Guest Post by Dana Arcuri
It was spring 1998 and I was in the second trimester of my third pregnancy. All went according to plan, until the sixth month when my baby’s abnormal movements alarmed me. During a prenatal exam, I discussed my concern with my midwife. She immediately scheduled an ultrasound test and referred me to a perinatologist who specialized in high risk pregnancies.
While the sonographer performed a fetal ultrasound, trying to remain calm was nerve-wracking. Anxiously, I forced myself to think positive thoughts as the technician expertly applied warm gel on my huge belly to skillfully maneuver her electronic device. My heart raced with uncertainty.
Following the procedure, my perinatologist said he suspected medical complications. In horror, I heard him solemnly explain how my precious infant may have encephalitis, a condition involving inflammation of the brain caused by a direct viral infection.
Numb and speechless, I patiently listened as he instructed me to wait two weeks before repeating another test. I quickly scheduled my next appointment and managed to find my car in the crowded parking lot without breaking down.
After receiving the dreadful news, I drove on the busy parkway barely able to see the road ahead. A flood of heartbreak poured down my cheeks. “Oh, dear God,” I sobbed. “This can’t be happening! Please help my baby!”
When I arrived home, my eyes were swollen like golf balls from nonstop crying. As I stood somber in my bedroom overcome with intense grief, Psalm 139:14 unexpectedly came to mind.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
As I pondered this scripture, I silently reassured myself that our God who created the sparkling stars in the sky is the same God who created my precious baby inside my womb. Thoughtfully, I contemplated my choices. Would I spend the following two weeks consumed by fear and sadness? Despite the negative medical report, would I trust Jesus?
Realistically, I had no control over my unfathomable circumstance. It was in this life-changing moment that I boldly made a choice to step out in faith and surrender my infant’s life to Christ. I sensed our Heavenly Father calling and equipping me to trust His biblical promises.
My spirit was strengthened as I earnestly clung to Psalm 139:14 and read it aloud to affirm God’s faithfulness. Gently, I wiped my eyes dry and wrote the scripture on a white index card. Then I placed it onto my refrigerator as a daily reminder.
Out of the blue, a peace unlike any other washed over me from head to toe. Without logical explanation, all fear, doubt, and sadness disappeared. Instead, I felt calm, content, and capable of successfully managing the next two weeks. The swift transformation was an astonishing miracle in itself.
I returned to the hospital and had my second sonogram, after which my perinatologist came into the examination room to discuss test results. He said, “I have no medical explanation for these findings. Whatever the fetal complication was two weeks ago, it has completely resolved itself. Your baby is healthy!”
If my belly hadn’t been so huge, I would have jumped with joy and dove off the exam table to celebrate his exciting news. However, since I looked like an over-sized beach ball I contained my composure with a big smile. Silently, I thanked Jesus for healing my unborn child. I was in absolute awe.
What began as an unexpected nightmare turned into an amazing miracle of God’s healing grace. Tears of joy slipped softly down my cheeks as I fully absorbed my answer to prayer. I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that what had transpired before my eyes was extraordinary.
On May 14, 1998, my husband and I celebrated the birth of our beautiful daughter and God’s grace. There are no medical explanations to logically explain how Ryanna’s health was fully restored, but it stretched my spiritual growth far wider than I ever could have imagined.
My miracle baby taught me that anything is possible with God. He is always faithful, and Ryanna is living proof that miracles exist today.
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P.S. We’d love to know your thoughts; be sure to share in the comments section below. This month we will draw TEN winners from our commenters and the winners will receive one of these two books, Hope for a Hurting Heart or To Let You Know I Care by our featured author this month, Cheryl Karpen.
Dana Arcuri is a faith-inspired writer, contributing author, blogger and licensed beauty expert. She is a passionate, heart-felt writer who provides her readers encouragement, hope and inspiration as she shares her love of Christ. Her articles have been published by Escalate Media for TotallyHer.com and she has been published as a contributing author in Inspired Women Succeed, released in 2011. Dana can be contacted by email at dana122163@comcast.net or by visiting her blog at http://writing4theheart-n-soul.blogspot.com/.
Read more encouraging stories from brave-hearted women here. Be sure to grab your free copy of inspirational quotes and writing prompts while you’re there. (Look over on the right hand side!)
Thank you for sharing your story. God has amazing things in store for us that put our faith in him knowing that he is the healing, and provider of all things. I am so happy that your daughter is celebrating her birthday and yes she is your miracle baby. God bless you and your family.
Tracey, you are welcome! I appreciate that you took the time to read my story. Yes, I agree that God has amazing blessings in store for us. There’s nothing better in our journey with Christ than seeing first hand His omnipotent power during our helplessness. It stretches our faith and brings us into an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. It can’t get any better than this!
Dana–thanks so much for sharing–sorry I’ve never had opportunity to read any of your writing before–now I want to read more! are your books in Christian Bookstores?
hugs
Glenda Kremer
Glenda, thank you so much for reading my post today and for your kind words! Currently, I am a Contributing Author of the book Inspired Women Succeed, published in May 2011. This book may be purchased on amazon.com, but it is not available through the Christian Bookstores. Presently, I’m in the midst of writing my new book about hope, healing and faith. A publisher has accepted my book so Lord willing, it will be published in 2012. If you would like, I could keep you posted!
