It’s A Girl Chapter 65

April 1988

At the end of my pregnancy, I kept trying to prepare Jared for the fact that he was going to have either a brother or a sister. Jared insisted that he was getting a sister. I started to worry that he would be disappointed if it was a boy, so I tried to help him understand that it might not be a girl. Jared would get frustrated with me because he knew it was a girl.

Richard and I had agreed that if it was a girl, then we weren’t going to have any more children because being pregnant was hard on me. As the birth was getting closer, I lied and told my mom that this new doctor only allowed one person in the room with me when I gave birth. After what had happened last time, I just couldn’t have her at the hospital again.

Thursday, May 5, 1988

I woke up during the night because the baby had turned sideways. It was so painful. I could tell where the head was and what the legs were. Then I slowly pushed the head downward so the baby was facing downwards. After I had turned the baby back to where it should be, I felt a strong pulse.

Friday, May 6, 1988

I got worried about the pulse, so I went to see the doctor to let him know. He told me that everything looked fine and that I shouldn’t worry about it.

Monday, May 9, 1988

When we got to the hospital, I was ready to give birth, but the nurse told me not to push and to wait until she told me to. At the time, I didn’t know that it was because the doctor wasn’t there yet, and the nurse was afraid to deliver the baby. As usual, I did what I was told and did everything in my power not to push. When the doctor finally arrived, he told me to push.

During the delivery, I could tell someone was holding my hand. I looked to see who it was, but there was no one. I knew someone was there, I could feel it! I kept looking to see who it was. Slowly, the person standing there came into focus. It was my grandma Helfred who had passed on.

As I looked into her eyes, she became aware that I could see her. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she motioned for me to look in the corner of the room. I looked to see what she was pointing to. I could feel the whole room was filled with spirits. As I was looking in the corner, just slightly above me, I could see two spirits.

The spirits looked to be between 2 and 3 years old. The spirits realized I could see them, and then one of them, a girl, said, “Hi Mommy!” The other, a boy, said, “Don’t wait too long!” I looked around to see if anyone else could see or hear what I was looking at. It became clear I was the only one aware of the spirits in the room. All this was going on as I was giving birth.

I was told it was a girl. I didn’t get a chance to see her because the nurse took her away into another room. Everyone in the room looked worried. I asked if everything was allright. They wouldn’t tell me anything else! The doctor looked at the umbilical cord. Then he said, “I have seen one knot in the umbilical cord before and have heard of 2, but never 3!”

As the doctor looked at the umbilical cord in disbelief, he noticed one of the knots was tight. It was most likely tightened when I turned the baby the right way, which is why I felt such a strong pulse. It was the food and oxygen that had struggled to get through.

The doctor looked worried at the tightened knot. Then he said, “We won’t know until a few years from now if the knot has caused brain damage.” I thought, “Wow, just what I wanted to hear!” Again, I asked if my baby was okay. Still, they wouldn’t tell me anything.

When the doctor finished examining the umbilical cord, the nurse came to dispose of it. The doctor said, “No, no! I am going to save it so that my colleagues can see it! If they don’t see it for themselves, they will never believe me!” He seemed more interested in the umbilical cord than in how my baby was doing.

The whole time, I could feel my grandmother’s presence. Then the nurse wheeled me into a different room. As I was being wheeled into the other room, I could feel my grandmother let go of my hand. I wanted to ask the nurse if she could see my grandmother, but didn’t, because it was obvious she couldn’t, and I didn’t want the nurse to think I had gone crazy.

I asked the nurse where I was going and where they had taken my baby. She said that since the baby had been in the birth canal for so long, there were complications.

The baby had swallowed her own feces, and it had gone into her lungs, and that’s why she had not cried when she came out. The nurse assured me that the doctor was doing what they could to suck out her lungs so that she could cry.

The nurse brought me into the recovery room, then she left. I was alone, wondering and worried! It was a strange feeling. I had just left a room full of spirits. I didn’t quite know what to make of it. I wondered what the boy meant by “don’t wait too long!” Did he mean not to wait too long for him to come join his siblings? I also thought about the girl who had said, “Hi, Mommy.” Did this mean there were still a boy and a girl waiting to join our family?

I was so mad at myself for listening to the nurse and didn’t push when I knew I needed to! Now my baby was having complications because of it! When Richard came into the room, he told me Sarah was alive, but it would be a while before I could see her.

I wanted to ask Richard if he had seen the spirits, but I knew he would have said something if he had, and I didn’t want him to mock me, so I didn’t say anything.

Finally, they brought Sarah to me. Her poor head was long and lopsided from being in the birth canal for so long. The nurse assured me that her head would look normal within the next few months.

I called Jared from the hospital to let him know it was a girl. He said, “I know! That’s what I was trying to tell you!” It was kind of crazy to me that Jared was only 2 and a half years old, and yet he knew it was his sister that I was expecting.

I knew I had to tell him what had happened while I gave birth. So, I said, “Well, actually, there are still two more that are waiting to join our family.” Then I asked Richard, “While I was giving birth, did you feel or see anything unusual?” Richard looked confused. Then he asked, “What are you talking about?” So, I told him what had happened. Richard assured me that it was the medicine that they had given me at the hospital that made me hallucinate. I told him that I was pretty sure it wasn’t.

Richard didn’t believe me. When I would bring it up, he would try to convince me it was the medicine.