She's two months old, but came premature and malnourished. Her mother took her twin sister home, and their home is far away. So little Zakhar stays in the NICU until she can learn to grow.
Her stomach surgery was successful. It took place shortly after she came into this world. Nevertheless, she can't seem to keep food down. The doctors and nurses have tried everything. The only thing she seems to be missing is human interaction.
I heard this little one's story and volunteered to hold her. Thank goodness my friend Debbie came along. We were ushered into the NICU and the nurses set-up two plastic chairs in the middle of the room for us. We changed our shoes and put on gowns.
Then the nurse with the best English told me to put her down my shirt! The tiniest little baby I have ever seen with every bone of her body visible, and I was somehow supposed to put her down three layers of clothing without breaking her. Debbie & I were completely overwhelmed and in a country where genders do not mix, the male nurse was of no help to us.
Finally I got her situated enough for me, comfortable enough to stop her cries, and correct enough to appease the nurses. There we sat for over an hour, and when our time came to a close she had her milk and kept it down.
Pray for Zakhar. It's already a miracle that she's still alive. Today I held that miracle skin-to-skin as I watched mothers enter the NICU to hold their little ones as they wiped away tears with their head scarves. Babies often die here. I'm not a mother, yet the thought of that sort of pain spurred one of the nurses to ask me to pray and spurs me to ask you to do the same.