Warm Hugs,
Dana
Dana, what a beautiful story! It is especially meaningful to me since my daughter will be entering her third trimester soon in her first pregnancy, and I can just imagine how devastating this kind of news would be to her. Your faith in God and His plan for you is a powerful message to all of us in any seemingly-overwhelming challenge of life. Trust God and He will provide!
Thank you very much, Susan. Yes, our God is so good! He’s the Healer of life and His grace is sufficient. My true baby miracle was the major stepping stone to my faith leap with the Lord. When He powerfully touched my unborn child there was no denying it was all God!
I pray your daughter’s pregnancy, labor and delivery are smooth sailing. What a precious bundle of joy you will have in the near future, Susan! ♥
Inspirational! Psalm 139 is my all time favorite motivational scripture.
Hi Toni, thank you for reading my post today! Yes, I couldn’t agree more; Psalm 139 is one of my favorite scriptures, too.
Yes, God is good. I have seen His goodness in so many ways over the years. He truly cares about every detail of our life. He is so faithful to bring His promise to pass.
Truly nothing is impossible with God.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Hello Catherine, thank you for taking the time to read my post today! So glad to hear you have personally experienced God’s goodness through the years. Without Christ in our lives there is little hope, but with Him there is so much hope. The key ingredient is faith. When we have faith we can move mountains!
Dana – thank you for sharing your story…what a wonderful praise and blessing your daughter is. Happy belated Mother’s Day!!!! And Happy Birthday Ryanna!
My story is quite similar. It took us nearly 5 years to get pregnant with our first son Nicholas (who is now five years old) and by God’s grace, we finally got pregnant…naturally. Our plans to extend our family took us another five years and this time, with a lot of prayer and research, we sought a very pro-life approach to fertility treatments.
When we finally received the news on 11/11/11 that I was pregnant, I nearly fell over. Thus began very frequent blood tests and ultrasounds. When I was about 7-8 weeks pregnant, we received devastating news…we were told the baby hadn’t developed in two weeks and that when we went back the following week for an ultrasound, we likely would have miscarried and wouldn’t have a viable pregnancy. Our hearts’ SANK and we were desperate to find some way to help our baby…we prayed, we asked for prayer, we read Scripture, we believed (and yes, we cried a lot). So many verses carried us through, including Psalm 139:14-16, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 29:11, and several others. Our Church family and several friends were amazing prayer warriors and we felt comfort and peace knowing that they were lifting us up to Him. And when I didn’t even know what to pray, I was comforted in knowing that the Holy Spirit would intercede on our behalf.
We went back the following week and there was a heart beat, but still not enough development for us to be safe. Our doctor was very cautious and warned us not to get excited because we could still miscarry. We had to wait yet another week, and the “medical” diagnosis still didn’t give us much hope. But we trusted the Lord, we trusted His plan…all the while not understanding why He would give us this baby only to take it away, but we still trusted.
At our next ultrasound, we heard news similar to yours: “medically, we can’t explain why the baby made up more than two weeks worth of growth in two weeks…and has set his own growth pattern”. WHAT? You mean our baby is alive, he’s healthy, and he’s gonna live? Thank you God. Praise You Lord! Praise Your Holy Name! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
At 11 weeks, he was measuring 6 days behind developmentally, and still 6 days behind at 19 weeks, at 23 weeks, at 27 weeks, and this week I’ll have another ultrasound at almost 31 weeks. We need to continue ultrasounds because at 19 weeks, we found out by the Perinatologist that I have a 2-vessel umbilical cord, so they continue to monitor the growth. I’m due the end of July 2012 and we know we’re having another boy! So far, we’re told that he is healthy, doing well, may be short, and could potentially come early, but we believe if the Lord has plans for a short guy, He will use it…if He has plans for a tall guy, He will use it!. We don’t know His plans, but we know we can trust Him. He has never left us and never will.
We’re looking forward to meeting our little man in the weeks to come!
Barbara, WOW! What a mighty God we have!!! I’m rejoicing in the healing & safety of your unborn son. How absolutely AMAZING our God is who can powerfully orchestrate our baby’s health behind the scenes and transform them into thriving, whole human beings!
I am so very sorry that you must endure this highly stressful circumstance in your pregnancy. Trust that I do understand what you and your husband are going through and my prayers are with you. No matter what the medical reports or Perinatologist say, hold firmly to God’s promises. Despite being told your baby may be short and premature, do not dwell on the unknown. Instead, continue to focus on the positive, especially the exciting miracles God has graciously blessed you with.
And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
Hebrews 2:13
While we do not know our future, we may rest assure our Heavenly Father has our precious unborn children in the palms of His hands and everything is going according to His divine plan. Continue to walk in faith as you anticipate the joyful birth of your son. May the Lord wrap His loving arms around you to provide strength, comfort and peace.
Warm Hugs,
Dana