I got the phone call from Shelita at about 4:30am.  As I picked up the phone, she hurredly said, “They’re going to deliver the baby!  We’re trying our best to wait until you get here!  Hurry up and get the next flight!”

Within moments, I was wide awake, and had bought my ticket for a 6:30am flight.  I searched frantically throughout the house for everything I’d need for my trip.   “Where is my phone?  Where the heck is my cell phone!!!,”  I murmured to myself as I paced around trying to locate the same phone I’d just answered.  I thought to myself, “Already…I am losing my mind!”  I finally found my phone, and was able to call a friend for a ride to the airport.

When I got to the airport, my heart and mind were racing.  Nothing would get in my way of doing everything possible to make it to the hospital for the birth of my first child. When I boarded the plane and sat down, my sense of complete hurriedness was brought to a discouraging halt when the pilot casually stood in front of everyone onboard and stated, “Unfortunately, some fuel spilled out underneath the plane overnight, and before we take off, we’re going to need to run some tests on the engines.”

My heart sank.

When we finally did make it in the air, the seemingly constant turbulence didn’t help my concern about the leaky fuel or the need to test the plane’s engines.   As we began our descent towards Boston’s Logan Airport, my eyes began to tear up.  I’d psyched myself into being at peace, but within moments, I’d learn whether or not my wife and my son (who I figured was born while I was in flight) were ok.  As I sat there in my seat looking out the window in an attempt to hide my teary-eyed face from fellow passengers who didn’t know my circumstances, the pilot came back on the PA system and addressed everyone saying, “I apologize for the turbulent ride, but that’s just the hand we were dealt.”

Indeed.

If you’ve ever experienced inconvenient or painful turbulence which interrupted your very hopeful expectations, please read on.  This story is for you.  I share with you in order to encourage and inspire you to see and appreciate the good in the bad…to perceive and appreciate God’s grace in the midst of surprising and sometimes agonizing turbulence.   Highlighted are 5 special ways that God’s grace stood out to us in the birth of our son.  Although it was turbulent and scary at times, God’s grace was visible throughout!   And, His best is yet to come!

POINT OF GRACE #1:  THE WARNING

Back in August, a little over 4 months into our pregnancy, Shelita’s doctor called her, and asked her to come in for a quick follow up appointment since there was concern about some of her lab results and since her blood pressure was a little higher than preferred in a recent test.  Her doctor said she wanted to make sure Shelita didn’t have a condition called pre-eclampsia.  Upon hearing this, Shelita googled pre-eclampsia, then called me in tears.  What she read mentioned the symptoms of pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure & protein in the urine), the cause of pre-eclampsia (the internal organs do not react well to the presence of the placenta), and the effects of pre-eclampsia (it is the most common of the dangerous pregnancy complications; it could be fatal for both the mother and the unborn child). The only known cure is early delivery.

At the time, we were a little offset by the fact that her doctor had dropped that term on us, since no official diagnosis had been made yet.  We prayed.  When Shelita went for follow up tests, her tests came back normal.  We exhaled…and thanked God!  That month, we stopped by pharmacies every now and then, and monitored her blood pressure.  Her blood pressure was normal every time.   Except for this “hiccup”, leading up to November, Shelita’s pregnancy was completely smooth and easy. No morning sickness, mood swings, or discomfort.   For a long time, it didn’t even hit us that she was actually pregnant.   Nonetheless, pre-eclampsia was a condition we were now very aware of.

Our weekend trip to Boston in late October was supposed to be our last bit of travel before having the baby in January.  There really were no concerns about traveling with Shelita 6 ½  months pregnant.  We had full clearance from her doctor to make the trip.

I grew up in Boston, and I hadn’t seen my family and friends there in a year and a half.  So, I needed to see them.  Plus, I figured once we had the baby, it might be a while before we actually get up there.

The day before we left for Boston, Shelita’s feet were a little swollen.  We did some research and found that this is normal for pregnancy.   We kept an eye on it, raised her feet on occasion, and spent several  days in Boston visiting family and friends.  On the last night we were supposed to be there (we had an early morning flight back to Virginia the next day), we noticed that Shelita’s feet were more swollen than usual. Thinking back upon the pre-eclampsia scare, we figured we’d check her blood pressure.   If we had not been warned about it months before, it’s very doubtful we would have checked her pressure that night.

Looking back, God used a concern from a doctor to give us something to look out for. The same blunt warning that gave us some distress earlier turned out to be a life-saver.

POINT OF GRACE #2:  THE PROVISION

I don’t know how many people you know who own a blood pressure monitoring kit, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head…except for my mother.  It’s very likely that if we weren’t staying at my mother’s that weekend, and if my mother didn’t own a blood pressure monitoring kit, we would not have checked Shelita’s blood pressure for several days. Who knows what might have happened!  There really was no rush on our part to check her pressure.  She felt and looked fine.

My mother knew about our prior incident, and was involved in our conversations about how to treat Shelita’s swollen feet.  She volunteered to let us use her blood pressure monitoring kit, just to be safe.

In a span of minutes, Shelita took her blood pressure about 5 times.  She shared with me the results (they were high and seemed to increase each time).  Shelita grew more concerned after each test.   She doesn’t have chronic hypertension, so it wasn’t that.  I tried the kit on myself…just to make sure it was accurate.  My levels were normal.  On Shelita’s final test, she broke down.  Her pressure was sky high. We called her doctor, who told us to drive immediately to Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

POINT OF GRACE #3:  ARGUABLY THE BEST POSSIBLE HOSPITAL

I remember thinking on the way to the hospital, “This is scary, but I pray it won’t be so bad.  They’ll probably give her some medication to stabilize her blood pressure.  They might keep her overnight for observation.  It won’t be that bad.”

