My younger sister Christine became pregnant in 2005. We were all so excited! She was and still is petite so her little baby bump poked on out. We talked about her pregnancy and the way she was feeling a good bit. I remember her saying that she felt alot of pressure and asked if that was normal. I didn't experience that but every pregnancy is different. She mentioned the pressure to her doctor, who in turn told her it was normal.
Around 19 weeks......her water broke. She went to the hospital and was told there wasn't anything they could do and that she would have to deliver the baby. The baby's lung were not developed at this point so there would be no chance of survival. We were all devastated. How could this happen? What was wrong and could this have been prevented??
I got the call between 11:00 and 12:00 that night she had delivered. The next morning I was so sad and I cried out to God, "Please if there is something I need to read PLEASE show it to me!" I opened my bible and it opened to I Samuel. I had only been a Christian about 10 months so in no way was I familiar with this story. As I read this wonderful story I could not believe what I was reading!! I cried tears of joy because I knew Christine would have a baby one day. I shared this with Christine a few weeks later.
There was nothing the doctors could tell Christine as far as why this had happened. I looked up PROM (Premature Rupture of the Membranes) online. I was shocked at how often this happened. I read so many stories of Mom's that experienced the same thing. Why couldn't anyone give these grieving Moms an answer? At that time she was going to a doctor in Cullman. We talked alot and she decided she thought it would be best to find another doctor in Birmingham. My friend and coworker suggested her doctor, Dr. Banks. She called Dr. Banks office and spoke to a nurse right away. They were very caring and wanted to help. They actually had a cancellation and was able to see Christine that week. This was the first sign she was where she needed to be.
A few months after losing the baby, Christine started bleeding pretty bad. So bad that it scared her enough to call the paramedics. Her vitals were ok and they suggested she go to the ER in Bham. Everything checked out so she went home. She did call the doctor to make an appointment to have this situation checked out. The day of the appointment, she was eating lunch and the bleeding happened again. Her clothes were soaked so when she got to the doctors office they had to get a wheelchair to get her in.
Dr. Banks did alot of research and finally determined what the problem was. Now, between him and another doctor in his practice they had only seen this in ONE other patient. Sign number 2 she was in the right place. She was diagnosed with AVM ( arterio vascular malformation). She had an artery in her uterus that was feeding ALOT of blood. When the mass of blood got to a certain point, it caused her to hemmorhage, thus the large amount of blood loss.
Luckily, the uterus has more than one source of blood flow. Dr. Banks would be able to perform surgery that would cut off the blood flow of that artery. He had not performed this surgery before but was confident. The risk would be that if he couldn't get the artery to quit bleeding they would have to take her uterus out completely. The day of the surgery, most of the family was there. I remember going to the chapel at the hospital and praying as hard as I'd ever prayed before.
The surgery was a success!!! Since this surgery was rare, her surgery was put in the New England Medical journal. How cool is that?!?!?
Had Christine not lost the baby, and with this medical condition, both she and the baby could have died. We could see maybe why this happened and could be thankful.
After healing from surgery, Christine became pregant again. Dr. Banks kept a close eye on her. He sewed her cervix shut at 13 weeks and was pretty much on bed rest from that point on. On September 20th, 2007 Christine gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Charli Nicole Roberson. Thank you lord!
I want to also add that during the time Christine was being diagnosed with AVM I kept hearing the story in Luke 8: 43-50. This was about the woman with a bleeding problem that was healed just by touching Jesus' cloak. I had a friend that knew about the problem and called me one evening with this same scripture. I knew again, that God would heal her and he did.
God's timing is perfect.
Miracle Baby - Charli
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing. It means a lot right now. I am so glad she was able to have Charli.
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