A Little Blue Bundle and Answered Prayers

He finally arrived!

Our newest little grandson (grandbaby #3 and second grandson) came into the world on Wednesday, August 10.

His birth was a rather long, traumatic ordeal and he was not at all very happy about it.

Just after being born, he was placed on his mother's tummy where he looked into her face and proceeded to tell her about his terrible experience.

It was one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. He whimpered in a funny little tone as if trying to say, "I have had the most awful day!"

Below is Camille and Camden, both looking a little happier.

Camille became one of my heroes that day.

Her first delivery resulted in an emergency c-section so she desperately wanted to have this baby all natural to reduce the chances of ending up in surgery once again.

She knew it would be difficult but she and her sweet husband, Dave, did all they could to prepare.

Even so, Camille said it was a hundred times worse than she ever imagined.

Her contractions began the minute her water broke and continued pretty much nonstop for nearly 13 hours until the baby was born.

She was making slow progress, but at least there was some progress until she reached 9 1/2 centimeters and then it stopped.

For almost two hours (5:00-7:00) she dealt with transition contractions with no relief.

Finally the doctor arrived and helped out.

And then the pushing began.

Another two hour ordeal.

One of the people critical to her being able to do this was her doula, Dawn. Dawn was wonderful!! She massaged Camille's legs and feet during active labor, spent a couple hours helping Camille stay focused on breathing during transition, helped her change positions to get more comfortable, and during pushing earned a bruised hand.

Dave was also critical to the process. Camille never let go of his hand for pretty much the entire day. His love and support were essential to her staying focused and able to get through the long hours of labor.

I too was glad to be there.

Although Camille was a little reluctant to have me there.

After all, giving birth is a very personal thing,

so I was happy to accept her wishes and not be in attendance.

After all, her comfort was what was the most important to all of us.

But in the end she decided she could use her mom.

And so I was able to witness his birth.

The first birth I have seen of my three grandchildren.

And it was very hard for me.

I cried a lot.

It was so hard to see Camille suffer the way she did.

It gave me new appreciation for our Heavenly Father and what He must feel watching our pain and suffering in life.

We were so relieved when the baby finally made his appearance.

We joyfully celebrated his arrival.

And then my tears began to flow again as the doctor explained that the birth had caused some complications for Camille and she would have to be taken to the operating room and given general anesthesia while they corrected the problems.

She made it all the way through the birth without any outside interference or medication,

only to end up in the operating room for over an hour in surgery.

My heart ached for her.

The good news is that she is on the mend.

She is home from the hospital, and although it will be a while before she is back to normal, she has a great husband to help out.

We love them all!!

Post Script.

Before the birth I was getting so frustrated that it was taking so long for Camille to go into labor. I knew my prayers were being heard, but I wasn't sure they would be answered how I wanted them to.

But they were.

Not according to my time frame, but all our prayers were answered.

Camille was able to have a successful delivery following a c-section and she gave birth to a healthy little boy. She did not need any outside intervention for her labor to progress (i.e. pitocin), and before the baby came I was able to spend a week with my little granddaughter, (a big treat since I only get to see her a couple times a year).

Plus I had some fun times with Camille going to lunch, shopping in Denver, taking Carly to the park etc.

Dawn was also an answer to a prayer as she helped Camille a lot through the most difficult part.

While watching the two of them conquer the pain, the thought occurred to me that I had been wondering if my prayers were being answered, and yet, my meeting Dawn a couple years ago was the answer to a prayer (Camille getting through the labor) that hadn't even been offered yet.

Yes, God is very much aware of us and our troubles.

And He does hear and answer our prayers.

Sometimes in different ways than we would like,

And sometimes before we even have spoken the prayer.

And that thought brings great . . . joy to my journey.

It's A Miracle . . .

The very first blog I ever read was Becky Irvine's. I loved reading her blog then and I still love reading it now. But one thing she did that I enjoyed was look for the miracles in her life and write about them. Whether they were large or just small tender mercies, I always enjoyed hearing her experiences.



So this morning, while sitting in church, I began to think of miracles that have recently occurred in my life and decided I needed to do a better job recording them so . . . here is #1.



A few weeks ago I bought some jewelry as a gift. As I was saving it to give later, I put it in a small bag and then placed the bag in a "safe" place. But, when I needed to retrieve it, I could not remember where it was.



This isn't really surprising. I am always playing the game, "Where are my reading glasses?" (usually on my head) "Where are my car keys?" (anywhere from outside on the porch to inside the washing machine), or "Where is my purse?" (you don't even want to know). So the fact that I was once again needing to find something I put down, was not very alarming.



But after I searched everywhere I could think to look, I began to worry. It is true I could replace the jewelry, but it was fairly expensive and I had ordered it over the Internet, which meant if I had to re-order, I would need to wait for it to be delivered and I wanted to give it away the next day.



I offered a quick prayer for help, and continued looking--still without success. Then I talked with one of my daughters who asked me if I had prayed. I told her I had, but not necessarily with "full purpose of heart." So after hanging up the phone, I knelt in prayer.



This time I explained the situation. I told how I had purchased the jewelry as a gift and although I could replace it, I would prefer not to waste the money that was already spent. I expressed my belief that I could receive help, and prayed for direction in finding it.



All through my prayer I kept thinking that it had to be in my closet. That just made the most sense. So when I finished my prayer, my intent was to search the closet again. However, instead I walked into my bathroom and opened my linen closet. I was a bit perplexed as to why I was there, but thought to myself, "Okay, I guess I will look here first, and then search the bedroom closet." Just as I was about to close the cupboard door, I noticed a small black sack in the back, up against the side of the closet. I opened the sack, and there inside was the jewelry.



