"Sometimes it is the little things that mean the most."
3 years ago today was one of the scariest days of my life.
I was pregnant with our 6th child and due mid-October. The night before, I was sitting on the couch and was realizing that I had hardly felt our baby move all evening. I drank some milk, ate a snack, and just sat still. Every once in awhile I would feel a little nudge. I figured that maybe there was just not a lot of room left - or maybe the baby had been moving a lot earlier and was now resting. My parents had been over visiting, so I figured I just hadn't been paying close attention and didn't notice. I went to bed.
When I woke up, I was immediately nervous and scared. Our little baby always kept me up or woke me up during the night from all his or her rolling around and kicking me. Nothing. I went downstairs to get my oldest children off to school and to tell my husband about my concerns. Again, I drank some milk and ate a little something to try and get our baby moving. All I felt were little nudges here and there. Something was just not right.
After my husband left for work and our older children left for school, I called my doctor's office and spoke to his nurse. She told me I needed to come in. I told her I would have to call my husband or my parents and see if one of them could come & watch our 1 1/2 year old daughter, Leah. I told her maybe I could come in in a couple of hours. The nurse told me - No, you need to come in right now. That is when the panic set in. I told the nurse I would have to bring my daughter with me and hung up. Just then, there was a knock on my door. My friend's little boy was at my door checking to see if Leah could come out and play. Wow! God works fast :o) I grabbed Leah, went outside, and told my friend what was going on. My friend took Leah from me - Leah was in her diaper only - and told me not to worry and to just go. I know God puts certain people in our lives for a reason.
I grabbed my purse and left. I called Tom on the way and through heavy tears told him I was on my way to my doctor's office, the office near the hospital. Tom met me there. They set me up for a non-stress test. After an hour or so, the doctor was not comfortable with what he saw. Our baby was being very "lazy." He sent us over to the hospital for an ultrasound. One of the scariest moments of my life. The ultrasound tech put the sensor on my tummy and we all stared at the screen. There was our child. Amazing. Beautiful. But completely still. His/her heart was beating, but there was no other movement. The tech started poking my stomach, trying to get our baby to do something, anything. Nothing. Tears were streaming down my face as I closed my eyes and prayed. The tech continued to search for movement for about 15 minutes - though it felt much longer. He continued to poke my stomach, I continued to close my eyes. Suddenly I heard the tech yell - Did you see that?! I quickly opened my eyes, tried to focus on the screen, and said - No. He then told me that he saw our baby's foot twitch. Then I saw the little foot inside of me move. A slight movement, a huge relief. I then closed my eyes again and thanked God.
Our doctor came in and, needless to say, told us our little baby didn't pass his/her test. At first they were going to just keep me overnight and observe, but then decided that they weren't comfortable with that plan and I would be induced right away. As long as our baby's heart tolerated the induction, they would not do a c-section. I got hooked up and then the pediatric specialists came in to visit with me and Tom. Our baby was going to be 6 1/2 weeks early. We needed to hear what that meant for our child's health. They made sure we understood everything. Then we waited.
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