Monday, January 30, 2012

Thinking about....

...how I can be a good friend to our friends whose baby boy, Jonathan, is due to arrive next Tuesday. He isn't expected to survive very long after birth. Jonathan would have been Rowan's friend, and I am so sad that they may not have the chance to ever meet each other in this world, although I am praying they will one day see each other in heaven.

I'm praying....but sometimes I feel as if I don't know what to pray for. I guess my prayer is that God will be in control of this situation, as he is of all things. That they will have the chance to be together as a family even if it is only for a short while. That my friend will be able to cope with the labour and delivery knowing that the outcome at the end of it may not be good. That she will be well enough afterwards to hold him and love him for however long he is with them.

On a practical note...I'm baking some things for them. They'll have family staying around for a while afterwards so they'll need to eat. My friend wants to keep busy doing things as much as she can this week so I've offered to have coffee with her if she wants a bit of time out from all the appointments and other "must do" things. Our church family will help them out with meals after the birth too.

I'm trying to think of a gift for them, maybe some kind of photo album or voucher or something like that.

It's hard to know how to help at times like this. Sometimes praying is all we can do. But it is the most important thing we can do.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Oh that's so sad. Why won't Jonathan survive long after birth? Praying for that family. I agree that praying for someone is the kindest thing we can do.

Aimee said...

Oh, how terribly sad for them.
Are they aware of the 'now I lay me down to sleep' organization? It's professional photographers who volunteer to go to the hospital and spend time with the family of babies like Jonathan and take photos of them with their family.
Not sure if there's one where you are, but the details are here:
http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/locate_photographer/?p=1&country=AU
I've heard it has been helpful.

Karen said...

Hi Aimee, and thanks for your comment, I will pass on the website info to my friend. The closest photographer to us is in Brisbane but might be able to travel, so will see what they think...
Sarah, I don't think they have been able to work out exactly what Jonathan has, but several of his organs haven't developed as they should and the doctors don't expect he'll be able to survive on his own. But he has made it this far when he wasn't really expected to, so it's hard to know, I guess a miracle could still happen :)