Grace's Miracle

Friday morning I got a call saying that Ruth was on her way to the Maternity Center in labor. My head was flooded with different thoughts and emotions. Ruth had been in our program for 4 months. Over that time we had gotten to know more about her. Ruth was pregnant with her first child. She lives alone and works selling home brewed liquor. She is soft spoken but exudes independence and self reliance. You can tell the heaviness of life weighs down on her. This isn't something I have seen much in first time moms in our program. I think part of the weight comes with her age. Ruth is older then most girls are, having their first baby in our program. Ruth's birth was something I had great anticipation for. I was excited to get to support her through her birthing experience.

When Ruth got to the Maternity Center she seemed excited that her baby was finally coming. She labored very well. Her quiet, calm spirit worked to in her advantage in labor. She would calmly breathe through contractions, wanting her back rubbed from time to time. She labored quietly into the evening and night. Most women in labor you can tell by how they act and what noises they make how far they are into their labor. With Ruth because she was so calm we really couldn't tell. She never seemed scared of the pain. Both her and the baby responded well with labor all the way through until she began to push.

It is normal for a baby's heart rate to fluctuate some in at the end of labor as the baby is making it's way out. As Ruth began to push, her baby's heartbeat dropped some but returned to normal after the contraction was over. We continued monitoring the baby's heartbeat closely. After a few more pushes the baby's heart rate started dropping and instead of recovering it kept dropping. We were all alarmed by what we heard. We knew that this was a serious situation. With out dramatic improvement this baby could die. We quickly flipped her over on her hands and knees from her side hoping that with a big positional change the baby would recover. Once she was on her hands and knees we started listening to the heartbeat. The baby's heartbeat went from being in the 50's to 150 within seconds. I felt like God had done a miracle. Twenty minutes later she delivered an crying baby girl. We were all so relieved that the baby was okay. Because of the way that the heartbeat dropped, we presume that as the baby was being pushed down, it compressed the umbilical cord in such a way that the pressure did not release after the contraction. We praise God that we were listening right when the heartbeat dropped so dramatically. If we listened only a couple minutes later it might of been too late. If she delivered most anywhere else the chance of this baby's survival would be very low. Without monitoring the heartbeat you wouldn't know about a situation like this. Turning her over on her hands and knees was enough movement to release the pressure on the cord. I believe God has very special plans for this baby's life. Ruth's birth shows me once again just how precious and fragile life is.

Ruth named her daughter Grace. It is not common for Haitians to give their babies a name at birth. Partly this is due to so many babies here dying. The last few women we have delivered have already picked out names before they deliver. This shows us that they are expecting to have a live baby. It is very special to be a place of life and hope.

We have seen Ruth a couple times since she delivered. She is adjusting to a whole new life. Please be praying that God would encourage her and give her much grace and patience in being a new mother.

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" Jeremiah 29:11