If his grace is an ocean, we're sinking

This story began a little over two years ago when my daughter, Brooke was carrying her first baby, Evie.  A beautiful, red head who has been lead to believe, and truly knows in her heart that she is a princess.  She is destined to be a heartbreaker one day., as she has learned great self-control and patience in her short two year life. The whole time Brooke was expecting Evie, she was sick everymorning , even the day she was born.  She also had a condition called PUPPS, which only about 10% of pregnant women have this mind-numbing condition, and 90% of them are believed to be having a reaction to male hormones related to carrying a boy.  However, Brooke was not carrying a boy.  In addition, when Evie was born, she was breach and made her appearance on planet earth with her feet beside her ears.  She had to wear a hip harness for about 5 months after she was born, and at first she cried about it, but after a while, she developed the patience required for the task, and it became a normal part of her young days.  At  5 months old, through a series ofunfortunate events, it was discovered that Evie was HIGHLY allergic to several foods, which required mom and dad to change their lifestyles a good bit.  

On the subject of Evie’s actual birth, there are a few details that lead to the amazing miracle that I’m going to tell you about.  Evie’s daddy, Grant had dreamed that she was born on a night that mommy’s water broke in the bed, and thatEvie was born with beautiful red hair.  Guess what?  That dream was right on the dollar!  Brooke’s water broke in the bed in the middle of the night.  They rushed to the hospital, and she had an emergency C-section because labor was beginning, and the baby was breach.  It was quite traumatic, as the hospital personnel were so busy trying to quickly save the baby that they had no time to explain to the nervous parents what was going on.  Good thing  dadhad the dream of a beautiful baby girl to comfort him during the process!  After the birth, Brooke was in a lot of pain, and was on a Morphine pump for several days.  She has always regretted not remembering the first few days ofEvie’s life, but Grant stepped up to the task.  By the time Brooke was out of the Morphine stupor, Grant had mastered changing diapers, dressing and bathing the baby.  He actually showed Brooke how it was done when she was feeling better.

The c-section was so traumatic that Brooke healed slowly and with pretty extension nerve damage and scarring.  She couldn’t wear anything that touched the scar for a long time, and was getting steroid injections into the scar for weeks.  When she was examined by the doctor a year later, she was told that the scarring was so extensive internally that she SHOULD NOT plan on having another baby, as she would run a high risk of rupturing during another pregnancy.  She decided to get a second opinion, so she went to another OB-GYN who told her that her cervix and internal reproductive system was so scarred that she COULD NOT  conceive another baby.  

Brooke and Grant were sad about this, but took it as just another obstacle to let God handle.  After a few months Brooke learned that she was, indeed pregnant.  We were all very excited about the miracle of  another baby while all the doctors were saying it  COULD NOT happen.  We were, however, also concerned about the  possibility of rupturing, and I immediately started thinking about how to take off work, as I was sure she would be put on bed rest toward the end of the pregnancy.   As I began to tell my friends about the miracle of Brooke expecting again, and requesting prayer for her and the baby, one of them had an idea to meet for coffee and pray about this.  There was such a peace and assurance when we met and prayed, that we continued to meet every Wednesday for nine months to pray for this baby and mom.  After a while, we learned the baby was a boy, and that they would name him Silas, so we began to call Silas’ name out to God.  This made it much more personal, and we just prayed for the health and safety of Silas.  Now, Brooke was very determined not to have another c-section, as the first one caused so many problems.  She wanted so badly to have a VBAC, and while the doctors told her they would try, they didn’t hold out much hope. One week Brooke went for an appointment, and the doctor stressed to her what a high risk pregnancy this was so much, that she almost just went ahead and scheduled a caesarian, but decided to “be still” and see what the Lord wanted to do.   We all just kept praying.. This pregnancy had no PUPPS, much less nausea and vomiting, and it’s a good thing, since Brooke was chasing a very active 2 year old around the entire time. (when I say “chase”, I mean I’ve seen a nine-month pregnant woman in a full- out sprint).  No bed rest for this lady!

On March 29th, God gave us Silas Grant Premo via a VBAC birth.  There was no rupturing, no Morphine drip, no hip harness, just a beautiful red headed, healthy boy who came to Alabama loving to eat.  What the doctors said COULD NOT and SHOULD NOT happen, God said COULD, SHOULD and WOULD.  

God is good, all the time.