The Kindness of the Lord-A Testimony
by Maranatha Chapman
If there is one area we women especially have to trust the Lord in, it
is in the area of bearing children. Not only does pregnancy and birth
affect our own body and health, but there is also the body and health
of the precious little baby that grows within us until the day he/she
comes out. Birth especially is one of those awesome events where we come
face to face with life and death, with great blessing and great unavoidable
risk, and see just how fragile, helpless, and vulnerable we really are,
as well as how utterly dependent we are upon the Lord. My first two pregnancies
both ended in miscarriage and there was not a thing that I could do about
it but grieve the loss of my babies I had already begun bonding to. I
have had the joy of delivering four children at home (so far) who are
blessings beyond words. In the process, I have also had to endure three
long and agonizing labors, one in which I was stuck in transition for
nine hours, as well as the very unpleasant after-birth contractions, several
prolonged recoveries, initial nursing rawness and pain, and a number of
breast infections. In all of these situations, my husband, Matthew, and
I have found the Lord to be completely faithful, in one way or another,
in walking through these trials with us. Now, in this year of 2001, we
have another episode of His grace and kindness and mercy in pregnancy
to add to our growing testimony, and I would like to share it with you.
Early this year, Matthew and I discovered I had become pregnant for the
seventh time with a baby whom we hoped would be our fifth child (remember,
we lost our first two children to miscarriage). Several weeks later, in
early February, I happened to run into my midwife, Toni Kimpel, and she
immediately noticed that I was showing quite a bit more than I should
be for only being 10 weeks pregnant. She inquired again about the date
of my last menstrual cycle, which I was certain of, and sure enough, 10
weeks is exactly where I should be. So Toni then measured me, but I measured
to be 16 weeks along. She also checked my blood pressure, which was on
the high end of normal, but definitely high for what is typical for me.
She explained that these are classic signs of a woman carrying twins and
asked me to get a sonogram in order to find out for sure, since twin births
are considered "high risk" in Texas and off limits for midwives and home
births.
We were joyfully shocked and excited at the possibility of having twins,
but the sonogram soon revealed only one healthy precious child-all five
grams of him/her moving about the womb waving his/her arms and legs, and
his/her little heart just beating away. The baby also measured to be 12
weeks old, which was exactly how far along I was at the time. But then
the sonogram technician said the words no one preferring home birth wants
to hear: "placenta previa." This meant, as we already knew from prior
learning, that the placenta was either fully or partially covering the
cervix. In my case, it was completely covering
my cervix. This meant that if I began to dilate and went into labor, the
placenta would detach and be the first thing to be delivered, cutting
off all oxygen and blood flow to the baby who would still be in my womb.
Such circumstances could be fatal for my baby and could also possibly
cause me to hemorrhage to death if it was not dealt with immediately by
emergency c-section. Because we live out in the country, and the nearest
hospital is almost half an hour away, this meant that unless the Lord
intervened, having a home birth was entirely out of the question and we
would need to have a closely OB/GYN-monitored pregnancy, hospital birth,
and scheduled c-section.
But the bad news got worse. The sonogram also revealed some type of "mass"
located in/on the uterus. It concerned the technician enough that she
measured it with the computer several times saying, "I don't know what
that is!" and even asked Maranatha if she had any pain
in the area it was located. Of course we began immediately asking some
questions, but the technician quickly back-pedaled and refused to answer
for fear of being sued if she said something that was inaccurate, which
we understood and respected though we would never sue her. She said a
radiologist would review the video of the sonogram and issue an analysis
within a week. The radiologist's report came back primarily stating the
obvious: viable pregnancy, one fetus, fetus size and amniotic sac and
fluid consistent with the baby's age, "what appeared to be a low lying
fibroid tumor," the tumor's dimensions (almost the size of a tennis ball),
and made no recommendations.
We soon went to see our local OB/GYN, Dr. Ghattas, who had reviewed the
sonogram and the radiologist's report, and he explained to us that this
was a very high-risk pregnancy. The fibroid
tumor was growing in/on the uterine wall, and the two things that make
these type of tumors grow the most are estrogen and a good blood supply-two
things that are in abundant supply in the uterus of any pregnant mother.
