When a baby is overdue, waiting can be torture. And I’m just the grandma!
Linnea and her husband Adam are excitedly anticipating the arrival of Baby #2 any minute. His nursery is painted and the newborn car seat is ready to be put back in service. My phone is charged and ready in my pocket. We are all standing by, giddy with anticipation and ready with a heap of love. The only one who has no idea what’s about to happen is their daughter Skylar, 18 months and blissfully unaware.
We all refer to Skylar as our miracle baby. Linnea and Adam knew ahead of time they might have trouble becoming parents and began researching the matter a year after they were married. As test results came in, the news wasn’t good. Doctors said there was “no way” a baby could be conceived without the help of modern medicine, so Linnea and Adam considered their options carefully, praying and sometimes fasting as they went along.
In the end, they decided to try IVF, an expensive, painful, emotionally draining process accompanied by weeks of waiting. Their IVF story can be found on Linnea’s blog, www.KissYourMiracle.com
I’ll never forget the sad day Linnea called me from their home in Florida, her voice so distorted by weeping I couldn’t even identify it as my daughter’s. The IVF procedure had failed.
Picking up the pieces and moving forward, Linnea and Adam decided to start over, saving and planning for a second try at IVF. They hoped to accomplish it within a year. But just as they were ready, both of them felt strongly God wanted them to wait even longer, a difficult word to receive but one they obeyed. Now we know, of course, that the Lord was looking at Skylar. Had they gone ahead with the second IVF, they would have unknowingly set aside God’s baby miracle.
Seven months passed, and Linnea and Adam were still waiting for God’s directive to do a second IVF, but Linnea wasn’t feeling very well. Exhausted by dinner each evening, she was queasy much of the time and wondered what could be wrong.
Then one afternoon Adam suggested the impossible by buying a home pregnancy test. Linnea was too nervous to watch the stick develop and stayed one room away. After a few interminable moments of waiting, Adam walked in, stunned by the result. “It’s positive!”
“Well then the test must be defective,” Linnea concluded. “Let’s go get another one, a different brand.”
That one was positive, too. So was the third test, performed in their doctor’s office two days later. And finally they believed it. A baby that no one could explain was on its way. It was God’s miracle, and their waiting was over.
Skylar was not an “easy” baby. Linnea’s word was “intense”, and the intensity has never lessened. But oh the joy she’s brought to all of us! Nelson lovingly calls her the family maniac, but without Skylar, all of us would have missed out on bushels of laughter and mind-flooding gratitude to God.
In the fall of 2007, when Linnea and Adam anticipated never having children, their mouths would have dropped open and eyes grown wide if someone had said, “Two years from now you’ll be delivering your second baby!”
But this is often how God works. We call out to him in desperation and frustration. We analyze our situation and see it’s not humanly possible for things to work out. We despair and grieve, sometimes railing at God in anger. We cry and say, “It isn’t fair!”
The Lord smiles at three things:
- when we say, “I give up.”
- when the experts say, “There’s no way.”
- when his obedient children say, “Yes, we’ll wait.”
It’s at those times he positions himself to unleash a surprise beyond our wildest imaginations. For our family, Skylar is that wild surprise, and Baby #2 is wild-surprise-maximus!
There is no other explanation for these wonders except to say, it’s all about God. And whatever he has planned is always worth the wait!
“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders?” (Exodus 15:11)
This exact scenerio happened to us! We were told that “there was no possible way we could have children” and here we are with 3 daughters! Now we wait for other things that seem impossibe at this time but know that God’s ways and timings are perfect. It is difficult to wait and trust but we want to submit to His ways!
It is so exciting to be waiting for this baby…we will be closely following the developments!
Thanks Mom, for sharing our story. 🙂 We’re blessed beyond what we can explain. Love you!
Wise words, Margaret, about the three things the Lord smiles upon- seems like they apply to every circumstance. How hard it is to get my hands and solutions out of a situation, and let Him take over. God would have so much less to mop up if I would hand it over a lot earlier.
I know Linni is a chip off the old writer’s block, but it sounds like she also has a bit of the scientist in her to conduct three tests before solidifying the hypothesis!
“Family maniac”- hilarious.
We, too, experienced the difficulties of trying to start a family. After two miscarriages, we got on the specialist train. Never had to go as far as the IVF route, but I do remember driving home from the doctor’s office one day when I actually understood exactly how the drugs worked, terrified and crying, thinking I might have the Davis Quints! Anyways, a few months later the doctor said I would probably have to go the IVF route since the current intervention wasn’t working. While he was saying that, Sarah was already being formed. Definitely not a maniac, but I do consider her a miracle!
“Lord, I can tell from the other blog how much this little boy is anticipated, and with what love he will enter the world. Give Linni physical endurance as the birth nears. Protect her and their son, and make this an uncomplicated delivery. Help her and Adam to ponder the other’s needs in these next weeks and months. Prosper Adam in his work and give him good favor there. Amen.”
Love,
Terry
P.S. Is there any baby in the whole world who won’t be trying to sneak the spaghetti face picture out of the family album before it finds it’s way in the wedding video?
What a joy Skylar is to all who meet her. She may look like Ad but she definitly has Nyman traits. sort of intense like her Grandpa, a couple of uncles and a certain aunt I know and love. God is so GOOD in some ways and days giving us more than we ask or think.. Praying for a safe arrival for this little guy and a wonderful road trip for you and the girls. and of course Jack:-)
Yes, it is good to wait upon the Lord in all things…like the above comment says’ Wish I could take my hands off in the ‘gitgo’ ..let go and let God’ and I’m doing better at the ripe old age of 72…anticipating this precious bundle of joy and what Skylar will do when the new baby arrives home…i want to believe that God..is preparing her also. I know Skye is a ‘tiring’ handful of activity….but what a blessing she is to both sides of the family..! Praying for your trip down to be safe and a good experienc.
God bless,
patzian
Excuse the ‘name’, but I want to protect privacy. Stories like Linnea’s always give me hope. Our daughter and her husband are dealing with infertility. Our son-in-law is a pastor, and Mother’s Day is one of the hardest times of the year for our daughter. They have gone through whatever treatements their insurance will pay for with no results. For reasons known only to Him, the Lord has said no to adoption. We all pray earnestly that the Lord will at some point say, “Yes!” to a child. Our hearts hurt, but we know if the Lord can intervene for Abraham and Sarah, and for Adam and Linnea, He can do it for us. God bless you all.