, when Al was filled with supernatural faith that she would be okay, we had never wavered in our trust in God. Still, seeing such an obvious step of progress was extremely encouraging to us.
Visiting hours in the special care unit were less restrictive than in the NICU, so we were able to spend much more time with Anna, holding her and feeding her. Her special care nurse was a good friend from church, Nikki Flowers. Knowing Nikki was taking care of Anna gave us an unusual peace of mind.
As Anna continued to improve, we began talking to doctors and nurses about what to expect once we took her home. They told us she would have to go home with a heart monitor and taught us how to read it. We were nervous about that, but by then we had spent more than three and a half months watching others care for our baby girl and we believed we could handle it. Our friend Nikki helped us know exactly what we needed to do when we got home with Anna—and we are forever thankful to her for that.
When Anna finally reached four pounds, we looked at her narrow little face and tiny body and could hardly believe how much she had grown. Anna seemed so big then, compared to her early days when we had been able to slide a size seven lady’s ring all the way up her arm to her shoulder. We were so excited to take her home, and we finally got to do that on a very special Sunday, June 15, 1986—Father’s Day.
AL: For about three months after Anna came home to our little house, we could not take her anywhere and could not have visitors. We had to be so careful with her! Thankfully for Lisa and me as parents, we had lots of family nearby and we could interact with them, even though they could not come into our house to see Anna. As much as we believe in the importance of leaving and cleaving, having a family support system right next door to us during those days was extremely helpful.
After Anna’s first three months at home, she came off the monitor and people began to visit her. For the rest of that first year, she continued to grow and improve like any normal, healthy little girl. Thanks to God’s grace, she had no major health issues.
When Anna was one year old, we took her to the cardiologist for a checkup, hoping and praying all would be well. After all she had been through, we wondered whether she would struggle with heart problems for the rest of her life, but he said her heart was perfect. In addition, her other doctors said she had absolutely no lingering negative effects from her premature birth. She went on to have a perfectly normal childhood and was a calm, compliant teenager. This little girl who got off to such a difficult start is now a beautiful woman, wife to the only guy she’s ever really loved, Jay Stone, and the mother of three daughters—Carley, Bailey, and Sage.