Not 1 Bloom

I know I wrote that I would come back to the “new beginnings,” but the Lord impressed upon me that I had to go back and start the “birth” stories with the beginning…
So, this is the beginning. This is how we came to be blessed, beyond comprehension, with 5 miracles from the Lord.

January 4th of 1992 marked the beginning of our marriage, but the beginning and ending of our family began November or December of 1989. I was attending college, transferring from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale because I could not take the long distance relationship anymore. What I did not know that Christmas was I had 2 babies growing inside me. I thought that queasy, nauseating feeling was the stress from moving, having my parents find out how much the phone bill was or the fact that I was getting ready to “live in sin” officially.

I will spare you from the details, but I did ring in the new year of 1990 with “pink.” A pink line that meant I was pregnant at 19. Unmarried, reasonably poor, still in college, and extremely immature. This left me with the most reasonable explanation, “I can’t be pregnant.” But I was. And, what you do when you live in denial, you take care of the “problem.” Reality has no place.

See, what I mean, you label the babies a non-human object, the “problem.”
You rationalize why the timing would not work, “I am in school, I have 2 more years until graduation!”
You legitimize it, “I will go to an OB/GYN, not one of those clinic places!”
You find an idol, “I can’t loose this man over a pregnancy!”

Fast forward to "living in sin" from December 1989 to a Wednesday night prayer meeting in August 1993. I was at my wit’s end with longing to be pregnant with every thing in me. In 4 years, I had peed on hundred’s of pregnancy tests, noticed every pregnant woman within Broward and Palm Beach county, babysat every chance I could get, taught swimming lessons, taught a 2 year old Sunday school, took a ministry training to volunteer in a Crisis Pregnancy Center, attended a 13 week Bible Study about abortion and God’s forgiveness and healing, had procedure after procedure, did the basal body temperature thing, took infertility drugs and had surgery … you get the picture. Well, at that prayer meeting, the Pastor’s wife and the women in my “circle” that knew I was praying for children, anointed me with oil, laid hands on me and said sweet prayer.

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” James 5:14

By the end of the month I had a doctor’s appointment with an infertility specialist at Cleveland Clinic in Ft. Lauderdale, never mind his long waiting list, and was scheduled for a 2nd surgical procedure.

Surgery went well. I braved the IV with Philippians’ Flash Cards in my hand and squeezing the poor nurses arm into oblivion. (Little known fact about me; I can have a baby with no medication or epidural, but I practically faint with IV’s!) Recovery went fast and Dr. Hickox said I should be pregnant after the next monthly cycle.

It was a Friday night in October. I was speaking to the Youth at church, about purity and giving my abortion story. I was out the door, with the car keys in my hand, on my way. I had to go back in before backing out of the driveway… I had started my period. No time for tears. I have to go tell the Youth about God’s love, grace, forgiveness and mercy.

Sunday morning at church was rather somber, but a good preach. As I was leaving, RoseMarie, an older woman who knew my struggle and had laid hands on me that Wednesday night, came to talk. She got right to the point. She said, “Beverley, the Lord wanted me to tell you, you are pregnant.” And she walked off.

“Good thing,” I thought. “She wasn’t hearing from God. I am on my period! What kind of sick person is this! This can not be happening. No way!”

As I passed Eckerd Drugs, I thought about what she said.

“Why not? What’s 10 dollars? I’ve already invested a small fortune in these ‘sticks!’. I will just run in real quick and get one.”

Negative. No pink line. Okay. It was official. NOT PREGNANT!

Monday morning, getting ready for work, about to head out the door. I went back to grab something in the kitchen. When I did, I noticed something unusual on my window sill. I had a clay flower pot with an African Violet in it. A wedding present from someone, it might have been from my mother-in-law. Anyway, it had been there on that ledge for almost a year, and not one bloom! Something was different that morning.

Not one bloom! 4 blooms!

It was the Lord, He was telling me not to believe the negative reports. The sun shining on those blooms gave me hope. I knew the Lord was urging me to go take a blood test at the doctor’s office.

Now, this is highly unusual, I was early to work that morning. So, after dropping off all my stuff at the office, I went next door to the lab downstairs. I had them call up to Dr. Hickox’s secretary, Suzie, to get the orders for a blood draw. She sent it down within a few minutes, STAT. The nurse in the lab said they would have the results by this afternoon.

The morning went by rather uneventful. It was time for lunch. I went back to my office to grab my purse to go grab a bite down the street. I sat down at the desk to get my purse out of the drawer. My phone started ringing. Who could this be?

“Hello, this is Beverley at the Bridge, how may I help you?”

“Hey, it’s Suzie…congratulations MOMMY!”

“Are you kidding?! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Are you serious?”

“Yes. You are pregnant. When can you come in? Dr. Hickox wants to just take a quick look at you.”

We took care of all the formalities, I was crying like a baby and after trying to call everyone on the planet, no-one was answering! I had to tell someone! I walked out of my office and literally, grabbed the first person walking down the hallway. It was the Physical Therapist down the hall, Sue Dumas. I pulled her into my office and started freaking out with the good news! We hugged, she told me congratulations and I can honestly say my life has never been the same since that phone call! So, now, the 5, yes, 5 birth stories might have a different meaning.