Ten years ago this weekend, we almost lost our Jake.
I wrote this post a couple of years ago.
I thought it would be appropriate to repost it today.
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I love to decorate our house with inspirational sayings.
When I saw this sign made out of old barn wood at an antique store in downtown Geneva, I just had to have it! We have it hanging up right in our kitchen. The reason I am so "into" counting our blessings is because when Jake was a little guy (about 18 months), we almost lost him.
To make a very long story short ... Jake had a very hard first year and a half of his life.
He cried a lot.
And I mean a lot.
The doctors kept telling me it was colic,
but I knew it was not.
The doctors kept telling me I was spoiling him by nursing him all the time,
but I knew I was not.
The doctors kept telling me that I was a first time mom and that, "babies cry, get used to it."
My friends who were having babies at the same time as me kept telling me that I needed to just let him cry himself to sleep and then all would be magically better,
but I knew they were wrong.
I knew something was wrong with my baby.
I felt alone.
I felt scared.
I felt that maybe I was doing something wrong that was causing my baby to be in so much discomfort.
I felt inadequate.
Jake wouldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time and I was exhausted. (understatement)
One day, Jake's cries were different.
I knew something was terribly wrong.
I went to our neighbor's house so I could call the pediatrician. (we just moved in to our house and we had no phone, not even a cell phone!)
They weren't home.
I remember laying on the floor and crying out to God . . . "LORD, give me a mother's wisdom!"
The next thing I remember was driving Jake to the Emergency Room. I know that God is real because I was not really driving, He was. I had never felt the presence of the Lord like I did right then. I didn't even know where the ER was . .. we had just moved into the area. By the time we arrived, Jake was happy . . . not seeming to be in any discomfort at all. The waiting room was full and I was sure that we would wait for hours only to hear a doctor telling me that "babies cry". But to my surprise, they rushed us right in . . . (no waiting!) and I told a doctor Jake's life story and my concerns. The kind, young doctor told me he had just been to a conference on something called "intussusception" (a telescoping of the bowel) and he thought Jake had it. They did a barium enema (yikes!) because it solved the problem 80% of the time. It did not work with Jake so they had to do emergency surgery.
We are very glad that the enema did not work, because the doctors found something they had not suspected.
The bowel had been telescoping so many times in his little life that it had worn a hole that day and toxic waste was leaking into his belly.
"Four more hours would have been too late," they told me.
They took Jake's intestines out of his body and laid them on a table next to him. They had to cut some of his intestine out and sew it back up.
Praise God for making me go to the ER and sending us that particular doctor who was willing to hear my story and actually do something about it! (And who had just been to a conference on the very thing Jake had!!) Our pediatrician was so thankful that I could not get a hold of him that day because he said that he would have just told me it was gas .. .he told me I was very lucky to have that "rookie doctor" treat Jake . . . I think that "rookie doctor" was really an angel . . . Jake's angel.
Praise God for His perfect timing.
(They also found out that my little Jake had been having acute appendicitis attacks ever since birth. There was so much scar tissue all around his appendix, so they removed that as well.)
Since there was so much toxic poison in Jake's belly that day from the hole in his intestine, he developed a serious infection called C-Def, which was very scary, but we treated that and it finally went away and Jake started sleeping through the night, which was AMAZING for John and me!
Sleep never felt so sweet.
GOD is in control and my "Count Your Blessings" sign is a constant reminder to me of that awful/wonderful day when I almost lost my Jake.
When I am feeling sad or sorry for myself about something, that sign grabs my attention as if God is saying,
"Look! I have given you wonderful blessings! Enjoy them! Cherish them! . . . Count them!" 
Jeremiah 29:11 "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."
