wait patiently

Wow, time sure does zip by when you’re occupied and not paying attention. The last few weeks of my pregnancy were quite truthfully brutal. I threw up 6-7 times a day, with bouts of diarrhea and fatigue that would just wipe me out. There were days when I couldn’t leave the bathroom, when my older kids would have to take my younger girls out and occupy them because I couldn’t get off of the floor. My youngest, Lily Grace, would become hysterical every time she heard me throwing up in the bathroom which would then make me start crying because I just couldn’t understand why I felt so bad.

At the 35^th week of my pregnancy I was admitted to the hospital for 2 days, at which time the Dr’s informed me that they didn’t know what the problem was, they were simply diagnosing it as hyperemesis. They wanted to keep me pumped full of drugs for 2 weeks to try and get me to the 37^th week of pregnancy when they believed was a “safer” time to deliver the baby. Now, as a seasoned mother I appreciated that they didn’t want to harm the baby inside of me, because of course I did not either, but I was quite literally deteriorating from the inside out. There were moments when I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t get out of the bed, my feet were so swollen I couldn’t put weight on them, and they prescribed me med after med to try and keep me “comfortable” as they put it. Yet, the drugs didn’t work, I continued to throw up during those 2 weeks that they called the “unsafe” weeks and I was just so upset to have so many drugs going into my body. It didn’t make any rational sense to me for it to be safe to take the drugs they were putting in me but wasn’t safe to deliver him.

By 36weeks and 3 days it became apparent to the Dr’s that I could no longer carry the baby and they would need to deliver him. They still wanted to wait until the 37^th week, but this time they did not want me to go home, they would admit me for 4 days until I could deliver. When the admitted me during the 35^th week they never drew blood to test me for anything, when they admitted me the last time they realized that my electrolytes were dangerously low. My potassium, magnesium and iron were crazy low and I was unable to take medication by mouth because of the vomiting so it had to be administered by IV. This is what the potassium did:

I was also informed that because I had to have a cesarean section, my 4^th one, that I had to have blood ready for a transfusion and a team of specialists on call in case of an emergency. This weighed heavily on my heart, at the prospect of this risky surgery. I had never been told how risky of a surgery I was about to embark on. But, I felt so terrible from what I was experiencing I remember thinking to myself, “well, I’ll either be holding my baby boy soon or sitting at the foot of my Savior”, either way seemed like a blessing to me truthfully.

I was never so happy to reach the 37^th week and be wheeled into that operating room for my cesarean section. My mom was blessed with the honor to go in with me this time, praise my hubby for this. He decided to allow my mom the opportunity to experience it with me and he would experience the nursery part with our children. He is a true blessing to me! At 8:53 a.m. on Friday August 3 we welcomed our 5^th child into this world—Jacob Keegan Hermsmeier—weighing 7lbs 15oz & 20.5 in. He had the most beautiful red hair I have ever seen and was/is the most beautiful baby boy {no, I’m not biased, it’s the truth I promise, wink wink}

The morning after his birth my Dr came in and was completely astounded. I was out of the bed already, hadn’t vomited, no longer had diarehea and was smiling. She asked me when I had had my blood transfusion the day before. I said, “I never had a transfusion”. At which she responded, “That’s impossible, at the number your hemoglobin was you would’ve had to have had a transfusion to have your number be where it is today.” Um, no, not impossible, we serve a mighty God, one who healed me and refreshed me. I simply could not, in this broken human form, carry my child any longer. My body for some reason began rejecting him.My Dr looked at me and said, "I guess we needed to just deliver that baby, huh". I had to smile at this.

Today, 16 days after my 4^th c-section, something I thought for sure would be a difficult recovery, I feel FANTASTIC. The hardest part for me is remembering that I am recovering from major surgery and shouldn’t do too much. Yet, I WANT to do everything. 3 weeks ago I didn’t want to do anything except cry, today I want to do everything but shouldn’t.

My lesson through all of this--to wait patiently. I can honestly say, I did not wait patiently. I begged Him and pleaded with Him, but He revealed to me that it was His timing that was good and right. And my little boy came at His perfect timing. The Dr’s weren’t happy about it at first, but God revealed to them that my body needed to be relieved of the symptoms I was experiencing. It was then that I found comfort, but only after His prompting.

Daddy, Lily Grace, Jordon, me, Keegan, Jaxson, Hayley

Our family has been through a lot in the past 4 weeks, but we are so happy to have our little Keegan home, and healthy, and I am so happy to be healthy and able to care for my home again.