Breathing Again

This is a follow up post to the blog “When the “healthy” child gets sick” I suggest reading it first.

https://miraclebabysmama.family.blog/2025/10/06/when-the-healthy-child-gets-sick/

The last few months have been a blur of appointments and prayers, of trying to stay strong for everyone else while quietly breaking inside.

In June, during Penelopi’s yearly checkup, her pediatrician felt a lump near her collarbone. That one moment began a long trail of blood tests, antibiotics, X-rays, two ultrasounds, a CT scan, and eventually surgery.

Every step brought a new reason to hope and a new reason to fear. My body and brain immediately linked it to all the worst things possible 

When the doctor came out of surgery into the room with me, I had braced for anything except what he actually came in and said.

There was nothing to biopsy. Nothing to remove. Just… a funky rib. 

Penelopi’s first rib on her left side has two little knuckles in it and loops back on itself something he’d never seen before and was just as shocked by. 

It feels perfectly fitting that my girl would keep life interesting.

When I heard “nothing to biopsy,” my body remembered how to breathe. Not the shallow kind that gets you through the day, but the kind that fills your lungs with relief, gratitude, and tears you didn’t realize you’d been saving up.

The tired doesn’t vanish overnight. The months of tension still underneath everything. But now, each breath feels like a promise a quiet reminder that the storm passed and we’re still standing.

Standing one day at a time. 

Maybe faith looks like that sometimes. The shaky inhale after chaos, the whispered “thank You, God” that feels almost too small for the miracle it carries. Because even when fear steals your breath, grace has a way of giving it back.

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” Psalm 34:4

To every friend and family member who prayed, checked in, and carried us through these last few months thank you. Your love made the waiting bearable and the relief even sweeter.

If you’ve been holding your breath for something, too waiting for answers, for peace, for that one sign that it’s going to be okay. 

This is your reminder to breathe again. Even if it’s shaky, even if it’s slow. God still meets us in the exhale.