My family is a gift that I have been given. I have a hard working husband. He is busy working two jobs to make sure that we are supported financially. This allows me to stay home with our two beautiful daughters. My husband and I will never deny the gifts we have received from Heavenly Father when he gave us these children.
Flash back to four years ago last month June 2005. We had just found out that there was a little bean growing in my tummy. We went in for our first ultrasound to see the progress and also to find out for sure how far along I was. As my incredible doctor did an ultrasound, she noticed something different. At first she was a little confused and actually thought there were at least two, maybe three sacs. But she was still confused. She brought in another OB (an old man, the type that would still wear that big metal headband thingy). Come to find out, there was one sac, with one baby, but my uterus had a wall down the middle. It looked as though the baby wasn’t going to make it because it had planted itself on the “wall”. The next week we went in for ultrasound #2. Not good. baby had not grown, no heartbeat. After having blood drawn, we left town to go to a reunion, all the time knowing the outcome of our bean did not look good. On Monday after we came back from camping, I went in for the second blood draw. My hormone levels had started to go down. We were given a choice #1 wait for nature to take its course or #2 have a minor outpatient surgery to remove the bean. We chose #2. The next step was to go back in a few months to schedule another surgery to fix the busted uterus. It was going to be in November when I was done with Beauty School. The night before the surgery, my husband and my father lay their hands on my head and gave me a blessing for everything to go ok. Off to surgery. I don’t remember anything after the waiting room up until I woke up post operation. I asked for my dad to come in because I knew I would start crying once I saw my hubby. Dad comes in to see how I am doing, I asked “so, what’s the verdict”. I knew I hadn’t been cut open, but I thought they solved the problem other ways. He looked confused, thinking that the doctors had told me already “there is no problem, it was gone already”.
The next August I was in my 8th month of pregnancy with a healthy baby girl. At 36 weeks, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I was sent to the hospital to have a Non Stress Test done to check the baby. I sat down in the room with my Sister in Law (awaiting induction of her baby girl) and was strapped to the NST machine, and a blood pressure cuff. The next morning I was sent home with meds to lower the BP. They weren’t working. SO back to hospital we went. Then back home, then back to the hospital. My doctor was beside herself. Our baby was only measuring 4.5 pounds, she didn’t know what to do. With a baby that small, there could be major complications. On the other hand, there is no way to get rid of HBP except to get that baby out. She came to me one night while I was having my sleepover at the hospital, admittedly telling me she was unsure, admittedly telling me she had double checked her decision(to induce in a few days) with another doctor who specializes with things like this. Personally, any doctor that can admit they don’t know EVERYTHING and they double and triple check their choices, is a doctor that is incredible in my eyes. Especially because every choice she made was the right one. I had faith that she was more than fully capable of keeping us safe. Before the last trip to the hospital, my husband gave me a priesthood blessing. I was told through him that everything would be fine, and I had faith it would be. It was hard to convince my parents the good feeling I got and that I knew it would be ok…I just did. At 37 weeks, our beautiful baby girl was born via c-section. Our 4 pound, 9 ounce perfectly healthy baby girl. It isn’t everyday and 4 lb 9oz baby is perfectly fine with no complications but ours was.
Our second babe was a miracle herself. There is no crazy story, and were no crazy symptoms. She was growing great and was measuring 6 pounds by the time we went in for the C-Section. Huge, right??? After our first daughter was born, I was expecting to be able to deliver our other children vaginally. In between baby #1 and baby #2, the hospital changed the rules and wouldn’t allow any more VBAC’s (Vaginal birth after cesarean). I was a little stressed when I found this out, but what do you do. The day of my c-section, my husband and father-in-law again gave me a blessing of health and good recovery and a healthy baby. After our baby was born (perfect of course) the doc came in our room for a visit. She informed us that my uterus was extremely thin. This would have been bad news if I had tried a VBAC. I could have had serious issues. It was a blessing in disguise that the hospital had changed the policy.
So here we are. A little family with perfect little girls. Little girls that are gifts from God. He helped them come to us. He gave us the opportunity to raise them and show them right from wrong. Because we used our faith and the priesthood, he guided their spirits to their little teeny bodies. He kept them safe up until then…and we have been trying ever since.
My Testimony is small. I know that it has mostly been built because of my experiences with the priesthood. Beginning with my Patriarchal Blessing when I was 17. I know that we have the true priesthood on the earth today, I know that those men who live worthy are able to receive it and use it. I know that the women who live worthy are also able to use it and receive the blessings from it. I hope that I never forget how it has blessed my life and the lives of those in my family.
