I was asked once if I believed in miracles; my
answer was a simple yes.
Today I have more reasons to believe than ever. In
less than one year I have seen the birth of two “miracle babies”; Kaydence Shai
Tipton and Zander Cash Mullins.
My oldest granddaughter, Keary, and her husband,
Kevin, have always wanted a large family. But in the five years they have been
married there have been four pregnancies and only one full term baby. When Keary
was in her sixth month a soccer ball size tumor was found growing along with
the baby in the womb. There were two choices: let the tumor grow and take a
chance it would take all the nutrients the baby needed for growth and health or
take a chance of an early delivery by doing surgery to remove the tumor.
The choice was made to do the surgery. My great
granddaughter, Kassidie Lynn Tipton, was born healthy and whole.
In March of
2012 Keary was once again expecting a baby. Pictures were taken in vitro of the
small life growing inside of her. Six weeks later the babies heart simply stopped beating and the baby was gone.
The doctor had no explanation. Keary and Kevin were devastated. Keary
mourned by herself because Kevin simply denied Keary had ever been pregnant.
This was Kevin’s coping mechanism to avoid grief.
In March of 2013 Keary started having pain through
her pelvic area and being extremely ill. The doctor was concerned that she
might have another tumor growing and would need another surgery. A procedure
was done and much to everyone’s surprise the so called “tumor” was a baby! The baby
would be due in December and because of what had happened before Keary’s
pregnancy would be followed carefully and often.
Again in the sixth month the doctor told Keary and
Kevin that there was a tumor growing. Unfortunately that tumor was growing on the
brain stem of the fetus. If the baby made it to full term there was a very
real probability that she would never walk or talk and a very high probability
that she would be both mentally retarded and handicapped, spending all of her
life in a wheelchair.
It was at this time that both Keary and Kevin began
to pray. At first they didn't pray together and neither knew that the other was
going to a higher power. Then one day as my granddaughter was praying her
kitten brought her a small piece of wadded up paper.
Out of curiosity she unrolled the piece of paper. On
that paper in her grandfather’s handwriting were written the words “Keary, I
love you. Everything will be all right.”
The words were not so miraculous; but the very existence
of that piece of paper was something miraculous because her grandfather had
died of cancer in August of 2008 and Keary did not ever remember having
received a note like that from her grandfather.
As she sat pondering where and how that note had
come to her, Kevin came in and told her that he had been praying and that he
felt everything would be okay with the baby because he had been praying and had
felt such a feeling of comfort and relief from worry that he felt God had
answered his prayers.
When they went for the next checkup, the tumor was
still in evidence but not growing as it had been. The next checkup was the same;
the tumor was still in evidence but not growing. The last check up before the
babies term date the tumor was gone. It had simply disappeared.
Kaydence Shai Tipton was born December 12, 2013.
Within an hour of her birth she turned blue, stopped breathing and lay lifeless
in her mother’s arms. My daughter noticed what was happening, took Kaydi from Keary and had Kevin ring for the nurse on her way out of the door. The nurse
met her outside the door, grabbed Kaydi and ran with her to the nursery. A very tense fifteen minutes later the nurse
returned to say that Kaydi was stable but would remain in the nursery until the
pediatrician could run further test.
Kaydi Shai will soon be a year old; she is
a beautiful, happy little girl.
My oldest grandson, Broc Mullins stands six feet
seven inches, and his wife, Holly, stands four feet nine inches. They have
always known that they might never be able to have children because of all the
medical problems that Holly has always had. So when she started feeling sick
they thought it meant she would probably be having another surgery to correct
another problem. Much to their surprise her illness this time was a pregnancy
that was not supposed to be possible.
On March 30, 2014, Zander Cash Mullins came into
this world crying loudly to announce his birth. At two and a half months,
Zander is a joy to all; especially his Oma Chris. Zander is her only
grandchild.