I was so very grateful for such an immediate and powerful answer to my prayer. I felt as if an unseen power took me by the shoulders and directed me to the bathroom, since I thought rationally I should be walking in a different direction. I have no idea why I would have put the jewelry in there, but I was so grateful Heavenly Father heard my prayer and took the time to answer it.



I have had answers to prayers before, but this is one I am sure I will always remember. To me . . . it was a miracle.

Prayers and Blogger Friends--A Fun Story

I love to travel, but I do not like having to stay in a hotel on Sunday where our only option for food is to eat out. We always attend church and each time I silently pray a family in the ward we are visiting will invite us to their home for dinner, as my husband’s family often did for tourists while they were living in Mexico City. So far, however, no one has answered my prayer.

But, for some reason that thought was on my mind last Wednesday when it occurred to me that we live near a new resort and it is possible families on vacation there might attend our sacrament meeting services. I decided that if I learned of any who were visiting I would be sure to invite them over for Sunday dinner.

As I thought about it however, I decided it would be helpful if I could get a prompting in advance so I could be sure to have enough food on hand to feed extra people. And so I said a prayer and explained my desire to feed those who might be traveling and asked for a prompting when they might come so I could prepare.

A few hours later I received a comment on my blog from a blog friend, Lisa, asking if I had received her email. I hadn’t, as I never check the email address (before now :-) listed with my blog. So I got on to read her email and discovered another one sent May 5 from a blog friend, Christina. In Christina’s email she asked a question and while responding, I randomly told her what town I lived in. I didn’t know why I included that at the time, I just did it.

Christina quickly wrote back telling me she and her family would be in my town that very weekend staying at the resort near our home. And so I invited her, and her family to dinner. I was so amazed and thrilled how my prayer was answered so quickly and in such a fun way. If Lisa hadn’t asked about her email I would never have checked that email address and found Christina’s note. If I hadn’t randomly included the name of the town we live in, she would not have told me they were visiting near us this weekend. And they would have come to our ward, and left, and since I was attending another ward during our SS and RS, I would have never met them and been able to have them over for dinner at our house. And I would have missed out on meeting a very sweet blog friend.


I love it when prayers are answered like that! It is always such a comfort to me to know our prayers are both heard and answered. Here are some pictures from our time together.

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Everyone helped get dinner ready. Wes mashed the potatoes, Kristen made the gravy, Kathryn cut the meat, I made the fruit salad and cooked the vegetables and Michelle took care of the rolls and water.



After reading each others blogs for several months it was fun to meet Christina, her husband and their seven children in person.

I got so caught up in dinner, I forgot to take pictures, but afterwards while the adults visited and my older daughters did the dishes, Michelle helped entertain the kids. Here she is with the twins watching a movie.

And of course we had to take a group photo! Unfortunately Wes had already left for meetings and I was the photographer, but here is everyone else--a few hours after meeting and now good friends.

I was so glad we could meet them. Although we were friends in cyber space, it is even better to meet and be friends in real life.

So to Christina and your dear, sweet family . . . thanks for coming to dinner and for bringing so much . . . joy to our journey!

My mom . . . an update

Thank you so much to all who have prayed for my mother and written and asked how she is doing. I think we have finally turned the corner, and can confidently say she is getting better. Although the doctors like to remind us that there are still a lot of things that can go wrong, I prefer to only think positively.

The past few days have been very traumatic. Out of respect for my mother's privacy, I won't go into all the details, but when I arrived in Utah I was not prepared for how bad it was. She was sepsis (most of her organs infected and inflamed) and was shutting down. She was in kidney failure, not breathing on her own, unable to speak and in agonizing pain. On Wednesday, following some tests, it was determined she needed emergency surgery that she only had a 50% chance of surviving. The next three hours were some of the most difficult emotionally of my life. My family had all gathered at the hospital and we were placed in a separate "family room", probably so we would be alone if they brought us bad news. I spent most of my time pacing the hall.

We also called and emailed everyone we knew and asked them to pray for her. It was at this time my husband had an interesting experience that hopefully he won't mind if I share. As he began to pray he said he could literally feel the power of the many prayers being offered and knew they were being heard. I felt so comforted by that and appreciated all those who joined their prayers with ours.

We felt so blessed when the surgeon told us she had survived and was stable. The following day, however, we were hit with more bad news. They felt she was also suffering from metabolic encephalopathy, which is basically brain damage caused by the lack of nutrition from her kidney failure, that may or may not reverse.

However, today, only three days later, her kidneys are functioning normally, her breathing is almost back to normal, and she is slowly beginning to communicate with us. On Friday we were encouraged when she blinked her eyes in response to a question, and then on Saturday she started moving her head.

Progress is slow, but we are optimistic. And today is the first day we didn't get any bad news when we arrived at the hospital. In fact, the doctor told us things are going as well as he could have hoped. Improvement is going to be slow, but it is happening and there really isn't any reason we can currently see, that she can't be completely healed.

Thanks again to everyone for your prayers, love and concern. It means so much to me. I thought I was holding it all together well, but today at church one of my mother's neighbors told me there wasn't a moment of the day when she wasn't praying for my mother. When she told me that I broke down and cried. I know that your prayers are not only helping my mother heal, but have been sustaining me as well and I am so grateful for it.