Wow! It is amazing at how quickly time flies....Hannah turns 7 tomorrow! It is hard to believe. So much of what happened 7 years ago is SO fresh in my mind, but then other moments seem hard to recall. It really is amazing when you think about how God has been watching over Hannah all these years, it just reminds you how faithful and loving He is!
Seven years ago today I headed to the OB to have an ultrasound to figure out why I was measuring big...I was 37 weeks, measuring 42 weeks -- that's not normal. So, we had the ultrasound and the technician was eerily quiet. She asked us to wait outside so she could speak to the doctor, and I knew, I just knew something was wrong. I do not know how long we sat there, but the longer we sat, the more I knew we were about to get some bad news....Jeff just kept trying to reassure me that everything was going to be ok. Little did we know in a few minutes it would be hard for us to even breathe. The doctor came around the corner, a doctor I had never even met, and said 'we need to talk.' NOT words you want to hear! He told us Hannah had a condition called 'duodonal atresia' -- meaning her stomach wasn't attached to her intestines...he then informed us that with this condition came many other conditions and it was unknown if she would survive after birth. We were devastated! I just remember thinking 'if the baby doesn't survive, how do I explain to a 3 year old that her baby sister died?' You don't want to have those types of conversations. My parents were in the car and at our house faster than I thought possible, they were going to go with us to see the specialist, they didn't want us to be there alone. Little did we know they would need to be at our house to watch Kaitlyn -- I went into labor that morning!! I was SO overwhelmed, I hadn't seen the specialist, we had NO idea what was going to happen, what we would see, etc. I was SO scared, but SO at peace! It was a peace I had never known! It was God's way of protecting me - for I did not have to fear the diagnosis, that's not what Hannah had! Hannah was born and we were told she'd need to be sent to another hospital to be evaluated by specialists...so there I was in the NICU alone, having just said goodbye to my newborn baby girl, not knowing if I would ever see her again - and said goodbye to my husband who was going to follow the ambulance...it was the most alone I have ever felt! Luckily, my mom came in minutes later and spent the night with me.
Hannah arrived at the hospital and we found out she did NOT have DA, she actually had an ovarian cyst - the size of a baseball in her abdomen. She had surgery when she was less than 24 hours old -- and today, is the happiest, healthiest 7 year old you'd ever meet!
That incredible peace stayed with me through that time, I just remember fully believing that everything was going to be ok. I could sense God's presence with us throughout that whole ordeal. I knew God was holding Hannah in His arms in that ambulance ride and during her operation -- He was holding her when I couldn't. There have been many other times during Hannah's life that God has had His hand on her...many other instances of His healing in her life and we are SO grateful!
Hannah truly is our Thanksgiving miracle and is a daily reminder to me of just how much we have to be thankful for!
