When God Answers Prayers...

What a whirlwind pregnancy is all of itself. The hormones, the back aches, the waiting for your bundle of joy to make an entrance. But, what happens when there is a hiccup in your pregnancy? It is scary. You automatically think of your unborn child. The love you already have for them. The worry of everything being okay. This is where we were for a few months and it was horrid.

I had a normal pregnancy, just like my first two. Go to my doctors appointment each month, do the routine check-up, everything looks good.... See you next month. Get blood drawn, do the glucose test... The normal pregnancy fun.

That was until 26 weeks.

I headed to my blood draw for my 26 week antibody screening and glucose test. The joy. I hadn't eaten for 12 hours, which I think is cruel to pregnant women in the first place, gulped down my orange glucose juice, sat for an hour, got my blood drawn and went home. Easy Peasy. No problem. I had done it all before.

A few days later I received a call from my doctors office. The receptionist said I needed to reschedule another blood draw because something strange had come back on my results.

"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Let me put you through to the nurse." She said.

I waited a few minutes and the nurse got on the line.

She said, "There are no worries as of now. Your antibody test came back with some odd results, so we want to redraw your blood to make sure it wasn't a fluke."

Of course I started to worry.

After my next doctors appointment, and some confusing information, I rescheduled a blood draw and headed to the lab a few days later.

Two weeks after the blood draw AND after my doctors appointment, I get another dreaded call. This time, the doctor and the nurse on the line. Grreeat! This means good news. Not!

"Your results came back again. There is an antibody in your blood can could potentially mix with your baby's and could be a problem. This wouldn't be an issue, but you are Rh Positive, so there should be no antibodies in your blood. We haven't seen anything like this. We are going to schedule you an appointment with a specialist and see what are our options are from there."

A few days later, a routine doctors appointment.

"What are the options with this?" I ask the doctor.
"Your baby could be premature. She may be jaundice and anemic at birth." After he kept naming things that could potentially go wrong, the room got small and his voice started to sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Blood transfusions? Premature? Anemia? My baby going through tests and shots? I was supposed to have a normal pregnancy. This was going so good! What happened?

For weeks, we were on pins and needles. We went back and forth to the doctor and to the lab for blood work. We prayed. We cried. We worried. I began reading my bible while sitting on the back deck while the boys played in the yard, looking for answers from God. I sat on the porch swing and prayed. Not sure for what outcome? A healthy baby. A healthy mom. I cried some more and prayed some more.

4 days after my 33 week doctors appointment, Lyndon and I headed to Sacramento to a Perinatal Specialist for an ultrasound. The ultrasound was to determine how Olivia's kidneys and liver were functioning, how the blood flow was from me to her, and overall, the delivery date. Did we need to be rushed to the hospital that day, at 33 weeks pregnant, and deliver her or could I keep her in for a couple more weeks?

We sat in the cold waiting room, hand in hand. I was almost in tears the whole time, terrified. I prayed the Lord would let her stay in my belly for a couple more weeks.

We were called back to the ultrasound room. The technician did her overall evaluation of Olivia. She was big. Measuring a week and a half bigger than she was supposed to be. We were thrilled. If anything, she was bigger than she needed to be. Praise God! But, obviously, the tech gives no answers, she just takes pictures.

When the tech left the room, Lyndon and I stared at each other, waiting for the specialist to come talk to us about the results. When are we delivering? What is wrong with my baby? Are her kidneys and liver okay!? We sat in the ultrasound room, lights dimmed, staring at the screen of our baby inside me. Hand in hand we prayed. Is it going to be okay....?

The specialist made her way in to the room and introduced herself.

"So, do you know why your doctor sent you here today?"

I explained my understand about my blood.

She looked at us and smiled.

"This antibody in your blood isn't effecting your baby at all." She said. "You have a perfectly healthy baby. She is big. Everything is functioning like it should. Go enjoy your pregnancy."

I burst into tears. Lyndon started asking questions to the specialist. I couldn't tell you what he asked. All I heard was my baby was okay.

My baby is healthy!

Praise God!

We left the specialists office and hit the button for the elevator. Lyndon and I stood in the hallway outside the office embracing each other for a few minutes and shed some tears. For months we had been worried about our little girl. For months we had prayed for an outcome and THIS was even better than any outcome we could have ever imagined.

I cried for a good hour on the ride home. I called family members and told them the good news.

I thank God every day for these answered prayers and when Olivia is kicking inside of me, like she is as I type this, I praise God. I am reminded what He can do.

With only a few more weeks left in this pregnancy, I still worry. I still pray for her safety. But, God answers prayers. He is with us, each and every step of this journey.