I’d like to take a moment and ask you all if you would say a prayer for my sister and her family. Evelyn was seven weeks pregnant, but lost the baby last night.
I got a call yesterday afternoon from Evelyn and she was sobbing. Her husband, Pete, was out of town, and she was upset because she thought she’d had a miscarriage. Without going into detail, she had discharged some blood and something that she thought might be the baby. She’d already had one ectopic pregnancy and was concerned about having more problems.
She only lives a quarter mile away and I rushed right over. Since the doctors told her to come right in to the hospital, I was going to stay with the kids, but as soon as she started to leave they became hysterical. (Kateri is 2-1/2 and Chiara is 13 months) They probably sensed their mom’s distress.
So, we decided to bring them along and I would entertain them while Evelyn talked to the doctor. On the way over, Evy asked me to do something that some people might find strange. She asked me to baptize the baby’s body just in case. She was driving and I was in the passenger seat, so I grabbed the bottle of holy water they keep in the car, opened the zip-top bag holding what we thought could be the remains and I blessed it/him/her, saying “I conditionally baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” And then I said a few prayers, recalling the quote from Jeremiah (1:5—“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before were born I consecrated you.”) and asking for the intercessions of certain saints and asking the Blessed Mother to extend her mantle of protection around us, especially Evelyn, because she of all people knows the pain of the loss of an innocent child.
At the hospital the doctor said he was 90 percent sure it wasn’t the baby and that it was a large blood clot, but after lab tests today, they found that it was indeed the baby. (The doctor used the aggravating term “products of conception” as if this wasn’t a child, but something to be manufactured or discarded when it has no further utility. My poor sister didn’t understand what he was talking about at first. For her, this was no “product”, but her own child.)
Please pray for Evelyn and her family and for the repose of the soul of her child. And I thank God that I was able to baptize her child, that he gave us the opportunity to the instruments of His grace to him.
As you say, Mom, you are honored. So is your son. As is your daughter, and your grandchild. And, so is your unborn child.
Maybe there was no one to guide you, but SOMEBODY knew enough to guide your (39 year old) son. I expect you played a major part in this.
God love you, Mom B!
Love,
Kelly
35, Kelly.
Don’t age me too quick.
Thank you all for your kind words. I certainly didn’t post what I did for praise, but as a witness to the gift of life and the grace of God. Thank you all just the same. All the glory is God’s.