We were so happy for Sarah and Russell on their Wedding day!! After moving to Washington for four months, spending wonderful fall days and memories together, including Katelyn and Nathan gymnastics, Gracie ballet class, and music classes for Katelyn and Nathan, along with visiting the WA state fair, Joshy's 2nd birthday with a sports ball cake, a Harry Potter-esque Halloween, Katelyn's Harry Potter 9th Birthday, and making special wands with grandpa, along with continuing our homeschooling days, we were thankful for our Ralph family and their generosity to us, AND thankful to head down through Idaho to my Furniss' family Thanksgiving Gathering.
It was at our Thanksgiving Dinner in the church building where we were playing kickball and Jonathan was up to bat and I was covering 1st base in the outfield. He kicked and it went towards 2nd base, then they threw it to me and I started running to throw to home base to get a runner from 3rd out. Unfortunately, I didn't see Jon, who had made it to first, advance himself running to 2nd. We both did not see each other and we collided with our heads hitting hard together, and the impact threw us both to the floor. I took a volleyball-type dive to my right side to the floor, and all while being about 14 weeks pregnant. I didn't feel like it was a terrible fall, because I was able to get back up again and go check on Jonathan. He seemed to have a pretty back headache afterwards. My head hurt and I think I even had some bleeding from my earring jabbing into my head near the back of my ear. I was trying to take it all in...since it was a pretty jolting fall, and within 20 minutes after the collision, I went to the bathroom and saw I was bleeding. Somehow, I must have ripped or torn part of the baby's placenta inside me, and the blood continued as if I were on my period. I was completely unprepared, since I had not had my period for the last 4 months...and so I tried to take things easy and just rest my body in hopes it would heal quickly. I tried calling Jon's mom, Kathleeen, who is a labor and delivery nurse, to see what I should do in this situation. She said I could have dislodged or ruptured part of the placenta, and that if the bleeding didn't stop within the next day or so, that I would most definitely need to be seen by a doctor and get an ultrasound. I became quite emotional when I went to tell Jonathan, realizing that if the bleeding didn't stop, I could lose the baby.....and was having a very hard time keeping my tears back. Then, I decided to ask Jonathan and my dad for a Priesthood Blessing to help me be strong and my body to heal and I hoped I would be blessed to keep the baby. During the blessing, I was told that I would be given the strength and ability to face whatever challenges may lie ahead...With those words, I felt like my answer from the Lord was not necessarily that the baby would live, but more so that whether the baby lived or passed away, I would receive the strength and comfort I needed from the Lord. It brought me a feeling of calmness to have that blessing.
After an hour or two, I noticed the blood flow was getting heavier, so we decided to go get some pads and take me back to my Aunt Shelley and Uncle Neils to lie down. As I was trying to process the whole reality of what had just happened, I was trying to rest and sleep, but my mind was racing through the possibilities that lie ahead. I decided to start reading my scriptures and came across a verse in 2 Nephi 1:10, wherein we read: "...they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise..." which powerfully conveys how the Lord has given so many great blessings unto us and that we can have the power given to us to do all things according to our faith.
Then I also read this scripture in Alma 2: 28 "Nevertheless, the Nephites being strengthened by the hand of the Lord, having prayed mightily to him that he would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, therefore the Lord did hear their cries, and did strengthen them, and the Lamanites and the Amlicites did fall before them."
Reading those scriptures about remembering all things are in the hands of the Lord soothed my worried heart and mind, and I knew the Lord would give me the strength to overcome and make it through whatever challenges or trials lay before me. I was able to get some rest that day and the next day, Friday, we found an OBGYN who could take me in for an ultrasound appointment near Sandy, UT, which would be good for us to get down to Utah because my sister's wedding was the very next day! So, we left as quickly as we could and went straight to our apt. Thankfully, I was able to hear the baby's heartbeat...and the ultrasound did show there was blood tracking in between the uterine wall and the placenta. They confirmed there must have been a rupture of the placenta from the uterine wall, but they could not tell the severity and told me I would need to get to my OBGYN in Texas as soon as I could so they could keep monitoring it. What a faith-testing trial of the heart.
Thankfully, once we got back to Texas, over the first week of December....I got into my OBGYN midwife. The blood was starting to turn brown/rusty in color and seemed to be lightening in intensity. It was around this time when I felt like we could resume husband and wife interaction, yet we soon realized the bleeding came back. I went to see a perinatologist and she was very sweet, faith-filled and said this baby was going to be okay, and to trust in God, and to let him calm this momma's heart. What a wonderful light and influence she was for me. She said that there was a high chance a scar/blood clot would form and my body could repair the damaged placenta. We would keep monitoring accordingly to make sure the blood stopped flowing and didn't start pooling and leaking out into my internal organs. I would start to get hopefully everything would be okay, but then knew the bleeding continued and I was losing my strength. One night, I felt particularly weak and couldn't sleep well. I felt like I had been losing so much blood, that my limbs started going numb....I felt a throbbing in my left lower side and a faintness in my head. I felt my limbs were so cold and numb, I started shaking in shivers and coldness. I got up to get some blood flowing, and went to the bathroom, still more blood. There were times when I would come home from the doctor's and could not hold back the tears. I felt like we needed to prepare a name for this sweet angel baby, who just might not make it. I really like the name Alivia, for our sweet angel baby....but there was also a part of me that knew there was still a chance everything could turn out okay, and that I needed to TRUST, because all things were in the Lord's hands and I trusted in Him.
Thankfully, over the months at home, the clot at first was about 8 cm long by 3 cm wide, and shaped in an oblong oval shape and slowly decreased by a couple centimeters after a few more months. Thankfully, by the time I was 37 weeks pregnant, they could no longer find the clot on the ultrasound anymore. We were hopeful and the results were encouraging. Finally, the bleeding stopped completely a few weeks into February. What a whirlwind of emotions, and trial of our faith, but we are so immensely thankful everything turned out okay and our sweet baby was born safe and sound, without any complications. What a tender mercy from the Lord and blessing she was able to come healthy and strong into our family.
Back to our story at hand, we got back to Sandy the day before Sarah and Rusty's Wedding. It was actually that night before, we had had the print-off from the ultrasound office of our baby's gender...and we thought it would be special to have Sarah open it first! She opened it up and we found out IT WAS A GIRL!! We were so shocked that out ABAB pattern continued on all the way through to baby #5!!! How sweet and exciting!
Well, we enjoyed Sarah's Bridal Shower at Mom's house with her friend Thora, Lola, Anna, Rusty's Sister Mary and my Mom and my girls. We did face scrubs and foot scrubs and played a He Said/She Says Game. It was a memorable night of pampering and learning about Sarah and Rusty. The next morning was a beautiful day for a wedding!
What a special day! We are so thankful we could be apart of it! Congrats to Sarah and Russell Weber! One of my treasured memories of the day was at the wedding luncheon, I loved hearing about how much Rusty admired all of his siblings, one for his smartness, one for his adventuresome spirit, one for his strength, one for his love for the scriptures, one for his desire to have a family, and one for his determination. Then, he said that's why he loved Sarah so much, because she was all of those things all wrapped up into one! What a beautiful tribute of gratitude and thankfulness for their temple sealing that day. SO happy for Sarah and Rusty!!
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