All of my pregnancies were fairly uneventful except for one, and that was my pregnancy with Thom. I developed toxemia and pregnancy diabetes. In my seventh month, I was hospitalized. My blood pressure had gone way up and I was experiencing abdominal pain. After two days the doctor came into my room and told me that the baby was not developing properly. "Oh God," I prayed, "please help." I was thirty-eight and having difficulty. This was just prior to women having children in their later years becoming acceptable.
There was little support outside my family and close friends. Most people looked at me as if I were nuts to be having a fifth child. So when the doctor said the baby was not developing properly, all I could think of were negative things that could happen because I was not young anymore. I remember crying when the doctor left, and then I began to pray.
After a few minutes, I opened my Bible to Isaiah 44, and began to read. As I read, I felt a peace I cannot explain envelope me. Verses 1-5 spoke to me, and from deep within I knew this child would be okay, especially after reading the verse that in my translation read, "and this one shall be called the Lord's." From that moment on I had a faith that sustained me through the net few difficult months.
In the last month, I went to the hospital every other day for the doctor to induce labor to see how Thom's heart would respond to the stress of labor. His response would determine if he could stay in the womb full-term, or if he should be taken prematurely by C-section. Thom's due date was Christmas day, but the doctor decided to induce labor to deliver on December 19th. Thom was born about 11 a.m., and although he was small for one of my babies, he was in good health. When I remember the Isaiah reading, I also hold fast to the promise of Verse 3 which says, "I will pour out my Spirit upon your offspring and my blessing upon your descendants." I pray that for my children, their spouses, and my children's children.
(Photo from LiveAction.org)
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