A Song Straight from Heaven*

First of all, many apologies for my absence here; there have been late nights and busy days, and time all ran together for a while. But here I am, and with good news to bring.

Emmarie Eleanor W. arrived safely at 8:47 pm on Sunday February 17 after a long and exhausting day. But let me start at the beginning….

Summer called me early that morning, to tell me that her water had broken at 6am. She was having some mild contractions, but nothing major and was breathing through them. However, when her water broke the fluid wasn’t clear, but was the color of cola.

Now, she and I are both nurses; we know what that means. We know that means that all is NOT WELL, and there is a potential for fetal distress. Her plan all along had been to ride out her labor at home as long as she could, walking, relaxing in the bathtub, and breathing through her contractions. She did not want to go to the hospital, because she knew they would immediately put her to bed.

Regardless, she did call the hospital, and they instructed her to come in. And when they checked her, yes they put her to bed.  Once the water breaks, the clock is ticking and baby needs to be delivered within 24 hours. Because her contractions were not strong, they immediately started an IV and began a Pitocin infusion to speed things along.

Her contractions began to pick up almost immediately, and she became increasingly uncomfortable. As the hours went by and the Pitocin dosage continued to be raised, there came a point where the pain was unbearable and Summer reluctantly requested an epidural. Afterward, although she could still feel the contractions, the pain was much less and she was able to breathe through them again.

By 6:50pm, she had only dilated to 4 and the dreaded C-section word was tossed around. I sent out a mass text, asking my friends and prayer warriors to pray that the contractions would cause dilation the way they are supposed to. Twenty minutes later, she was dilated to almost 9, and Emmarie was well on her way.

Summer’s nurse Kayla was a tiny little thing with a bouncy ponytail and the demeanor of a college cheerleader, but she was wonderful.  All at the same time, she was readjusting the bed, setting up the sterile field, attaching stirrups,  while encouraging Summer and walking her through the process of pushing.  The doctor arrived, and we were having a baby!

I was standing just to the left of the doctor when Emmi’s head was delivered; I immediately saw that her cord was around her neck. The doctor skillfully removed it, only to find it was wrapped twice more; it was wound a total of three times around her little neck. As soon as it was removed, the rest of her was quickly delivered and she immediately began to cry. The look of awe on Summer’s face when she heard her baby cry for the first time was one I will never forget.

Because of her complications, Emmi was immediately handed off to the nursery personnel for suctioning and a thorough examination. She was perfect, all 7 pounds and 9 ounces of her.

She is fearfully and wonderfully made, wrought by the hand of God and straight from His arms into ours. She is the grandchild that was shown to me in a vision, and I could finally put a face on her and look into her eyes. She is the manifestation of a promise that was made to me all those months ago. All of her days were written in His book, before even one of them came to be.

She is home now, and has slipped into our lives seamlessly as if she had always been there. Summer and Tay are wonderful parents, and are moving gracefully through the sleepless nights and the frustrating moments.  I am totally in love with her, and know that we share a special bond. Someday I will tell her the story of when we first met, in another place and another time.  I will tell her the story of how God gave me a glimpse of things to come, pulling back the veil just long enough to allow me a brief look at her.

In my vision, her face was a blur and her features indistinguishable. I didn’t know why, and I only understood the reason for that when I saw her for the first time on this earth. Yo

u see, she has my mother’s face.

 

 

One last picture…. Thank you, Terri.