31 Days {Day 8} When You Receive Crushing News

Over five years ago, when I was 14 weeks pregnant with my youngest son, Samuel, we were told he had Trisomy 18 and would very likely not live to be born. 

During Samuel's pregnancy I had a blood test that came back abnormal, so that sent me to the hospital for a "high-level" ultrasound.

As soon as the ultrasound wand started swirling around the cold, blue gel on my abdomen, the technician was silent, almost tense.  Then, without a word, she got up and left the room, suddenly.  After several minutes of my husband and I sitting there in the dark wondering and waiting, she came back and led us to the specialist's office.

  
That's where we heard the news.

99.9% sure the baby had Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder, and the prognosis was grim, at best.

He said that most likely the baby would die in the womb with no warning.

He went on to tell us, that only about 10% (and that was a generous amount) of Trisomy 18 babies were actually born.

And of that amount, very few survived a week, let alone a day.

His advice?

Abortion

{What?}

Now, let me fill you in here...

This was my 5th pregnancy.  My 1st two I lost due to miscarriage.  

It was devastating.

My 3rd pregnancy took awhile to happen.  When it did, and I was 13 weeks pregnant, the fertility specialist told me I was having a son and that he had Downs Syndrome.

  

His advice?

Abortion.

Ironic, from a doctor who specializes in helping couples to conceive; his advice was to abort.

I was devastated again.

But I was not going to take the doctor's advice.  
I wanted this baby no matter what!

I remember being at home alone after hearing the news.  Just having gone through 2 years of trying to conceive and having 2 miscarriages during that time...now this news.

I was a mess.  
So, I cried out to God.

I wasn't a particularly "religious" person.  Didn't have a relationship with Jesus then.

But I was desperate and in need.

I told God what was going on, as if He didn't already know.

And I said, God, if you're real, I believe that you can heal my baby.

 Up to that point in my life, I felt I had no a reason to hope that one of my prayers would be answered.  I had prayed years for my mom, who I told you about here, to be healed. 
And she wasn't.
I had no example of healing in my life. 


But, still I felt this urge to pray.
I wanted to fight for my baby.
And there was nothing else I could do.  
So, I figured, I had nothing to lose in praying and choosing to believe for healing.

Six weeks later I went back for one of those "high level" ultrasounds.  As the technician examined me she had a confused look on her face.  She kept rolling that wand around my abdomen and checking my chart as if she was searching for something.

And even though she already knew, she still asked, 
Why are you here?

I told her.

She said, Your baby is totally fine.  
There is no trace of Downs or anything else for that matter.

I remembered my desperate plea to God 6 weeks prior.
I was astonished, thinking, Could it be that God heard and answered my prayer?

I decided that day to start finding out more about Him.

Our son, Ethan, was born healthy, no Downs Syndrome, no complications.
We thanked God.

I easily became pregnant for a 4th time before Ethan's 1st birthday.  And, as I did with Ethan, I immediately went on progesterone to support the pregnancy for the 1st trimester.

My pregnancy was going well.  Then about 6 months in, an ultrasound showed cysts in my baby's abdomen which would make it nearly impossible for him to digest food. 
So they would have to be surgically removed after he was born.

Well, this time, around I was in a relationship with Jesus.  I was growing in my faith and prayer had become a regular part of my life.  
So we prayed.
Regular ultrasounds showed that the cysts were shrinking.
  


Our son, Elijah, was born healthy and had no trace of cysts.
Again, we thanked God.

So, that brings us back to Samuel and my 5th pregnancy.


I've just laid the foundation today to hopefully shed some light on where we were coming from when we sat in that specialist's office as he gave us the devastating news about our youngest son Samuel.
I'll continue tomorrow to share how we found peace in the midst of that time.
And what we learned about Jesus and ourselves.


We needed a miracle.


Come back tomorrow, day 9 of our 31 days, to hear about our miracle baby.

Blessings and peace to you today!
To read the continuation of this story click here for {Day 9} When You Need a Miracle Pt 1 and here for {Day 10} When You Need a Miracle Pt 2

Have you missed a day in reading 31 Days of Seeking Peace in the Midst of the Mess ?  

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