Having a baby is sometimes fraught with problem-solving and questions that keep one up at night, but it’s also an experience abundantly filled with blessings.
Leaning on the Lord, those fears alongside blessings are something Sadie Robertson Huff and her husband, Christian Huff, have become very aware of as they have recently gone through several frightening instances involving their 9-month-old daughter, Kit.
Today, May 20, on Sadie’s podcast, WHOA That’s Good with Sadie Robertson Huff, she and her husband shared more on what they’ve been experiencing regarding the health of their youngest child — including what has been causing her to choke, even to the point of no longer breathing.
Sadie and Christian are now unpacking how this has become a situation where they can praise God.
A Choking Incident That Wasn’t A “One-Time Event”
“I’m currently walking through the waves of anxiety from the trauma of the situation, and the immense gratitude for the miracle of Kit’s full recovery and God’s undeniable hand on this situation,” wrote Sadie after her daughter stopped breathing on April 11.
Kit, she said, was seated in her high chair enjoying a snack when she suddenly started choking, and, ultimately, stopped breathing. Quickly, she and her mom, Korie Robertson, called 911 and began administering CPR. As they waited for paramedics, they were able to successfully get her breathing.
Not long after that incident, Sadie posted on May 8 that this wasn’t a “one-time event,” as they were back in the hospital for a situation with Kit that led to them “discovering something underlying.”
This was the subject of their May 20 podcast, during which, Sadie said, “She’s not just choking, like, something is wrong.”
As detailed below, Sadie and Christian are able to praise God through this, even as they are in a position of great uncertainty and fear. With their faith tested, they are trusting in “God’s faithful hand.”
Revisit Sadie’s full post about the May 8 latest incident, here:
Sadie And Christian Share What They’ve Been Going Through In Emotional Podcast Episode
“Let’s just, like, do a podcast and try to remember all of the things, and testify to really what the Lord has done, because we could not be more grateful for what God has done in our life over the last month,” Sadie said at the start of her May 20 podcast episode.
Seated beside her husband, Christian, she shared the lyrics to Elevation Worship’s “Always On Time,” saying that the song “has been so accurate to what [they’ve] gone through.”
The song’s lyrics say of Jesus:
“I was tossed in the water, but I never went under. You were always on time.”
“Kit, up until this point, has been such a healthy baby,” Sadie said of life with the youngest of their three children.
Christian chimed in, adding that their eldest, Honey, 5, has had four tube surgeries; and Haven, who turns 3 on May 22, was hospitalized and treated with daily medicine for UTI complications.
“We thought we were in the clear with Kit, ’cause she had never had anything, but we were definitely wrong,” Christian said.
Sadie did note that Kit “was our noisiest breather,” saying that they lovingly referred to her as “our little pig,” stating, “She would just would have, like, the loudest snoring as a little baby.”
It was thought by some in the family that this trait was acquired from Christian because he has a deviated septum, the result of a baseball injury in middle school, but he said, “My deviated septum is not a genetic trait, sio she did not have her heavy breathing passed down.”
From there, Sadie revealed that they were told early on that Kit likely has laryngomalacia, which the National Institute of Health (NIH) estimates is found in 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 3,000 children in the general population.
Their pediatrician told them, “It’s really, most of the time, nothing to worry about. As long as she’s eating fine, her oxygen levels are good … 90% of kids grow out of it by the age of 1.”
NIH notes that laryngomalacia can cause a “choking or coughing event.”
Sadie said they have been using an Owlet, which is an FDA-cleared smart baby monitor, to keep an eye on Kit.
The April choking incident was the first time they had any significant complications related to Kit’s laryngomalacia. Confusing matters, Kit was eating bits of chicken when she started “choking,” and the incident was so intense that Kit stopped breathing and turned purple.
“God, you’re good, you’re going to give her life,” Sadie remembered saying, adding that she felt she had an “assurance” through it all as she and Christian took turns doing CPR. Within about two minutes — as first responders were on the way after her mom, Korie Robertson, called 911 — she was able to get her to breathe again.
Speaking about her dad, Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame, she said that he told them, “My dad says he thinks she met Jesus because she came back heavenly.”
Following this initial incident, Sadie said she was nervous about taking her eyes off of Kit, but had to learn to relinquish that fear, saying:
“One of the things I had to work through, I was like, ‘I did CPR, and that’s what, like, brought her back, and so I need to be with her 24/7.’ I had to really surrender that and release that and be like, ‘No, like, God, You gave her life, You put breath in her lungs, You number her days. She is Yours first.”
The Biblical idea of God having our days numbered is found in Psalm 139:15-16, which reads, “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And intricately woven in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unshaped substance; And in Your book all of them were written The days that were formed for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
Just over two weeks later, they had some friends over for a taco party.
Noting that since the choking incident, Kit had some difficulty with eating food and had some general separation anxiety, Sadie then said “that all of a sudden” her daughter “turned purple and went limp.”
As Christian called 911, one of Sadie’s friends at the party happened to be a nurse and she began performing back blows and trying to bring Kit back to being stable.
The next day, they were connected by their pediatrician with a doctor who specializes in laryngomalacia.
Going into that meeting with the specialist, Sadie recalled, “We don’t even know what we’re praying. We’re just like, ‘Lord, give us answers.'”
Within the first second of their appointment, the specialist identified that Kit had a “severe” case of laryngomalacia.
“With her severe laryngomalacia, and a swallow study, they said, ‘Most babies who have this combo and look the way she looks, normally, are failure to thrive and are in the hospital every single month since they are born with pneumonia,'” Sadie stated.
The laryngomalacia had made a layer of “floppy skin” to form in Kit’s airway.
Learning this, Sadie was able to say that she saw it as a “miracle” that they hadn’t had issues prior to the ones experienced over the past couple months, adding, “OK, Lord, thank you, God, that You’ve been with us this whole time and that she’s been fine, and that You led us here and that we’re getting help.”
As they prepared to get Kit in surgery to treat her laryngomalacia, a diagnosis of rhinovirus delayed getting her treated for a week. However, surgery was then pushed back another week after Kit had a “creepy” cough.
Miraculously, an acquaintance that Christian and Sadie had met in the past turned up in their lives again and just so happened to have a child who also had laryngomalacia at 9 months old. Further, this acquaintance also turns out to be a specialist in swallowing.
The surgery was eventually conducted, and they have already observed Kit begin having “easy breathing” and “doing really great.”
Watch the full episode on Spotify, detailing moments of lamentation, strengthening of faith, and great joy and thankfulness, here:
Listen to Elevation Worship’s “Always On Time,” here:
