Our Valentine's Baby

We were operating on very little sleep from the "monitoring" that went on the night before, but we had a serious decision to make.

Our two options were:

1. Do we deliver Joel immediately?
2. Do we push the pregnancy further to give him a better chance?

From the beginning, Dr. Jackson #1 always told us we should be looking for the optimal moment to deliver Joel. It looked like we had come upon that moment, so we decided to move forward.

All along, it seems nothing had ever been set in stone. Remember? No cause. No cure. No permanent doctors. No plan. We wandered aimlessly, waiting for God to give us direction. We tried to be flexible the whole time.

But now, I can look back and see how we never needed a plan. At the midnight hour, God took care of all the details and put all the right people in our path.

1:00 PM

A doctor we'd never seen walked in and introduced herself as Dr. Shifflett. By this point, 5-6 random doctors had stopped by, so it was nothing new.

We soon found out that Dr. Columbus is a good friend of hers. She was concerned about us being in Jackson and not knowing anyone, so she called Dr. Shifflett and asked her to check in on us. We immediately connected with her. You could tell she loves Jesus because she talked about Him like we do.

We explained our situation and she said, "When my clinicals are over at 4:00 p.m. today, I can come back up and deliver your baby if you'd like."

YES, Dr. Shifflett, we would! Another miracle. God had provided an incredible doctor at the last minute to deliver our precious Joel.

2:30 PM

My mom and dad left Texas early in the morning and finally showed up in Jackson. They prayed over us and didn't leave our sides from that point forward.

4:00 PM

Another doctor came in and introduced himself as Dr. Hersey, the head neonatologist who, along with his team, would be taking care of Joel. Immediately, I could tell he had a kind, compassionate spirit about him. Another miracle.

4:55 PM

I was wheeled back and prepped for surgery. I didn't have a C-section with Madelyn, so this controlled chaos and unknown atmosphere, surrounded by 8-9 people shouting things I didn't understand, was completely new and scary. But my heart and mind were stayed on Joel and how he would fare once he made his debut.

Nathan had already prepped me with a battle cry before I even entered the room. From the moment they began with the spinal block, I was praying and quoting Scripture out loud: "Fear not, for I am with you. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). Over and over and over again.

Guess who stopped what she was doing and came over to stand in front of me, hold my hands and, I believe, pray with me? Dr. Shifflett. Another miracle.

5:05 PM

Nathan joined me and they began the procedure.

5:26 PM

After what seemed like forever, I heard finally heard, "Happy birthday, sweet boy!"

My heart leapt with joy. He was here at last. But there was no crying or squealing—not what we remember hearing from Madelyn when she took her first breath outside the womb.

They lifted my precious, fluid-filled baby boy up over the curtain so I could say hello for 2.2 seconds, then they whisked him away to the resuscitation room.

As I sit here and type this, I'm weeping as I think of that moment. (Nathan and I have done a lot of that over the last two weeks.) That first snapshot of Joel's face will forever be etched in my mind. 

My first thought was: "Thank you, Jesus, for bringing him this far! He's so beautiful, but he's such a sick baby. Be with him. Heal him. He needs you. We need you."

I was still doped up from the C-section, so I don't really remember much after this for the next hour or two, but I do know I told Nathan to go and be with our son—and he practically ran out of the room to join him.

As for me, it's like I never had preeclampsia. My blood pressure normalized, the headache went away, and I started to feel normal again--almost in a matter of minutes after Joel was delivered. 

As for our boy, we both still prayed and hoped God would come through and heal him.