The Webster-Monsons Become a Party of Five: The Culmination of a Miracle!

I once told you a story about a miracle. If you've forgotten and would like to read it again, here it is.

Two days ago, we experienced the culmination of that miracle, as the Webster-Monsons became a party of five. Mom Shulamith, Dad Mathew, Big Brother Swen, and Big Sister Kennedy welcomed Theodore Webster-Monson to their family.

And I fully breathed.

Perhaps for the first time in eight months.

Shulamith often says she has bad luck. And she's right, at least in some scenarios. In her pregnancy with Swen, she developed HELLP Syndrome, a dangerous form of preeclampsia. HELLP occurs in about .003 of 1% of pregnancies in the U.S. In her third pregnancy, which ended in miscarriage, she had placenta accreta. There aren't any statistics on this one because no one besides Shulamith gets it in the first trimester, post-miscarriage.

I tell you all this in order to explain my ridiculously high levels of anxiety throughout this pregnancy. I mean, seriously, who gets both HELLP Syndrome AND first trimester placenta accreta in the same lifetime? Shulamith Ericha Webster!

So pretty much ever since the day she took the positive pregnancy test...

which, in one of God's tenderest mercies, was the

very day the baby she miscarried would have been due,

  

...I have been a crazy woman. In the first trimester, I worried about another miscarriage. Every. Single. Day. In the second trimester, I worried right up until the 20-week ultrasound about the placement of the placenta.  In the third trimester I worried about HELLP, and by the final month, I worried about pretty much everything! This was most annoying to Shulamith, whose lovely, carefree personality doesn't tend to worry at all.

So, when my friend Candie (who happens to be a nurse here at IMC) wheeled Shulamith out of surgery Friday morning with Baby Webster-Monson (he didn't have a name at that point) in her arms, you can't imagine the overwhelming relief. Shulamith was healthy and well. Her baby was healthy and well. Every muscle in my body felt it; every emotion was released.

A friend once commented, "Terrianne is a fierce mother." It might be the highest compliment I've ever received. Shulamith is also a fierce mom. And brave and protective and patient and kind. She has been through so much in the past year and a half and has proven that, short of risking her life, she'll do anything to get her babies to earth. It reminds me of one of my most favorite songs, "Mom." If you hate country music and the voice of the amazing Garth Brooks, maybe you don't want to open this link? 

But on the other hand....

It's really the sweetest song about babies and moms and God and how we partner with Heaven to give these precious spirits the opportunity for life. So maybe you should just open it and listen anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RHmNXvAw2c

I've had the pleasure of staying at the hospital these three days with Shulamith, while Matt handles the home front and the two kidlets there. Such a treat to do nothing all day and all night but help Shulamith with her newest little guy, make dozens of trips down the hall to the Diet Coke fountain, run out three times a day for all our favorite food (no, Shulamith does not eat hospital food), and just chill with my bestie and her baby boy.

We will go home tomorrow. Baby Theodore with join Swen and Kennedy as the Webster-Monsons become a party of five.

The culmination of a miracle!