A Word from Above

THE FIVE BLESSINGS


Jay and I are a VERY private couple and do not share much about our lives, feelings, problems or blessings. I am going to use Sundays to share some of these things about us. With that said, here we go…

Since my daughter’s birthday is this week, I thought this would be a great place to start. She is a true blessing from God and our miracle baby. You do need to remember that Jay and I were not Christians during this time of our lives.

It started in September 2001, I was five months pregnant and we had just purchased a new “family” four door car. Jay, Judy and I were driving out to Sarah’s house, why I don’t remember. Right outside of Salem we were stopped at a red light when suddenly we were rear ended by a car driven by a drunk driver going about 60 mph. I was in the back seat on the passenger side, Jay was driving and Judy was in the front passenger seat.

Things that I remember immediately following the accident and commotion. First the extreme pain in the back of my head and why was I looking at Judy in the face, she is suppose to be sitting in front of me. Then Judy YELLING at jay “what the are you doing?”, Jay YELLING back “were just rear ended”, Judy YELLING back “by what a f***ing semi-truck”. You have to remember that we did not see it coming; Jay saw it coming in the review mirror and was able to take his foot off the break. After the yelling, I realized that Judy was in my lap because the front seats broke. This was not the ideal thing, being that the headrest slammed into my pregnant stomach. The pain and cramping started immediately in my stomach.

At this time, Jay was exiting the car to check on the people in the other car. Now if you knew my husband he kept his head shaved and he weighed about 350 lbs. He could be a little intimidating. Once he started walking toward the other car a man exited the driver’s door and started running/walking away down the road into an orchard. Jay becoming very upset and was trying to call 911. I remember Jay yelling at the dispatcher that the guy who just hit us was running away from the accident.

Now, from my perspective. There were people everywhere trying to help us. We were in the middle of a major intersection. People helped Judy out of the car, I remember people pulling on her door to open it. I on the other hand was unable to get out of the car. My stomach and head hurt REALLY bad, and I started to shake uncontrollably. The first blessing; a woman a few cars back was a RN. She brought a blanket to cover me up helping me to stay calm. I then remembered a fire truck pulling up on my left, at the same time the police had arrived. I could not seem them, but I could hear them and their dogs searching for the other driver.

Meanwhile, one of the firefighters was in the car next to me. He was telling me not to move, he was putting things all over me, I could not see any of them because by then I had one of those stupid (but helpful) neck collars on. I just kept telling him that my stomach was cramping and hurt bad and that I could not feel my baby moving. (Which you need to know that the baby moved ALL the time.) At this point, I only remember a few things. First, the firefighters cutting my door off to get me out, I was thinking please be nice to my NEW car. The second, they were getting ready to move me onto a board and I was thinking please don’t drop me I have put on a little weight since being pregnant.

I was in the ambulance, on my way to the hospital with Jay riding in the front seat. I was becoming more coherent in the ambulance, the EMT was trying to give me an IV and after about 3 painful misses he was successful. Then, the second blessing, during the drive I felt my baby move for the first time since the accident. The ride seemed like it took forever and it was very uncomfortable.

Once in the hospital after many x-rays, exams, test and ultra sounds I has left with a lot of pain in my stomach, hips and on the back of my head. I stayed the night in the hospital and was released on bed rest until a follow up with my doctor. A few hours after being home the next day, the cramping in my stomach was increasingly getting worst. I went back to the ER. Upon arriving at the ER and a quick exam an ambulance was called in to take me to OHSU trauma center. They were concerned that there was bleeding internally and that my uterus was contacting like I should be in labor.

Entering the ER by ambulance at OHSU is an experience all by its self. First of all, it is a teaching hospital so there were at least 9 doctors and/or nurses in the room with me. They all started working on me right when I entered and they were all talking and saying things that I did not understand. After about 10 minutes of what felt like to me was chaos, a very sweet woman doctor leaned over me and told me that my might have internal bleeding and I would have to have surgery to fix it. She then told me that it didn’t look like my baby was going to make it and just so I was clear they would do whatever it took to save me before my baby. At that moment so many emotions and thoughts went through my mind. Am I going to die, is my baby going to die, what is happening to me, how am I going to tell Jay any of this and will I get to see any of my family soon. Those were just a few things going through my mind.

I closed my eyes, trying to find a peaceful place inside. I lay there, not praying or talking to God, because remember I didn’t really know anything about him, but now I know he knew me. The third blessing; as I lay there something keeps telling me to NOT believe this doctor and push through this. After more testing a different doctor told me that I will NOT have to have surgery, the bleeding they saw was under control and the medicine they gave me had stopped the contractions. My baby has a chance. They wanted to keep me for observation and told me I would be on bed rest through the rest of my pregnancy.

After getting settled into my room, visiting with my family for a short moment I laid in bed with Jay sleeping on a small couch next to me thinking it will be a miracle if my baby makes it. Fast forward through a not so fun four months, on the morning of January 3rd, my wonderful supportive sister-in-law Sarah said it’s time for this baby to come out. She took me to the mall and we walked around and around and around the mall for HOURS. I was exhausted and still very pregnant. That evening I was visiting my mom and Grandma at my sister’s house. They had just arrived in town awaiting the birth. Little did I know at 9:30 PM while my mom was feeling my stomach my water would break. Of course there was excitement because I knew once I got to the hospital I would not leave until the baby was born. There was still a high concern, because during the accident my uterus was severally bruised and damaged. My doctor and I decided that we would try normal birth before a c-section.

I was in my hospital room all setup and ready by 10:30 PM it was going to be a long wait. I was dilating very slow, but the exciting news was that I was dilating. Around 5:00 AM January 4th I was in-between a 5 or 6 and still moving VERY slow. My doctor told me to rest hoping that it would help move things along. By that evening I was exhausted, after checking the doctor told me I had digressed from a 7 back to a 4. The damaged part of my uterus was not working correctly and if I didn’t make progress soon I would have to have a c-section. 24 hours after my water broke it was decided that I would have a c-section. More than anything I was exhausted and ready for it to be over.

Jera, the fourth blessing. During the c-section, everything went great while they were talking the baby out. Jera was a perfect and health baby girl. But after she was out I started to struggle, I don’t remember a lot of it. I just remember hearing the doctor’s yelling at me to keep breathing and to wake up. After feeling very at peace and comforted, I remember thinking this is not right, I am dying and I am not ready. The final blessing, God let me continue living at that very moment.