Hosanna: God's miracle

While we enjoy and thank God for the arrival of our little gift "Hosanna Andrea", let's rewind a wee bit to see God's hand in our lives for the past one year. 

The primary purpose of this blog is to glorify Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. 

Those who trust in Him will never be put to shame. 



Mourning a miscarriage:

June 14^th, 2014 (Note the year)– Night 10PM – Gracia, my wife, is in her 5^th month of gestation – 19 weeks and 2days to be precise. Gracia is midway through her pregnancy and is beginning to feel the little one kick, with its tiny feet and no wonder it makes any mother happy. Gracia was no exception – she was elated. So elated, that she started playing songs on YouTube and started singing along with it. Gracia and I are in our bedroom getting ready to sleep. What a sight that was, my pregnant wife, praising her creator and the little one (tuck safely) listening to it….the maker only knew what was to come. I joined my wife in praising Jesus. 

Songs that we sang that night:

1 Count your blessings 

2 All to Jesus I surrender 

3 God is good all the time

June 15^th, 2014 

It was a bright Sunday morning and the day marked the 1^st anniversary of our Engagement. We both thanked God for guiding and being part of our family life. Remember God is faithful and good all the time. I moved on to attend the 7AM church service and was back by 8.30 AM. Gracia had her breakfast. I decided to fast. I wanted to thank God for His goodness. Tired of getting up early morning and also partly because of the fast, I decided to lie down for a while. Gracia was also taking rest and she complained of mild pain in the lower abdomen. It’s a really hot summer time in Chennai. 

So she presumed the pain might be due to body heat. We did not take any chances. We decided to call the doctor – we tried to approach the nearby Apollo Clinic, though we were consulting regularly in CSI Kalyani Hospital. They transferred the call to the labor ward. The doctor said there shouldn’t be pain due to body heat and suggested it was better for us to consult the doctor who knows the history of the pregnancy. We knew that this is not normal and started for the hospital.

Alerted Gracia’s mom and picked her up as well. On the way, Gracia was still having the pain although it was not severe. She also complained of mild bleeding when we started from home. Reached the hospital at around 2pm. Now, it was time we faced the moment of truth. The duty doctor in the labor room immediately ordered a scan to check if anything was wrong with the baby inside. The baby was perfectly fine – with its little movements. But the doctor detected that Gracia's cervix had given way and the body was getting ready to expel the baby. 

Now it was time for the doctor to convey the bad news – first to me. "David - what I am about say might not sound ok, but that's the truth - you are going to lose your baby!"

Initially, I thought it was going to be a simple procedure to stall the dilation of the cervix, probably a stitch. That was not the case. The doctor said 98% we will lose the baby and asked me to sit. I still refused to believe. I said I will pray and my God will answer. Nothing happened. 

Jesus gave me the strength to take it. 

Now, all that was running on my mind was "What's going to happen to Gracia?"

The labor pains had already started for Gracia. I again pulled all my strength and asked the doctor “Will this affect Gracia??”. The doctor assured me that it would NOT affect Gracia or the future pregnancies, if any. 

At 3PM they took out the fetus, our child from Gracia.

It was an agonizing moment for me. But since we were founded on ROCK - JESUS CHRIST, we could withstand the STORM of disappointment.

D&C was performed. No anesthesia was administered. Gracia cried in pain and all I could do was stand outside the labor room and pray for the pain to subside.

June 15^th, 2014 - 8PM

The procedure is now complete and Gracia is taken to a deluxe ward. By now some of our very close relatives came in to pray for Gracia and assure us of the presence of Jesus even in this tragic moment.

We had just lost our child, a boy! Tragedy had struck us.

Thoughts started rushing and I asked God for an explanation about what just happened. I cried, probably for the first time in years. We cried together. It was a tough night. We could not sleep for a minute.

Were we disappointed? - A big YES!

Did we lose HOPE? - A big NO! Because, we have Jesus Christ, who is a specialist in impossibilities.


I was reminded of Psalm 91. I am a firm believer in God's protection for His children and was knocked out after I was reminded of this verse.

