Twenty three weeks into what had already been a touch and go pregnancy with my first child, I suddenly went into labor. Apparently I had an “incomptetent cervix” – man, you think they would have come up with a more non-judgemental name for it – but there you have it. My baby at 1lb had become too heavy for my body to hold in and was well on his way to being born and an almost certain death.
It is miraculous the doctor even caught it, as most of these conditions end in a sudden and unexpected pre-term birth with a baby too small to survive. I had just changed doctors a few weeks before. God had just given me the intuition that I needed someone else to be my caretaker. I found myself on an ambulance heading to Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA. It was actually really cool to look out the back of the ambulance and see all the cars pulled over to the slow lane on the highway and realize I was the reason. Or actually, that my baby was. We had already decided to call him Isaac and I prayed he would in fact live to be the child of promise that the Biblical one was.
When we got to the hospital and I got pumped full of drugs, someone tried to enroll me in a study for Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants should Isaac survive since we were at almost 24 weeks. It was overwhelming to say the least but I experienced a complete peace that passed understanding and a faith that was from God – it was certainly not my own. I informed the lady that I would not be enrolling in the study as my baby was NOT going to be born early.
I also got a visit from a Neonatologist. She gently explained to me what could possibly happen should this baby come at 23-24 weeks. Here’s the thing that stood out to me in the midst of it all though. I still remember asking her if I would be able to produce milk since my body wasn’t at full term. She smiled – happy to give me some positive news. She said, “Your body will absolutely produce milk. In fact the milk will be different than if you had gone full term. It will be specially suited for digestion for babies that have immature intestines.
Do y’all get that!! My body was prepared to specially nurture this child!
Does this sound like something that random changes to DNA could have produced? To plan ahead for an event that hadn’t happened. For a child that would not in any way strengthen the gene pool as one of the fittest? No it couldnt, but my God who loves us and cares for the weak made a way. He made a path to help my 1lb baby to survive should he come early.
Here’s a quote from http://www.lactationconsultant.info/preterm.html
It appears that there is an unknown biological mechanism in mothers who deliver prematurely that increases the concentration of anti microbial agents (sIgA, Lactoferrin and lysozyme), anti-inflammatory factors and immuno modulators. (Goldman et al 495, 498) These immunological components are vitally important for the VLBW infant to prevent nosocomial infections, sepsis, Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), bacterial and viral infections.
And
Human milk feeding, even in small quantities, for the very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, provides benefits that we are only beginning to understand. Preterm mothers' milk contains amino acids and fat blends that aid physical growth. Breastmilk components have overlapping or interdependent functions. The fat globules in preterm milk are smaller thus aiding in their absorption directly from the immature gut.
I could tell them what that unknown mechanism was: His name is Jehovah Jireh – God who provides. (Remember that childhood chorus? “My God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches in glory. He gives His angels charge over me. Jehovah Jireh cares for me…Jehovah Jireh cares for me”).
Anyway, to make a long story short, after 16 weeks of complete bedrest…my sweet boy was born on his due date. Forty weeks to the day. My sweet miracle boy. My child of promise. My one of millions of reminders that God is in charge…He made us and He cares for us.
When Abraham was provided a replacement ram for his son Isaac he must have felt similar joy to what I feel as I write this.
"And Abraham calleth the name of that place 'Jehovah-Jireh,' because it is said this day in the mount, 'Jehovah doth provide'"
Gen 22:14
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