Memories

The closer I get to my due date, the more my mind wanders back to when Ellie was born. I've wondered before if all moms do this. With Ellie's birth, there was no way I could've known beforehand, just exactly what I was about to face.

Our first day home from the hospital, we pulled up and the boys had colored signs and taped them to the outside of our house. There were flowers, and smiley faces, all welcoming home their new baby sister. The door was even decorated. When I brought her in, no sooner had I sat down and the boys were hauling into the living room her bassinet, showing her where her bed would be. Of course they all wanted to hold her again. After all the commotion had settled down, I nursed her and then she went into a seizure. I yelled for Kevin to come and see...QUICK!! When she started turning blue, I ran into my room and fell on my knees with her crying and screaming, "NOT MY BABY GIRL...NO!!!" I really thought she was dying. I laid her on her side, and Kevin's Mom and I started rubbing her back and patting her...all the while she was blue and convulsing. I saw my boys at the door, and asked Kevin's Dad to take them outside, so they didn't have to see this. Out they went. What I found out later, to this day brings tears to my eyes.

When the boys went outside, they knew something was wrong. They walked out onto the sidewalk and looked at each other. Derek, my oldest, was 9 at the time. He told us later that a Patch the Pirate song came to his mind, and he remembered Patch saying, "Well, when you don't know what else to do, just pray." So he looked at his brothers, ages 7,5 and 3 and said, "C'mon boys, let's go pray." And my little men, went to the side of the house, got on their knees, and asked God to help their baby sister.

Inside...as Kevin was on the phone with 911, and I was crying and patting Ellie's back...slowly she started taking small gasps of air. The color began to return to her face...and soon she was breathing again. I had no idea my boys were outside praying. How thankful I am that their Daddy had taught them to pray for people who were sick and to pray for their healing.

The next few days were a whirlwind of tests and tears. I could write of many things that happened...the emotions, the struggle, my baby. In the end we found out she had epilepsy. After a slight reaction to a medicine she was on, we finally found some that worked well for her. She was on the seizure medicine for 8 months, retested, and had outgrown the epilepsy. She is fine now.

As I prepare for this new baby coming and I remember and go through the feelings once more, the mental image of my boys praying for their sister is permanently stamped upon my mind. I know that "As for God, His way is perfect."

"Lord, help me to trust You and to have the strength to face whatever You may bring my way."