Book Excerpt from
“Full Heart Empty Womb”
Coming in Early 2015
October 17 – Welcome to the World
The next morning they had me attached to the
fetal monitors for awhile. I was
borderline delirious because I hadn’t had any real sleep in almost 48
hours. I was also still in an enormous
amount of pain. Lying on my side for the
monitoring was excruciating. They were
starting to talk about delivering again because the babies were not responsive. They still had a strong heartbeat but they
were lethargic….much like their mommy.
My OB came in to visit me. She was immediately alarmed when she looked
at me. I told her about the pain. She asked me if I minded if she checked me
for dilation. She checked me and I was
four centimeters dilated. It was finally
time to have my babies. My tears of pain
and agony turned to tears of relief and happiness.
We sprung into action again. The phone tree was activated. My dad had just gotten on a plane to Chicago
so he boarded a plane home as soon as he landed. My sister, Amy, made plane reservations to
fly down later that week. Everyone else
hopped in the car to Nashville.
Within no time at all the anesthesiologist
came to administer my spinal tap. I
remember he kept trying to get me to hunch over a little more so he could get
it in the right spot. I am pretty sure I
had a smart aleck reply about not being able to hunch over much more with my
huge belly!
I laid back in bed and waited for them to
whisk me away to the operating room.
Eric still paced the room with a crazy look in his eyes. He had been through the emotional and
physical ringer the last couple of days too.
He didn’t get much more sleep than me.
I also cannot imagine how difficult it would be to watch someone you
love go through so much pain and not be able to do anything about it.
I was wheeled into the operating room with
happy tears running down the sides of my face.
I had made it. Praise the Lord
for giving me the strength to get through the last eleven weeks.
There was a crowd of about 20 people in
there. There was my OB and her
nurses. The NICU staff was there with an
incubator ready to transport the babies to the NICU after delivery. I had also consented to have some nursing
students come in to observe the delivery.
I guess I was a good learning case for them!
At 11:07am Ethan Brent Greer was born
weighing a hefty four pounds four ounces.
One minute later Ella Bailey Greer was born weighing four pounds. I didn’t get to hold or kiss either of
them. I got a quick look at them in the
incubator. They each had a nurse who had them bagged and was helping them
breathe. And just like that they were
gone to the NICU. I said a prayer of thanksgiving and passed out for the rest of the day.
Final Thoughts
People may
hear about my difficulty getting pregnant with Ethan and Ella and think I was
pushing fate when we decided to go through fertility treatments. Maybe God just didn’t want us to
have babies. After hearing about my
struggles to just stay pregnant, they may think that we were
still pushing something that just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe we just weren’t meant to
be parents. It was a very bumpy road
getting to here. Aren’t most of
the roads worth traveling anything but smooth?
Today Ethan and Ella are healthy, normal
eight year olds. They just started
second grade. They have already been a
blessing to our lives and to so many others’ lives. I can look at them today and see the
potential that they have. Ethan is a
little math genius like his Daddy and that makes me so proud. But it is his caring heart that brings me to
my knees. Every night he prays from his
heart for several people. I listen to
his heartfelt prayers and know that he is straight from God. He tells me he wants to be a doctor or go
into the military. How many lives will
my baby save because we were brave enough to fight for his?
Ella has a love for reading like her
Mama. She is already reading on a fifth grade level. She is always asking for five more
minutes with her book before bed. But it
is her nurturing heart that brings tears to my eyes. Since she has been in preschool she has
always had at least one special needs child in her class. Ella always gravitates to them. She never looks at them as different. She just wants to be their friend and help
them. She tells me that she wants to be
a teacher when she grows up. I can see
her being a special education teacher like her Aunt Sharon. How many lives will she touch because we didn’t give up on
hers? I also know without a doubt that
she will be a wonderful mother. How many
more generations of children will come from us because we didn’t give up on
our family?
God was at work in our very bumpy
road. He never guaranteed us or anyone a
smooth road to parenthood or anything else for that matter. This bumpy road taught me so many lessons
that made me a better mom, wife, and daughter in Christ that I would never take
for granted.
Photos Courtesy of Ginger Baldwin Photography