And because of its low-lying location and the likelihood it would continue
growing throughout the pregnancy, Dr. Ghattas said it would keep the baby
pushed up high into the uterus, which was why I was showing and measuring
to be further along than I really was. And in the end, it would likely
be an obstruction to the baby being able to drop down in order to be delivered
vaginally. Though he held out some slim hopes for a normal delivery, he
then mentioned he had yet to see a case like this end without a caesarian
(C-section). In a worst case scenario, especially if the tumor got cut
in the process and he couldn't get it to stop bleeding, he might have
to perform a partial hysterectomy, removing the entire uterus but leaving
the ovaries.
And then there was the added complication of the placenta previa. Because
the placenta was attached directly over the cervix and
right next to the tumor, and they possibly overlapped one another, the
tumor could actually grow into the placenta, which would not be good for
the baby. If this particular complication came about and were to get really
bad, it could mean a premature birth, neonatal care for the baby, etc.
The tumor could also cause bleeding during the pregnancy, which could
also be a real problem because of the placenta previa and the cervix needing
to open to pass the blood. Because of all this, we would be seeing the
doctor every four weeks unless circumstances required more frequent visits.
But the good news was that the baby was perfectly healthy, and he said
there would be no limits on my activity for the time being.
So in just a few weeks' time, Matthew and I went from anticipating our
fifth child, to then wondering if we had twins, to learning of "a very
high-risk pregnancy" and having to embrace things like
placenta previa, a hospital c-section birth, and a potential partial hysterectomy
as either realities or real possibilities we would have to face. As you
can imagine, this was a very real and difficult trial, yet our hearts
were of faith and our hope was in the Lord. We have given ourselves, our
children, our possessions, and all that we are/have to the Lord Jesus
ten thousand times over during the course of our marriage, and we know
He holds us in His hands. Whatever the outcome, whether best-case, worst-case,
or somewhere in-between, whether the Lord would intervene with miracles
of deliverance or simply gives us the grace to walk through a very difficult
time, we knew that He was with us, for we are in Him, and He is Faithful
and True! So together with the saints here where we live, and many others
whom Matthew kept informed by e-mail, we began to earnestly seek the Lord
and pray.
In late April, I was 20 weeks pregnant at that time but measuring 29 weeks
because of the tumor which was continuing to grow and was now causing
me lower back pain because of the pressure it was placing on my lower
spine. They performed another sonogram to reassess everything, and the
placenta had completely moved up the anterior
(front) uterine wall and no part of it whatsoever
was over the cervix anymore! The Lord had graciously answered our prayers,
and the placenta previa was no longer an issue! Yet even though it had
moved up and completely off of the cervical opening, the edge of the placenta
was still right at the point where the cervical tissue turns into uterine
tissue. So in the event of the [likely] c-section, the doctor would now
have to cut through the placenta, which could endanger the baby and cause
extensive bleeding for me, even to the point of requiring blood transfusions.
Dr. Ghattas said we needed the placenta to move up just a little bit more
in order to create a "window" for him to cut through without cutting either
cervical tissue or the placenta. Our faith was so encouraged by how far
the Lord had caused the placenta to moved up that we felt confident that,
as we kept praying and persevering in faith, He would create the needed
"window."
This sonogram also allowed us to find out that our healthy, active baby
was a girl! However, Dr. Ghattas did note one area of concern about her,
though he suspected it was probably nothing. Her bowels appeared to have
air in them when they should be full of amniotic fluid instead. This was
not good for a number of reasons, and if it didn't improve we would need
to begin to prepare to treat the effects of this when she was born. So
because of this and the placenta placement, Dr. Ghattas wanted us to see
a specialist in Houston about four weeks later for an extensive "Level
Two sonogram" examination.
Matthew and I typically wait until our babies are born to find out what
gender they are, but since this pregnancy was going to require so many
sonograms, we opted to go ahead and have them tell us this time. We had
strongly suspected it was a girl because shortly before I became pregnant
with this child, Matthew felt the Lord had spoken to his heart that I
would soon become pregnant, it would be a girl, and we were to name her
Zion Hope.