When we arrived at the hospital, Shelita’s high blood pressure quickly captured the attention of the nurses  and doctors.  Later that night, at 29 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia.  Not only was her blood pressure sky high, but her lab results indicated that she was more than 10x positive for pre-eclampsia. Doctors gently shared with us that night that in order to protect Shelita, they would need to deliver our son anytime from within the next 48 hours to the next 5 weeks since delivery is the only known cure to pre-eclampsia.   Additionally, she would be on full bedrest there in the hospital, in Boston until delivery.  Essentially, they would try to keep her pregnant as long as her internal chemistry and organs would permit.

This was devastating news to receive, especially for Shelita. After all, she felt fine and besides swollen feet, looked fine.  We prayed, asked friends to pray, and chose to not let fear of the worst to dwell in our minds.  With every negative or concerning report that came from the doctors, we hit the “refresh” button on our faith, and did our best to remain hopeful and confident for the best, and free from fear.

Over the next couple days, we naturally pondered what might have happened if we hadn’t gone to the hospital that night. What if Shelita would have gone back to work the next day, and checked her pressure at her doctor appointment later that week?  Would we have been ok?   Doctors kept reinforcing to us just how “lucky” we were to catch this when we did.  But, why did God allow this to happen in Boston, far from our home in Virginia?  While Boston is where I grew up, it’s not home for Shelita.   Why did all this happen there???

I’m not sure why God lets us go through what we go through, but I believe that in this case, God allowed us to go through everything we went through for several reasons:

1)      To build character in us

2)      To show forth His grace

3)      To give us a fresh testimony of His grace that we can share with the world

In the Apostle Paul’s 1^st letter to the Church in Corinth, he writes (1 Cor. 10:13), “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” In other words, God won’t put more on you than you can bear.

Throughout this experience, we were certainly tempted to give up our confidence, our joy, our peace, etc.   But, God didn’t put more on us than we could bear, and His Spirit was at work within us! It was all Him!

It became evident to us while we were at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, that God had gone before us in placing us there. We heard from nurses & doctors throughout our stay that all this couldn’t have happened at a better place. When we did our research, our findings were consistent with their statements.  Brigham’s is one of the best hospitals in the world, is directly linked with Harvard Medical School, has doctors actively researching pre-eclampsia, and is arguably the best in the country for pre-term child births.  Additionally, its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is top grade.  Our experience there was agreeable to its high rankings.  First class in every way!

POINT OF GRACE #4:  THE FAVOR

For those of you who don’t know, I work as a software sales rep for Oracle Corporation.   I work from an office in Reston, VA.  When Shelita and I learned that she would be on bedrest in Boston until childbirth, it posed an enormous logistical challenge for us.  Even after childbirth, Zion would need to remain in a NICU for many weeks, possibly up to, or post his full term due date… which was mid-January!   We were admitted to Brigham’s on October 31^st!

By God’s grace, Oracle has a hub right outside Boston.  Additionally my supervisors were gracious enough to allow me to work from there as long as necessary!

I can’t imagine what my life or work situation would look like right now if I didn’t have that kind of flexibility.

POINT OF GRACE #5:  THE FRIENDS & FAMILY

I wrap up our story with special acknowledgement of God’s grace to us through you, our friends and family.  So many of you have offered us your support in so many thoughtful & loving ways. Challenging occasions like these draw us closer together (even if we are physically far apart).  We’re grateful for the bonds which are strengthened and are being strengthened.   We love you much!

As you may know, Zion Philippe Saint-Louis was born on Friday, November 5^th, 2010, 2 ½ months premature, and just 5 days after we took Shelita into the hospital for high blood pressure.   In the 2 days before he was born, Shelita had stabilized enough for us to think she’d at least make it through the weekend.  Her mother had flown in to be with her, and per Shelita’s request I’d flown back to Virginia to take care of some things at work and the house, and in order to drive my car up to Boston that weekend.   I never made that drive.  Instead I got a call at 4:30am from Shelita telling me to catch the next flight and that they were about to deliver our son.

When I arrived at the hospital, Shelita, her mother, and my mother were in the room looking very relaxed.  I learned on my way to the hospital that Zion had been born, and that everything was generally ok, but I didn’t ask for details until I got in the room.  I greeted everyone, and broke down.  All was well.

Later on, we learned just how much of a hit her body took from the pre-eclampsia. She was administered an emergency c-section that morning because of pulmonary edema (her lungs were filling up with fluid).  Her kidneys took a notable hit.  She nearly required a blood transfusion.  The placenta which protected Zion was intact, but noticeably comprised.  She likely would have suffered a stroke and possibly worse had we not caught this.  She was a walking time bomb, and didn’t even know it.

Three weeks later, as I write this, Shelita appears nearly fully healed from the effects of the pre-eclampsia, and is recovering well from the c-section.  Zion is also doing very well. All the doctors and nurses are impressed by his progress and consider him a “champion” and “model citizen” there in the NICU.

I like to call this experience one of “Shock and Aww”. Not Shock and Awe.  Shock and Aww.

“Shock” as in, “Severe pre-eclampsia???   Bedrest???   Now???  In Boston???  Delivering our son in the next 48hrs – 5 weeks??? ”  And, “Aww” as in, “Aww…is not Zion the most adorable child you’ve ever seen!!!”

I also remember the words of that pilot: “I apologize for the turbulent ride, but that’s just the hand we were dealt.”

I can’t help but think, “There was another hand at work here!  God’s hand!!!”

May God give you grace in your moments of turbulence.  May you recognize His graces and show them forth.

Live the Life.