Since June 29, I have walked alongside a family that never saw it coming.
The mother was in the late stages of her third trimester, two weeks from her due date. She had seen her doctor on Wednesday, June 26, and was told that everything looked fine. On Friday, the pregnancy took a turn. The expectant mom thought that she was not feeling the baby move, but she wasn’t sure. On Saturday, she was sure. She had talked to a number of people, but one family member told her that if she was not sure that the baby was moving that she needed to contact her doctor and go to the emergency room right away. When they got to the ER, a slowing fetal heart rate was detected, so they rushed her upstairs and performed an emergency C-section.
The parents were told to prepare for the worst. After a week in one NICU, the baby was transferred to another NICU. The transfer happened in the middle of the night, causing the mom and dad great worry. As the journey continued, the news from doctors was still very hard to take. The baby is still in the newborn intensive care unit, but he is getting stronger each day.
I ran my share of obstetric emergencies when I was a paramedic, and I got to assist a few mothers with deliveries in the pre-hospital setting. At the moment that a mother believes that her baby is not moving in the womb, she needs to get to an ER right away, no matter how normal things have been prior to that moment! If there is no problem, they will send her home.
If there is a problem, then she is where she needs to be to deal with the situation.
The point throughout this journey was that God had and has a plan for this little boy. From the moment of his birth, God began to perform miracles. Miracles are defined as only something that God can do, done to display His power and glory. Though it may take a couple more weeks, the boy is getting closer, every moment, to going home.
Life is a miracle, but sometimes things go wrong. Time is of the essence in a full-term pregnancy, and time is critical once something changes.
