Do You Believe in Miracles? - Part One

**This post was originally published on January 14, 2010.
**Updated on October 31, 2016.

Meet my Baby Catherine. She has been one miracle after another, and I can no longer hold out on you. Her story is too amazing not to share. Watch and see how God's hand has been on this little girl since the very beginning.

This will be long, so I will post over a few days.

Miracle Number One:
Getting Pregnant

I have a condition known as Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). As is obvious in the title of my condition, there are many cysts on my ovaries. Getting pregnant with my first daughter required me taking some drugs, keeping track of my Basil Body Temperature, and prayer. I was all set for the same regiment this time, but God had a much different plan for me.

If you look back between November 2008 and February 2009, you will see posts plagued with me explaining that I'm really sick. I had some kind of stomach condition that caused me to lose about 25 pounds. It was never diagnosed, even after a battery of tests. Needless to say, I was unable to take the pills necessary to ovulate, and I was not, for lack of better words, "in the mood."

But, after missed a period in March, I started to wonder if I might be pregnant. I was feeling almost like myself again, but could I really be "with child?"

After taking the first test, I couldn't tell if it was a positive or not. I could faintly see two lines, but I wasn't sure if I was just seeing what I wanted to see, or if I really saw a plus. So, I bought another test. This time with the words. You can't mistake those results!

Both my husband and I were floored at the results! How did this happen? And when? Between me being sick and him not feeling well when I supposedly could have ovulated, we really weren't sure how this happened, but it did, and we both we so thankful. We knew this was a blessing from the Lord.

Miracle Number Two:
A Heart Stopper

My pregnancy progressed well. I was pretty sick from about 6 weeks through 14 weeks, and then I felt great! I really didn't even feel pregnant at all. The baby was healthy and developing right on schedule. We found out at 20 weeks that we were having another girl, and although I thought I wanted a boy, I was fine with a girl (and had known that I was deep down).

This is the way it was until my 32 week appointment. My regular doctor was out of town, so I was seeing one of her colleagues. He and I were talking Explorers (ah, the 5th grade teacher in me lives on and on). All was normal until he placed the doppler heart monitor on my stomach. He found the heart beat right away, but it was skipping beats.

I heard it immediately, and could tell that he was concerned. He started talking really fast, and I was nodding. I remember him saying that he wanted me to see a specialist right away. Of course, I nodded. He didn't think there was any reason to be concerned, but obviously something was not right.

I got in the car and started crying. I was scared. I called my husband and told him what had happened. I prayed all the way home. I called my friends and my mom. We all were praying for this little life. I knew God's hand was on her, but what were we going to find out? We had just attended the funeral of my husband's cousin's little baby girl who died of a heart condition at only 64 days old. Is that what we were in for?

This was Tuesday morning.

The rest of Tuesday we spent praying and researching (my husband) and crying (me) and feeling a peace that I've only experienced a handful of times when others were praying for me. It was amazing. By that night, neither of us were worried. We knew that not only was our little girl in the Lord's hands, and always had been, but she was covered in prayer.

We went to the specialist that Thursday, and much to our relief (but not to our surprise) everything was fine. She had a condition called Fetal Premature Atrial Contractions, which in everyday people terms was described to us like this:

The reason for the “skipped beats” is Premature Arterial Contraction (PAC). The way the doctor described it was that babies in the womb receive less oxygen than we do. And this smaller amount of oxygen sometimes sends weird signals to the pacemaker and causes the chambers to pump at irregular times. This is what causes the “skips”. The doctor said they were not uncommon and extremely benign. It usually takes care of itself once the baby is born when they take their first breaths and get the full amount of oxygen.

So, as you can see, God answered our prayers in a mighty way! Not only did we get to see Catherine's heart beating away, and all four chambers looking super healthy, but we also were fortunate enough to have another ultrasound. This little girl is quite bendy. At one point she had one foot and one hand above her head while the other hand and foot were under her bottom. She then moved both feet and legs under her bottom in a very modest fashion when we were trying to confirm her "girl parts", but, she did move just enough for the confirmation to be determined! The doctor thought that she looked great, from head to toe! Another blessing.

**I'll stop here for today. The next miracle is the best one! Please share in His glory tomorrow!