A new addition to the family

Grace

The dictionary describes Grace as; elegance or beauty of form, favour or goodwill, kindness, love and mercy.

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We have a new baby here at GSF and what a perfect name she has. Baby Grace is 7 months old and came last week from the local village. Her mother has some mental health problems and has not been a reliable care giver often disappearing from the home. Grace was blessed with a wonderful grandmother who would return from the gardens and find her daughter gone and Grace on her own. Her grandmother has tried her best but is unable to sustain the care that Grace needs so she has come to us and joined our home.

Grace is adorable, she is everything that her name describes. She is beautiful, full of love and we can see that she has already had favour and mercy on her in her short life. Grace is now getting spoilt with hugs, kisses and love from all that meet her. She is the most content baby I have ever been with. Today we took her to the hospital and she didn't cry, groan or whimper once, not all day - and it was a long, hot, rough day (I moaned!).

Grace was seen by a specialist neurological team at a hospital in Mbale, about 3 hours away today. We have been concerned that Grace has an unusually shaped head and a very large 'soft spot' at the front of her head. Her skull does not seem to be fusing together like normal but is wide and an odd shape at the front. We had been told that it could be Hydrocephalus. At the hospital Grace saw a neurosurgeon and had a CT scan. The scan showed us that her brain isn't entirely normal. The ventricles are slightly enlarged (the areas of water shown in the scan which shows the spinal fluid collections in the brain) and at the front of her skull there were small areas of 'brain damage' (softening of the brain matter due to a bleed). The doctor was not able to tell us if this would have been caused to a bad birth where Grace could have been starved from oxygen or damage to her brain from abuse. The doctor did tell us that it is likely that she will be slightly developmentally delayed. We were pleased to have been able to see a specialist doctor so quickly and to find out that Grace will not need any surgery for her condition. It saddens me to think that there is a reason that Grace has sustained damage to her brain and it is heart breaking to even try and contemplate the possible reasons this could have happened. 

Please pray for Baby Grace.