no exaggeration, it was a miracle

The birth of Sophia Hanson was a gift from God. Without hesitation, I say God worked a few miracles to bring our granddaughter into this world.

Our daughter Jessica and her husband Josh were visiting us from Guatemala where they serve as missionaries. They were expecting their first child on June 1. We thought it would be great to spend the holiday together and to celebrate Jess’ birthday on April 21. They were scheduled to go back home today (Monday).  We had no idea that God absolutely orchestrated the entire experience with the goal in mind of saving Jessica and Sophia’s lives.

Jessica was experiencing some complications and pain but she managed to enjoy her visit. On Friday, we decided that her pain was serious enough that she should be checked out. We made a call to a member of our church who is a Nurse Practitioner for a world-renown high risk pregnancy doctor. When we described Jessica’s symptoms, our friend suggested that she come in to the office to been looked at. It generally takes six weeks to get in to see this doctor but our friend got us an appointment in an hour. As soon as he saw Jess, he insisted that she go straight to the hospital. Once we were there, he informed us that she needed an emergency C-Section. The baby was severely growth restricted. But the more immediate problem was, Jessica’s platelets were dangerously low and she was at extreme risk of bleeding out on the table. The longer we waited, the more dangerous it became. Needless to say, we were all in a bit of shock.

We started to pray. And we sent out text messages and facebook posts informing our family and friends what was happening.  People from all over began to pray. It was Good Friday and lots of people were at church. And they prayed for our family. I can’t thank all of you enough!

The doctor came out of the surgery in just a few moments and told us that Jessica and the baby were OK. We were greatly relieved but were told that neither of them were out of the woods.

On Sunday Jess’ doctor told us that we were only 24 hours away from losing them both. Jessica was diagnosed with HELLP, a very rare and sometimes fatal syndrome that threatened her life and the life of the baby. We had been so close to a complete disaster but hadn’t had a clue.

There are reasons that I say that we received a miracle. If Jessica and Josh would have remained in Guatemala, we would have lost mom and baby. If the complications would have occurred just a couple of days later, we would have lost them. If we would have ignored the symptoms, we could have lost them. Even if we would have had a different doctor, it is possible that we would have lost them. With all of his experience, her doctor has only seen this syndrome one other time.

Jessica was released from the hospital today. Thank God, she is doing pretty well. The baby remains in Neo-Natal Intensive Care.  She has a long way to go. She only weighed 3 pounds and 10 ounces at birth and has lost a little since then. She is having some respiratory issues, is jaundiced and is still eating primarily via IV. But she appears to be a fighter. And I know for sure that God’s hand in on her.

We thank God for our miracle. We know for sure that this was not luck or good timing. It was God.