Harmonious Birth (2)

My fiancée and I had just finished our final exams and we were planning to travel up country to visit my family. This was to be the first time we were to meet the entire family.  My family was to have a double joy. The first joy was to welcome my fiancée, courtesy of the first born. And the second joy was to welcome a first grandchild who was expected towards the end of our stay. This was to be the first or second week of January 2011.

This was suddenly changed due to unexpected pain which developed just below the abdomen of my fiancée.  She had complained of the pain earlier on but it was on and off. We never took it seriously. She had called her mother earlier on and told her of her the pain, and she was told to visit hospital for a check-up.

We planned to visit the hospital and then come back to travel home. At the hospital things changed to what we never expected. The pain my fiancée was feeling was labour pain. The baby was due to be delivered in mid-January 2011 and not 14th December 2010.  The situation looked complicated. The doctor first suggested that a scan should be done, but later on changed his mind and he ordered a different test to determine what exactly was happening so he could decide what to do.

That test showed the cervix was already open. The baby was ready to come out, despite the fact that her days were not yet fulfilled. The possible solutions were either to give the mother medicine to help her carry the child to full term, or for the mother to have natural birth if possible. The more likely solution was caesarean. The first solution was ruled out since the cervix was open beyond the recommended length for any medicine to work, so the other two were the only remaining solutions according to the doctor. He warned us that the baby would most likely to be taken to the nursery to develop fully if any of the above was to take place. After briefing us, he left us to decide on what we would prefer.

This made us afraid. We sat on the hospital bench. Two minutes passed without either us of uttering a word to each other.  Back in my mind I was wondering what to do. My fiancée broke the silence by inquiring if this could have been due to a decision we had made earlier. We had agreed to rely on prayer throughout her pregnancy and not use any of the medicine which she used to receive when she visited the clinic to help through her pregnancy. We also declined to have a scan which the doctor once recommended to indicate if the baby was fine.

My fiancées eyes were full of tears. In a low tone, with a face full desperation, she told me she never wanted to lose her baby. I too was filled with fear of losing our first child.  However, I strongly rejected the idea that we were going to lose our baby. My fiancée had been reading Science and Health, and she used to carry the Bible and Science and Health wherever she went so that she could read it whenever she got an opportunity. She had just taken up the study of Christian Science and she wanted to finish reading S&H for the first time.  I requested her to give me the Bible she had in her pouch. I opened it and read this verse, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.”(Ps. 46:1). I gave her the Bible to read the same verse. After sometime, and after accepting the fact that God was ever present and He is a help always available to anyone, I found myself with the peace of mind.

I recalled several occasions where I relied on prayer and overcame all the challenges that faced me. This did not only help me overcome the challenges but I got permanent solutions to them through prayer. This statement from Science and Health page 15 became very supportive to us as we resorted to prayer. “In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God’s allness.” It became very clear to me that it was a time to shut out material sense and embrace the fact that “…that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind, - that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle.” (Science and Health, p. 275)

After sharing with her these ideas we found ourselves relaxed, our fear disappeared and it became very clear to us that God was right there with us.  Since God is All-in-all, nothing else was right there – only God and His government . Mary Baker Eddy once noted that “The healing power is Truth and Love, and these do not fail in the greatest emergencies.” (Mis Wr p. 5)  This gave us an assurance that God, divine Love, Mind, Truth, was right with us and nothing else could stop us from being parents; and our child was to be delivered as per the will of God which is good.

I decided to see the doctor and share with him what we had decided. As I got to his office he told me that he had looked into our case and realised that my fiancée had strained herself for some time and this was the cause for this problem. He told me that if the cervix could not open beyond where it had, then he had no option but to conduct a caesarean. Therefore he had decided to admit her to observe her.  He decided to extend his time on duty to observe the situation.  I told him that nothing wrong was going to happen and that all would be fine.  I shared with him my faith as Christian Scientist that we relied on God in healing and this was going to happen here. He did not object but he told me that the most likely situation was that the baby was to be born immature, and would need to be in a nursery to gain full maturity. He reassured me that those children survive at the nursery and became mature people.

My fiancée was admitted at around noon, and I was sent to bring her food. As I got out of the hospital, I called a friend of mine who is a Christian Scientist who lived near that hospital and briefed him on what had happened. He invited me to his place where we prepared lunch and brought it to the hospital.  At the hospital I found my fiancée calm and reading Science and Health as usual. For some time she was reading it with the aim of finishing it. I inquired from her if she was feeling the pain any more.  She told me the pain had disappeared and she was feeling fine.  After a brief chat she surprised me by sending me to bring her some clothes for the child. I wasn’t expecting the child then, but I was sure that healing was to take place. My friend and I left the hospital and we agreed to keep on praying as she had requested. I visited her again at 7pm to bring her supper, and she was fine.  Other than that we only communicated by phone.

Around 10pm that evening my phone rang, and I saw it was a strange number.  Picking up the call, it was her, and what I heard sounded a little strange – “The baby is here!” I could not believe it!  Hurriedly I packed a few clothes, took a cab, and rushed to hospital. It was true – the baby was born – though she was underweight and therefore she could have been taken to the nursery. The doctors had fears that the lungs might not have developed fully, but tests showed everything was functioning properly.  The doctors saw no need of putting her in the nursery. The doctor who had taken up the case told me that God heard my prayers and everything was fine. The following day the doctor discharged the child and my fiancée, who were very fine. We were given instructions to wrap the baby properly to keep her warm, as this could help her develop fully. The baby is now 5 months old she has grown up; she is very healthy and cheerful.

This was a great healing. It uplifted us spiritually and taught us that God is All-in-all, the great Doctor of doctors, whom you can fully trust and who will never fail you.

Thanks to our lord Jesus Christ and our Leader Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered the Science, the Science of Christ, after centuries since it was first taught.