Update on Baby Caleb Rodriguez, part 2

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Marcus and Julia Rodriguez are experiencing every parent's worst nightmare. Three weeks ago, they celebrated the birth of their firstborn child in a Shanghai hospital. Within a short time, however, Caleb exhibited some major struggles, and they didn't know if he would survive. Praise be to God that the acute concerns now seem to be diminished, and they are more focused on the long-term developmental issues that may lie ahead.
Caleb had been in the NICU unit of Shanghai's leading pediatric hospital, Children's Hospital of Fudan University. God has provided for them. Parental contact is almost always limited in NICU units, and they were initially desperate for more contact. This was especially traumatic when Caleb was transported from the birth hospital to this advanced facility, even though his mother was still recuperating at the birth hospital. God has since opened the way for them to spend massive amounts of time with Caleb.
They are surrounded by our prayers and by their family. Julia's mom is there. Marcus' parents are there, along with Marcus' brother and his wife.

The Lord is answering prayers. Now that the seizures are apparently under control, they are able to have more contact. They have even tried to allow baby Caleb to transition from IV feeding to breast feeding, though this has not been a smooth switch. The family praises God for these hopeful developments. Although he is receiving good care and have been able to counsel with the best endocrinologists and neurologists available, some levels of advanced testing and treatment are unavailable at Chinese facilities.
The Rodriguezes are fortunate to have international health insurance, a type that many expatriates have to provide for medical evacuation in exactly these types of rare circumstances. Their insurance company has agreed to med-evac Caleb to California. Dr. Terry "Hutch" Hutchison, one of the elders here at the College Church, is a world respected pediatric neurologist at UC-San Francisco Children's Hospital. Julia and Marcus have spoken with Hutch, and they were hoping to have Caleb transported to San Francisco. The insurance company, however, has decided to take Caleb to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.
Please pray that both Marcus & Julia will be able to fly with Caleb. At present, they have only promised room for one of them. We also praise God that Marcus & Julia have gotten Caleb's passport already. Our kids were both born overseas, and I can testify that this is a miracle to have a foreign-born baby's American passport so quickly -- especially in this situation where one parent in not an American citizen. This is a miracle, and we should praise God!
Currently they are waiting on news about the med-evac. If you want to read more about baby Caleb, you can visit their Caring Bridge account at http://www.caringbridge.org/. You will need to set up a free account to access their info. Then you can enter the name calebrodriguez to go to his specific page.

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