“Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift-there is nothing small about it.”
― Florence Nightingale
And such has been the lives of Lexi’s family over the past few weeks since she arrived prematurely. Courtney is Lexi’s mom and she started going into labor when she was only 33 weeks pregnant with Lexi. This is actually not something that is new nor something that couldn’t be overcome. Babies are born many times prematurely and spend some time in the hospital strengthening their lungs and fending off infections but Lexi’s story is different.
Many complications in this labor period left her little organs starved for oxygen too long. When she was born prematurely she was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy, duodenal atresia and renal failure. Although her liver did suffer initially that improved over the coming days. What didn’t improve was her kidneys. She was placed on dialysis in the hopes of bridging the kidneys to eventual improvement.
That never happened.
Dialysis was stopped on November 1. It is only a matter of time before she drifts peacefully off to sleep.
There are not many things I know for certain but I do know that all children are a gift from God. So maybe this is a little more religious than I normally am when posting to my blog but really I felt a divine intervention when I received the email about Lexi’s family and their hopes for pictures of her. Thankfully my schedule that week permitted me to make it to Duke for the Capturing Hopes session before they stopped her dialysis. I do feel that there is a higher power involved in all the sessions I shoot but even more so when I am able to photograph a Capturing Hopes session.
As a nurse, I can handle the hard and difficult situations. I have seen A LOT over my many years in the ICU but one thing is for certain – when I was in school I could not handle the sick babies. Caring for them really hurt my heart because they are so very sick and they had such a little bit of time on this earth to experience it. As I have gotten older I have learned to not be selfish in this and know that there is a reason why God put this family in my path. There is a reason he gave me these talents and there is a reason that I get to meet so many precious little ones in my life although theirs may be so short.
I believe that Lexi has the most precious family there is. I believe that her brothers Colin and Tristin love her to absolute pieces and that they are so proud of their little sister.
I believe that she was put on this earth to make us all realize how precious life really is and for that, I thank you Lexi. Outwardly she appears perfect in every way and I am so very thankful that this family was put in my path so I could help them remember how perfect and precious their little Lexi is.
~Hugs~
Rebecca
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These are precious but by far the one of Lexi on the bible touched me!. God has her in his hands. It made me think of John 1:1. I, unlike many others, just don’t understand how bad things happen to good people but i know that I serve a mighty God who makes no mistakes. While my heart bleeds for this family, I have seen the outpouring of love and closeness of family and friends. The love Jonathan and Courtney have for Lexi and boys is so visible and Lexi has had more love in her short time than many children in this world will ever experience. Jonathan it is amazing to see a man so involved with his family, you are inspiring. Praying for Gods peace and comfort. Always, Barbara
I accidentally ran across this and realized that we are related to this young mother. I believe her grandmother and my father-in-law were brother and sister. I shared ye story with my daughter and my two nieces. My daughters first child was a premie and one of my nieces also has a first that was a premie.