Psalm 91:14-15

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord,
"I will rescue him;I will protect him,
for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him."

I can say with all truth and from the bottom of my heart - Jesus was with me and Gracia in this time of trouble, just as promised in the psalm.

June 16^th, 2014 - 2PM

The doctor came in for a routine check up and was quite happy with the progress. Gracia and I though we had a sleepless night, we were getting ready to leave the hospital. By God's grace we were discharged by 2PM. The moment we started the car, we heard a song being played from the car stereo player. The song is "He Never Sleeps, He Never Slumbers".

This came as a promise for both of us and our hearts were filled with joy in spite of the disappointment because our God has promised us He Will Never Leave Us Nor Forsake Us - Heb 13:5.

 

I decided to celebrate our Engagement day and brought home a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates. I wore the LP shirt Gracia gifted me on our Engagement Day. We prayed and thanked God for being with us in our joys and our sorrows.

Psalm 89 was a great source of inspiration and promise from God himself in these tough times.

July 1^st, 2014 - New House - New beginning

We decided to shift closer to where Gracia's parents stay. This way we thought Gracia can take sufficient rest, yet have a great time with friends and family.

Our dwelling in Ayanavaram - Chennai

September 9^th, 2014 

Let's do a fast forward to Sept :-) --> By this time, we are done with all the routine checks for Gracia. The doctor has certified that the healing is complete and to continue with normal diet. Yet, a word of caution not to be lazy and brooding over what happened 3 months back. We thought the advice was worth taking but Gracia did get thoughts about the child we lost no matter how active and how prayerful she was. I think this is normal for any person who has just undergone a tough phase.

We prayed as a family for God to work a miracle.

The doctor had asked us to visit her with one final scan before she let's go of Gracia. This was to be absolutely sure that the previous miscarriage would not affect future conception if any.

September 16^th, 2014 

We headed to the hospital with the scan in our hands. We were waiting for the doctor to say "Everything is OK". But what happened was absolutely stunning and shocking. Just so you are aware and for the benefit of anyone who might be interested, I'll read out the phrase that mattered most in the report - "Diffused thickening of the ENDOMETRIUM".


This is not good.


The doctor is now perplexed and takes a second look at it. "Ms Angeline Gracia, we need to take a BIOPSY. Don't worry this can be done by doing a simple procedure to scrape of the tissue in the endometrium"


We were not only puzzled but also eager to know what that lump could be. We clarified whether it is normal. The doctor said, " It could be a debris from the previous miscarriage!"

We were short of words and Gracia's eyes began to well up with tears.

"Now what do we do?" - was the question on both of our minds.

My very words as we stepped out of the hospital was - " I do NOT trust the doctor. This could be a pregnancy, our baby on it's way." Gracia was in no mood to accept it.

We strolled. I took my car and we drove straight to Pastor Paulsingh's house. First, to share and pray about it. Second, most importantly to get to know about the BIOPSY procedure. Since Sarah PaulSingh akka went through a tough phase (cancer) in her life, we thought it prudent to seek her opinion.

Sarah Paul Singh akka simply said BIOPSY is a simple procedure to check the malignancy of the growth. It may not be cancer at all.

My mind was clogged with thoughts and I am asking God. "Now, we are discussing about cancer, when we are just recovering from a tragedy - the tragedy of losing our first child!!"

Pastor prayed for us and encouraged us to remain hopeful. I tried my best to divert her from this "BIOPSY" thought which had struck us in the most unexpected fashion.

September 23^rd, 2014 


Time for another scan before the laproscopy is confirmed for a BIOPSY test.


We wait for our turn to meet the doctor with the scan results in our hand - not a promising one, really.

In the meantime, we had taken a pregnancy test - only because we wanted to be sure it's not a live fetus. The pregnancy test was positive ! Yet we needed to hear from doctor - as to what happened to the "debris" and the BIOPSY theory.


