Mercy said No

The anaesthetic nurse noted an unusual noise in the chest of the child we were about to work on, but I encouraged him to go ahead. I was eager to have the surgery done, and was sure we would come out just fine. So he put the baby to sleep, and I scrubbed up and prepped the child. Our monitor indicated the oxygen saturation was dropping a bit. “It must be alright” I thought, “I haven’t started doing anything yet”. With the first incision the monitor went really low. This was no fluke; something was going terribly wrong with our baby. He was less than a month old, and such children are particularly sensitive to airway problems and oxygen deprivation. “Oxygen!” I called out. The anaesthetist turned on the machine and brought the mask to the baby, but absolutely nothing came out. He looked at me in sadness; he had checked before surgery started and had felt sure oxygen was available. Baby was fast dying on the table before us. I believe the opportunity to do free surgery is also the mandate to share the gospel with the parents, and this one’s mother had been particularly receptive to the word. I had prayed with her to receive Jesus moments before the surgery; we had prayed for safe surgery also. What was I going to say to her now? For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? Isa 48:11(KJV). The baby’s limbs started stretching before me, and the monitor went flat. There was nothing else to do. I began mouth to mouth resuscitation, then chest compressions. Someone went to get another oxygen cylinder urgently. The monitor came on, the heartbeats were low, and the saturation far lower than tolerable. With a bit more resuscitation the indices improved and I thought we were fine. Suddenly the oxygen saturation plummeted again and the limbs stretched. I saw baby’s face: he was expiring. The monitor went flat a second time. “God have mercy!” I prayed. By now the mother must have noticed the flurry of movements in and out of theatre, the people running about. What was I going to say, how would I explain this? Again mouth to mouth resuscitation was done and chest compressions. We had been resuscitating now for over twenty minutes. The baby came back again, and another worker rolled in an oxygen cylinder. Hurriedly we connected oxygen to the baby. His colour improved, the oxygen saturation climbed. Soon the monitor read 100%. That was close. Inwardly I was shaken a bit and wondered if I dared continue with the surgery or if we simply should escape with life intact. The surgery continued quickly and uneventfully. At the end I carried the baby back to his mother. She was calm; “You know he’s quite small; he gave us some problems” was all I said. I sent for the administrator to report the incident and we all prayed for the baby again. I had doubtless been careless, but God showed me mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment Jas 2:13(ISV). At check up over 6 weeks later he had not dropped in milestone at all.