Many of you have heard or read about the way Matthew and I were betrothed
and married (if you haven't but are interested, you can read an account
of it here;
see also Matthew's article entitled Thoughts
on Betrothal. 15 Years Later). We betrothed and married in this way
as a picture and demonstration of God's eternal purpose and as an intercession
for what we wanted to spend our lives on-making ourselves ready for the
Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, and helping others to do the same. Before
we spent our first night together, we offered and committed our entire
lives to Him for this, and we offered Him the fruit of the womb that He
would bless us with to speak prophetically of anything He would want to
say. So, like many of the Lord's people in the scriptures, we have specifically
and deliberately named our children according to what we were hearing
Him speaking to us and/or the church at the time they were born. Thus
because of a number of things the Lord has been saying regarding His church
and where we are at in the outworking of His eternal purpose, we feel
we are to name this precious daughter Zion Hope.
A week before our big appointment in Houston , I had another check up
with Dr. Ghattas. Everything was about the same, though at that point,
I was 24 weeks along, but measuring 34 weeks. The tumor was now baseball-sized
and "completely obstructing the cervix," thus officially making a c-section
an inevitability.
A few days later, on the Saturday evening before the Houston appointment,
many of the saints who live in this area were gathered together around
the Lord in the home of one of the families who lives just down the road
from us. We had been there for a while ourselves, but the back pain from
the tumor pressure was getting to the "excruciating" level, and I had
begun feeling dizzy and faint and was swelling up considerably, so Matthew
took me and the children home. Some 30-40 minutes later, my father came
by to check on me. By this time I was feeling quite a bit better and the
swelling had gone down. He told us that after we had left, the Lord spoke
several things and the saints began to wait upon the Lord and pray, and
that it was a significant time of Spirit-led corporate prayer. When he
said this, Matthew and I both bore witness that indeed something had been
accomplished in prayer, though we didn't know what.
So a few days later, Matthew and I drove down to Houston to see the specialist
at the Memorial-Hermann Hospital 's professional building. Memorial-Hermann
Hospital is one of many major hospitals in the medical center district
of Houston, and is affiliated with the University of Texas Medical School.
The "Level Two" sonogram I was scheduled to have is a very detailed ultrasound
examination performed by a radiologist instead of a technician. It requires
the use of much more sophisticated equipment with lots of still-frame
imaging and measurements and data taken that would be sent back with evaluations
to Dr. Ghattas. As we went into the examination room, and the very nice
lady doctor/radiologist began doing the ultrasound, two other doctors
immediately joined us. One was an OB/GYN who was a specialist for high-risk
pregnancies. The other was a young doctor who was doing his residency
there in this field of practice. These doctors all knew from the paperwork
why we were there but still asked us a lot of questions. We told them
of how I had consistently measured to be further along than I actually
was because of the tumor, as well as all the other history of this pregnancy
since then. At the time of this Level Two sonogram, I was 26 weeks and
1 day along.
The very first thing the radiologist told us was that the placenta had
moved well up the uterine wall and was plenty far away from the cervix
so as to make a large "window" for the c-section! Matthew and I looked
at each other and smiled and said, "Praise the Lord!" She then went on
to examine the baby, and all three of the doctors noted many aspects of
how healthy she looked and they all concurred that her bowels "looked
great." They said she was the healthiest baby they had seen all day, because
all they normally see is cases with complications. Now we were really
getting excited.
Then they began looking for the tumor.... And it was gone! IT
WAS GONE!!!!! They looked from one end of my uterus to the other
and back several times over and they couldn't find even a trace of it!