The doctor was amazed to see the report in her hand. Excitement in her eyes - "Gracia, I thank God we did not go for the laproscopy! This is definitely the fetus and the endometrium thickening was the uterus preparing itself to hold the baby!"

What a sigh of relief!!!

We were delighted to hear the good news!! We thanked God right there! Jesus had definitely performed a miracle at that very moment.

Gracia was 4 weeks pregnant! We still could not digest the fact.

I asked the doctor. Are you sure it is safe to continue?

The doctor replied - "The fetus would not be formed if the uterus is not ready to hold the baby"

Our hearts were filled with gratitude. Gracia's eyes again welled up with tears - but this time with tears of JOY!!!

Psalm 91:14-15

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord,
"I will rescue him;I will protect him,
for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him."

I had scribbled my thoughts as a poem. It goes like this...

Little one, "How's life in the dark room?"
I have been thinking of you right from last June.


Never thought God will answer us so soon
Our hopes are bright as the big full moon!


Do you know you had a brother, a baby boy?
We will love you as a gift from God, a bundle of joy!


How does it feel when we pray for you, my dear?
Remember, God's love for you is loud and clear.


Your mom says you are very quiet!!
I'll don't know if you'll prov her right :-)

Your every heartbeat really makes us glad.
You know, we have a God who NEVER likes us sad!

November 26th, 2014 



Gracia was in her 13th week of gestation.

Absolutely no complications and very less nausea this time for Gracia to undergo.

Praise be to Jesus.

A procedure called, Cervical encerclage - a precautionary measure to prevent cervix from premature dilation was administered to Gracia.

She had to be on general anesthesia for 2 hours.

The procedure was a success. We were on our way back home after a night's observation.


The next 4 months were very crucial for both of us.

We asked Jesus to guide us just as He's been with us all through the journey.


May 13th, 2015

It's time to remove the encerclage now.

It is a 2 hour procedure.

Just to ensure the baby's heartbeat is consistent, we stayed for 4 hours more.

Jesus assured us that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

We thanked God again for a seamless procedure and are on our way back home.

May 16th, 2015

12 days before the due date.

Doctors have advised Gracia to walk a lot. This way labour pain can start any moment.

We decided to go to Express Avenue Royapettah. One of the best hangouts in Chennai.

We had my friend's family (Rajasekhar Annamalai) come in for company and boy we had a jolly time with 2 year old Mridul!! :-)

A snap with Raja's family

Mridul having a great time with Hamley's rabbit!

With my sweetheart

May 27th, 2015

Just 1 day to go!!

We realize how happy we would be to receive a reward from Jesus!

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. - Psalm 127:3

Eager enough, I had taken a day off, to spend time with Gracia. 

Jesus was gracious to us even here. Gracia called me at about 8.30AM, informing me of labor pains. 

I rushed her to the hospital. By 9AM we were in the hospital, walking just as normal as a visitor.

Gracia was admitted to the labor ward.

I was with Gracia throughout her labor.

Though it was very tough to see my love one hand, go through a difficult time, I was very hopeful and happy on the other, to see the gift Jesus was going to give us. It was a mixed feeling.

By 3PM the labor pains had peaked and Gracia was given "Enotox" - gas and air. This was to ease the pain.

We had not opted for Epidural as the baby was well past 7 cms in the birth canal.

At 4:03PM, we saw our gift - Hosanna!!! :-)

I saw her first. I kissed her first. I thanked Jesus at the very moment.

Our eyes were filled with tears!

Thoughts were rushing in and it was very difficult for us to stay still.

Hosanna, our little angel from above was checked for all the vitals. Picture perfect! That's how our Jesus Christ lead us.

We thank our good Lord for the normal delivery, again a prayer answered at the right time.

First profile pic of our daughter - HOSANNA!!

With our gift from Jesus

2 days later were discharged. 

June 15th, 2015 (Note the date & year)


Today was a very emotional day.

Mixed feelings.

We had decided to take Hosanna to church and thank Jesus for His grace on us.

In a span of 1 year, He had given back a child to us.

The moment we went to the altar with Hosanna. We knelt down and thanked Him.