Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They tell of the power of your awesome works—
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
All your works praise you, Lord;
your faithful people extol you.
They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
so that all people may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
Psalm 145
Weighing 4 lbs 11 ounces with a length of 18 inches, Ephraim Benjamin Delp was born on Wednesday, August 26th at 5:05 p.m. Since he was born a little early, the doctors are monitoring him closely but all signs are good at this point. We can’t thank you enough for your prayers during this trying day. We praise God for his goodness to us and Ephraim!
Ephraim was born at 37 weeks gestation but only had the measurements of a baby of around 35 weeks. Our day started with a typical weekly prenatal checkup in the morning at 9:30 to see how Kim and baby #3 were doing. Simeon stayed with mom for the appointment (he likes to listen to the baby’s heartbeat) while Joel and Esther dropped them off and went off to run errands. We didn’t have any reason for concern so Joel went to get some stuff accomplished while they were in the appointment. Unfortunately, we quickly learned there were reasons for concern as the fetal monitor non-stress test showed that the baby’s heartbeat was low. The doctor was concerned about this so he wanted Kim to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound unfortunately provided inconclusive results, so the doctor asked that she be admitted to the hospital so that way a stress test could be performed. The stress test is one where they gave Kim pitocin to give the baby a little bit of encouragement to see how he would react. The results of this test showed the placenta was not functioning fully so an emergency C-Section was immediately scheduled to get the baby out as soon as possible. Throughout this whole process, Joel and Kim were basically separated as Joel was rushing around getting the kids with friends to help and packing bags for them and Kim and he for the hospital stay. He ended up getting back to the hospital 30 mins before the surgery and first saw Kim after a 5 hour period as she was on the table being opened up. And also during that 5 hour period, there was a 5 minute period in which Ephraim’s heartbeat could not be found. Safe to say in was an incredibly stressful and trying day. Joel had updated a lot of you who are on Facebook with Facebook posts and we felt your love, support and prayers throughout the day. Thank you so much!!!
In the end, God provided us another beautiful child. Though he is very small (considered to be slightly premature), he is doing very well and is actually eating from Kim even better than what our other two kids were at this point. Praise be to God!
Here are some pictures over the first few days:
The Santiago Partnership