katie shaw ficker

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 little Gabriel Ficker joined his little twin sibling in his Father’s joyous arms in Heaven at almost 26 weeks of life. While our arms still ache to hold our little fighter that held on inside for so long, we truly thank God that Gabriel did not suffer on this earth, and we rest in the peace of knowing that he and his sibling are both being held and delighted over by the most loving Father of all.

The final hemorrhage on Thursday was much more serious than the previous ones had been, and an emergency c-section to stop the bleeding became imperative; little Gabriel also passed away somewhere on the way to the operating room, and while he was perfect in our eyes, there were already signs that even if he had been born with a heartbeat, he had already undergone a period of stress inside the womb that would have made life on earth a challenge at best, but most likely an impossibility. These hours surrounding the operation were probably the scariest hours of our lives, and there are not words enough truly to thank you all for the outpouring of prayers and support and blood donor connections as Katie continued to battle in the operating room and in the days after. Between the c-section and the post-operative period, every last drop of donated blood was used to keep her alive as well as as many liters of fluid they could get in her. After the c-section, Katie was brought to the ICU with the risk of DIC hanging over everyone’s heads as we and you all prayed for her to make it through the next 12 hours. As we have written times before in this, while we are beyond thankful for a skilled and united medical team of doctors and support staff that has stood by us on this whole journey, we have no doubt that our loving God and your faithful outpouring of prayers are the reason she is still here. Despite a difficult first few days in the ICU, her recovery speed has also been completely a miracle, and we anticipate her to be able to go home in the next few days with almost complete physical recovery.

As we move into a season of healing as a family, we have already been comforted many times in the last few days as God has reminded us in a variety of ways that He is always good, and that even in the midst of questions and pain, He is still moving, still loving us, still drawing us unto Him. We also just want to thank you all again. We have been beyond humbled by the love that has poured out of you all and the true beauty of the body of Christ that truly knows no bounds. Thank you, and we love you.