Nothing! The OB/GYN who was the high-risk pregnancy specialist left the
room for a moment and came back in with the doctor who is the head physician
of the entire Hermann/University of Texas Women's Health Center (whom
they all immediately deferred to) and they sonogrammed their way around
some more. Then she (the head doctor) turned to us and said, "I don't
know what you have been told, but the placenta is in a great location,
there is absolutely nothing wrong with your baby, there is no tumor in
your uterus. and there is no reason why you can't have a normal vaginal
delivery." She stayed there with us awhile, and it was a joyfully comical
sight to watch these esteemed doctors from one of the major hospitals
in the fourth largest city in the US all hovered around my belly and the
ultrasound screen looking for this fibroid tumor and there was nothing
there to be found! Then they each palpated
and measure me, and all of them said, "Hmm,
you're measuring exactly 26 weeks." Matthew,
noting that he knew it would not be their preference since they were doctors,
asked them all if there was any reason why we could not have a midwife
assisted home birth. The Chief Physician said, "No, as long as you have
medical backup," and the others concurred. Needless to say, Matthew and
I walked out of that hospital both speechless and elated. And we still
are.
Matthew
and I cannot praise and thank our Lord enough for His kindness and mercy
to us and this precious child! I cannot tell you how much I have cried
and thanked Him. This is not some medical mistake Dr. Ghattas made that
got corrected. This is truly a miracle from the Lord's own hand. We saw
the tumor at length during the different ultrasounds performed by different
technicians, who all examined and measured and took still-frames of it
from every conceivable angle and perspective. Dr. Ghattas palpated and
found it back at 20 weeks when it was tennis-ball-sized and gently grasped
it in his fingers and turn to Matthew and said, "This is it. This is the
fibroid tumor." The tumor was there at the exam 10 days prior to the Level
Two sonogram, but now it is GONE! As you can imagine, we were both elated
and speechless as we walked out of that building. Matthew and I had been
basically resigned to the Lord walking through this with us via a hospital
birth with a c-section, but I must confess we never expected this! Thank
you, Lord!
Two
weeks later, we went in for our next scheduled appointment with Dr. Ghattas.
This was the first time Matthew or I had seen him since we found out in
Houston of what the Lord had done. He appeared to be a little nervous
as he came into the room running down the current list of vital stats.
"Blood pressure-good, blood count-very good, weight-Hmmm. You lost two
pounds since your last visit (the missing baseball-sized tumor?!). Heart
rate-good." And then he set everything down and turned around and looked
at us and abruptly said, "Well, some things you just cannot explain! I
mean, we know the tumor was there, but." Matthew then said, "Yes, Dr.
Ghattas, we know it was there too. But we believe the Lord healed her."
"Well, we must all believe in some higher healing power," he responded
and then he went on to talk about the whole situation. He explained that
the radiologist in Houston had called him on the telephone just to make
sure he understood that her analysis and report from the level two sonogram
was not a mistake-that there was indeed no longer a tumor there. "Sometimes
we doctors get to thinking that we are God and can explain or control
or treat everything, and then something like this comes along to remind
us that we're not all we think we are," he went on to say. Wow! How many
doctors do you hear say that?
Matthew
then went on to tell Dr. Ghattas about how so many of the Lord's people
were praying, and especially the prayers that went up from the church
that Saturday evening before the Houston appointment, and it turned into
a really good opportunity to be a witness to him. After that, Dr. Ghattas
talked about it some more, and then began wrapping up the appointment,
but then said, "Any questions?" He looked intently at me and then Matthew
and then back to me, and then he turned to Matthew and said, "You have
something to say!" and smiled. Matthew then shared with him how much we
appreciated his service to us, but that, in light of what the Lord had
done, we were now "shifting gears" and were planning to have our baby
at home with the assistance of our midwife. Dr. Ghattas smiled and then
said, I knew you were going to say that, and I think that would be a very
good thing for you to do!"
By
the time you read this article, I will have already, the Lord willing,
given birth to Zion Hope. There are many trials and difficult circumstances
we must walk through that are a part of this life. Sometimes we walk through
them and see the Lord work wonderful miracles of deliverance like what
happened in this particular situation. Other times no apparent "miracles"
come to our situation, but the Lord supplies His grace as we journey through
each difficult step. Either way, according to Hebrews 11:32-40, we have
opportunities to trust our faithful Lord, draw upon His grace, persevere
in faith, and not be afraid. Beyond that, He holds the outcome of our
specific circumstances.
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