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'Miracle baby' gets baptized

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Contributed by: Shannon Mitchell on 4/18/2008

My husband and I thought this day would never come.

After all that has happened in the past four years, the tears and struggles, our precious daughter, our "miracle baby," was baptized this Sunday, April 20.

Back in February 2005, I was 5 1/2 months pregnant with our first child, a baby girl. During a routine ultra-sound, I was told she had stopped growing and her umbilical cord was malformed.

After a battery of tests, it was discovered I had a disorder called Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR), which causes my blood to clot during pregnancy. If the disorder is not found and corrected in time, it is ultimately fatal for the baby.

I was sent home on strict bed-rest, supplements to take, an injectable blood thinner and a strict diet of vitamin- and folic acid-enriched foods. Two weeks later, there was no change in her condition and the diagnosis was terminal.

I was sent to the hospital and told I would have to be induced.

After 48 hours of intense labor, our baby girl, Colleen, was born silently on Feb. 28, 2005. I was sent to surgery following her birth to remove what did not come out naturally.

The nurses and staff cried along with us. It was the hardest thing in the world to leave that hospital empty-handed.

I became pregnant again in July 2006. The doctors right away put me back on the supplements, injectable blood thinners and a strict diet. But after eight weeks, I began to bleed.

I was rushed to the emergency room on the night of Aug. 17, hemorraging badly because of the blood thinners, and no hope of this pregnancy continuing. After a brief hospital stay, I had to return for surgery to again remove what did not come out.

Again, pregnancy came to me in November 2006. But, before the regimine of drugs could be started, I miscarried on Dec. 16.

By this time, my husband and I had had enough. There was no hope of ever having a child of our own. I desperately wanted to have a tubal ligation and just try to get on with our broken life. But, my doctor asked us to please not give up and try one more time.

February 2007 found me pregnant again. By now, I was so paranoid about being pregnant I really had no hope. I took my meds and did my injections by rote, not even knowing if I was doing any good or just prolonging the inevitable.

Time passed and things were looking up. But during a mid-July appointment, the news was not so good. Again, we would be having a girl, but her growth had slowed. I was put back on bed rest, given two injections of steroids to mature her lungs faster, and was to come into the office every other day for monitoring.

On Aug. 31, 2007, Kathryn Dianne Majarian was born via c-section at 6:50 p.m. She was three months early, weighing in at just 1 pound, 10 ounces and 12 3/4" long.

The doctors whisked her away from the operating room to the neonatal intensive care unit. I was able to see her for the first time the next day. Because of my history of loss, the nurses let me hold her for five minutes. They were breaking their own rules for me,'just-in-case' this one didn't make it.

That night, I was awakened by the NICU doctor. He couldn't get her blood pressure stabilized and thought it would be best if she were transferred to a larger hospital with a more equipped NICU.

The nurses called around but there were no beds to be had. But, by the end of the third day, her pressure had become normal.

By the end of her third week, Kathryn was able to breath on her own and was doing well. Then she got sepsis, an inifection of the blood, and had to be put back on the ventilator. After a couple of weeks, she was well again and able to breath on her own.

My husband and I visited her every day, sometimes twice a day. We would put our hands in the ports of her incubator and lay them on her head and back. Her blood pressure would lower, her breathing become more regular and she would sleep more soundly when we did this. She knew us. She knew we meant comfort and love.

Again, just when everything seemed to be going well, we were hit by another blow. October came around to find Kathryn had developed pnumonia, complicated by another bout of sepsis.

This time, the transfer to a larger NICU was mandatory. She was moved, via ambulance to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

There, the doctors and nurses struggled to keep her alive. She was put on a special ventilator, a medication to take away the pain, an antibiotic and kept under sedation.

Our commute to see her turned from 10 minutes on side streets, to 45 minutes on three freeways ... but we went, every day.

We didn't find out until later how bad she had really gotten ... the doctors gave her only a 20 percent chance to live.

But live she did! After a month at CHLA, they transferred her back to her home hospital. Slowly, she was weaned off her ventilator onto oxygen through a canula, and tube feedings onto bottles and started growing by leaps and bounds.

Finally, on Dec. 14, 2007, we were allowed to take her home! She was still on oxygen, an apnea monitor and six different medications, but she was home!

Our little girl is now over 12 pounds and is full of life! She still has to have oxygen and the monitor at night, but at least she sleeps through it!

There is still so much more to this story than I am able to write, but I felt Kathryn's story needed to be told. She truly is, our little miracle baby!

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Submitted By: Jackie Houchin

posted on 5/2/2008 @ 1:52:15 PM

Rated Story

What a heartbreaking, but ultimately joyful story! I am so glad baby Kathryn is doing well. She is truly a miracle baby. May she grow stronger every day! Also, shame on the person who wrote the previous comment. I agree that babies do not need to be baptised to be saved, but this is more of a dedication of this sweet little girl to the Lord by her extremely grateful parents. And as they tell her the story of her birth and early life, she will see how precious her life is to God and will believe in him willingly. Why turn such a lovely story of hope into condemnation? Blessings on this family! And when Kathryn accepts Jesus personally later on, they will have reason to doubly celebrate and praise Him.

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Submitted By: larry smith

posted on 4/27/2008 @ 9:43:58 PM

Rated Story

Infant baptism is an evil abomination.Little children are alive in Christ because of the atonement. Jesus died on the cross and atoned for adams transgression. Little children are whole for they are not capable of committing sin. Baptism of Infants is solemn mockery before God. children are not accountable until after the age of 8 years old

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Shannon Mitchell

Chatsworth , CA

Shannon Mitchell has posted 7 stories and 0 comments since joining on 11/16/2006. Shannon Mitchell 's average story rating is 3.

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