Finally, 23-day-old Mohammed arrived at Sheba Hospital today! His family had been anxiously waiting for the past three days to bring him through to Israel, while Jonathan worked tirelessly from the other side of the world to arrange his ambulance transfer.
There had been so much back and forth, never knowing whether Mohammed would actually be able to come through. Earlier today, we were told he would be transferred in the afternoon, but then he became unstable and the transfer was postponed. Then, suddenly, the message came that Mohammed was on his way! Praise the Lord!
The transfer was a speedy 40-minute ambulance ride from Ramallah Hospital to Sheba, with Mohammed accompanied by his young, first-time mother and his grandmother. Coworker Elisa and I met them at the front entrance of the children’s hospital. Surprisingly, Mum and Grandma were calm when they arrived, clearly relieved to finally be at Sheba and trusting the ambulance team who had brought them safely here.
Mohammed, a tiny little dot in his incubator, surrounded by machines, was quickly whisked upstairs to the PICU, where the doctors and nurses were waiting and immediately got to work.
In the meantime, we got to know Mum and Grandma over pizza, fruit and coffee and showed them around the 8th floor where they would be living for the next who knows how many days or weeks? They are such lovely, easygoing ladies, and it was a pleasure getting to know them.
After a while, I tracked down the doctor for an update. Bloods and X-rays had been done, and they were about to perform an echocardiogram. For now, Mohammed is stable, and the doctors expect he will probably have surgery in a couple of days. So for now, we wait and see.
Elisa and I will visit him again tomorrow morning.
We left Mum and Grandma settling into their rooms for the night. After such a difficult and stressful few days, they seemed happy and relieved to finally be here. For this sweet family, getting their precious little boy safely to Sheba was a huge answer to prayer. Thank you Father for bringing Mohammed safely to Sheba today. Bless this sweet baby, keep him strong and stable and surround him in your love and peace. Amen.