Pregnancy Week 28: Henry’s Miracle Birth
It’s been a month for me to recover, mourn the end of pregnancy, and process the events of our surprise birth. I feel grateful that both Baby Henry and I are well. Here’s the story.
When baby was still 27 weeks on Friday last week, my water broke (premature rupture of membrane). At the hospital, the doctor said our goal was to stay pregnant for 36 hours.
On Sunday (2 days hospitalized) we celebrated that we made it to 28 weeks pregnant! A NICU doctor came and talked with us about how that milestone is a leap in development and positive outcomes for our baby. We move from “extremely preterm” at 27 weeks to “very preterm” at 28 weeks—lower risks for death, less chance of long-term respiratory problems, and reduced chances for severe disabilities. We set our sights on trying to reach 30 weeks if we could, even if our chances were “50% of women whose water break go on to deliver within a week.”
Our Miracle
Jer and I had a special spiritual experience taking the Sacrament when our friends the Fergusons visited. I felt the spirit so strongly of my Savior’s love for me, and it brought this to my remembrance…
At the beginning of our pregnancy, I did what the prophet encouraged us to do and “expect miracles”. I asked Him for the unthinkable: a full term pregnancy. I was prompted to study more from that talk:
“Seek and expect miracles. […] the Lord will bless you with miracles if you believe in Him, “doubting nothing.” Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith.”
Russell M. Nelson, The Power of Spiritual Momentum, April 2022
Doubting nothing? 😔 But I have so much doubt and such strong desire when it comes to this particular ask. I know that God is able to do this miracle in my life, “but if not…” I know my faith in Him will not be shaken. God’s ways are higher than ours, and I wondered if I needed to realign myself to His will. Was I asking for His miracle?
I stopped asking for a full-term miracle because it felt a lot more like my will instead of God’s will. My experience with God has been, “let’s do it the hard way”. I embraced a new thought: This Baby is our Miracle regardless of when or how he comes. I know I can “doubt nothing” in that, and be filled with thankfulness even though the answers and details are not revealed to me until afterwards. I felt God’s confidence again and knew that this Miracle was ours.
Labor
You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.
Bob Marley
We were put to the test when the very next night my sister Adelyn and I had a sleepover in my hospital room. At 1AM contractions started. By 2AM they were 10 minutes apart. I couldn’t get a hold of Jeremy on the phone. The nurse woke my sister up and asked her to go get my husband at home.
At 5mins apart, the nurse checked that I was 3cm dilated with cervix 90% effaced (thin). I thought, This can’t be happening. No, stay pregnant. It hasn’t been 36 hours. Going into labor and delivery, I was scared and fighting the experience because I wanted to keep baby in longer.
They put me on magnesium sulfate and prepared me for an epidural, which I dreaded because both didn’t go well last time. I needed my husband. I shook violently from the adrenaline, and tried not sob in front of my nurse Dakota, who looked and sounded JUST like my friend Tori (same voice, hair, face, everything). She was my angel that night.
As I started panicking, this angel nurse let me hold her hand and looked into my eyes. “You are having this baby tonight. He is going to be in the NICU and they are going to take such good care of him. This is happening, but it will be okay and you just need to hold tight.” It was so comforting and helped me get in the right frame of mind. I was alone, but I felt my Heavenly Father (and Tori/Dakota’s face) telling me “I got you”. Time to be brave.
The epidural went smoothly. My labor slowed, so Jer made it in time and the doctor told me not to sneeze until I reached a 5 haha. For the first time I felt awake and fully present instead of stunned and scared out of my mind at the delivery table. My sweet Jer was all gowned up holding my hand and ready to help cut the cord.
Ready to push, my doctor asked if I was planning on having another one after this. Um, what?? Maybe we could talk about it after this one? …And if so, I should plan for just having them early. No kidding! He was so little that it didn’t take long before we heard a beautiful powerful cry and I caught a glimpse of his form before they rushed him away and worked on my afterbirth stuff. The doctor was so impressed at how strong he was even for such an early baby!
Joy
Having things go so opposite of what you are prepared for is a mental challenge—I could either let negativity reign or find my joy when the Lord is asking me to trust Him through our earliest birth yet.
“…[T]he joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation, […] and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy.”
Russel M. Nelson, “Joy and Spiritual Survival”
It is truly a miracle that our special blessing came true; both Baby and I were healthy through this. God is shaping us in ways I can’t even imagine, in ways that are so clearly through His power and love, and I just have to hang in there to see how.
Love, Kat
