Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul by Jack Canfield

Author:Jack Canfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781453278949
Publisher: Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing
Published: 2010-08-31T07:00:00+00:00

6

SMALL

MIRACLES

Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries

Sister Corita Kent

Blessed Laughter

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”

Genesis 21:6

It had been an unusually quiet evening in our obstetrics unit. After weeks of numerous deliveries and nonstop busyness, the last of our postpartum patients and their newborns had been discharged. With no patients, our nurse aides had floated to other areas where they were needed, and me and Karen, the other scheduled nurse, were all that remained in our department.

We were enjoying the quiet for a change when the phone rang.

“That was Cindy in ER,” Karen said, as she hung up the phone. “She says they’re sending someone back who may be in labor.” She paused, grinning slightly.

“What?” I pressed.

“Well, Cindy said the woman and her husband didn’t even know they were pregnant!”

I raised my eyebrows quizzically, but before I found words to respond, the maternity room doors burst open. An emergency room stretcher, carrying a heavy-set woman in her mid-forties, pushed by a harried ER nurse, barreled down the hallway toward us. An older man was trotting alongside, holding her hand. Both were red-faced and panting heavily, she to delay giving birth, he in an attempt to keep up.

We sprang into action and quickly moved her to a labor bed while the ER nurse beat a hasty retreat. A quick check of the woman proved that she was indeed very pregnant and very much in labor. She had labored to the point of being fully dilated and was already feeling the strong urge to push. Not having known she was pregnant, she had no obstetrician. So, while I finished prepping her and instructing her on breathing techniques, Karen called emergency to borrow one of their resident doctors to deliver her. Otherwise, we would soon be performing the honor ourselves!

Less than half an hour later, the woman gave birth to a vigorous, yowling, though very small, baby girl.

After the infant had been pronounced healthy by the resident doctor, I cleaned and diapered her. Then the swaddled baby was returned to her parents, and Karen and I finally had time to find out how the mother could have missed that she was pregnant. This was Ellen and Jake’s story:

She and Jake had gone bowling that evening. While she was taking her turn with the ball, she suddenly experienced what she described as “intense abdominal cramping.” She tried to ignore it at first, but it increased in intensity, persisting to the point that she was convinced she was having a gallbladder attack.

Similar symptoms had appeared to a lesser degree over the past several months. At first, her doctor felt it was heartburn. Later, he considered other digestive problems; she was prescribed antacids and urged to watch her stress levels and cut down on fatty foods. Finally, her doctor attributed the recurring problem to gallstones.

“But why wasn’t pregnancy ever considered?” Karen asked boldly.

Ellen laughed through her tears, tenderly stroking the cherub cheek of her brand new daughter.

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