By way of review:
Isaac has this inserted into his abdomen.
That little hole in the top goes down through the ballooned part, directly into his stomach, which is attached to the wall of his abdomen.
Think of it as the earring hole in your ear. The button fits through the hole. (We call this hole a stoma.) After the button is through, we use a syringe filled with distilled water to inflate the balloon.
We attach this tube into the top of the button.
We insert this syringe into the wide end of the tube (without the plunger),
and pour his formula into his tummy.
This morning, we found this laying at the foot of Isaac's bed!
He had pulled it out completely inflated!!!
Lest you think it was no big deal for us, let me tell you, this has NEVER happened before. It has come out before, during feeding, but not inflated. Usually, it is because the stomach acids have eroded the material and the water filling the balloon has leaked out, leaving nothing holding it in. Since we were right there, we could replace it quickly.
If the stoma closes, and you can't get the button in, it mean emergency abdominal surgery. We have no other way to get medication or nourishment to him. If we try to give these things by mouth, he can choke or aspirate, leading to pneumonia.
So, you see, it was a true medical emergency.
God has created our bodies to be incredible healing machines. Isaac's body knows that it isn't supposed to have a button in his stomach. We have been told the stoma will immediately begin to close up when the button is removed.
We had NO idea how long it had been out. We had no idea how much the stoma had already closed.
We grabbed all of our supplies. (We keep the replacement kit right beside his bed.) I cleaned off the area and could still see the top of the opening.
I said to Doug, "Pray!" And he did! Out loud! That was totally for my own personal benefit, let me tell you!
Praise be to God, that button slid right in…just a little resistence at the end…Isaac jumped, but didn't holler or cry. I inflated the balloon and we were finished – just like that!
Whew!
And Thank You, Lord!!!
It all took about 2 minutes.
Afterwards, I thought "Who needs caffeine to wake up? That jolt of adrenaline did just fine!!!"
Obtaining Mercy 