Well, every once in awhile, there’s a story that just touches you. As many of you remember, there’s an online community I’m a part of with women who sew cloth diapers. It’s called the Diaper Sewing Divas, or as I call it “the diva board.” I’ve gotten to know several of the women on there. Last year one of my friends struggled as her husband went off to war about a month before her baby was due. Recently I tried to help a friend whose husband just left her. But none of these situations is as heartbreaking as Carri’s.
Carri is a strong believer on the diva board. She can’t stop talking about Jesus, and this is a secular message board. She remains calm through it all. She has 8 children, and as of this morning, was pregnant with twins. All of us on the diva board have been following her on the board, and on her blog. (P.S. don’t click on her blog unless you’re ready to see what a stomach that’s stretched for 8 babies and holding 2 looks like.) She was overdue, and getting anxious for the delivery and I among the other divas, checked the board at least daily to see if Carri had an update.
She always updated with a verse that she was memorizing that day to keep her calm. I’ve never seen a 9 month pregnant woman so calm. She inspired even the atheists on the board with her devotionals slipped into the daily updates. This morning, we got news that her water broke. We were all anxiously waiting for one of her friends to post pictures of the precious new babies for us.
Then we got a post saying she passed out, and something was going terribly wrong.
Then very bad news. Carri experienced something VERY rare called an amniotic fluid embolism. I have a hard time reading through the medical language but basically the valve separating the amniotic fluid from her bloodstream broke, and amniotic fluid rushed into her circulatory system. I’m not an expert, but that’s what I gather from the medical jargon.
Both of Carri’s babies died, and now Carri is fighting for her life. The doctors have given her a 60% chance of survival. Even if she survives, it will be a very long recovery. This is a very rare condition, and doctors cannot predict it happening, cannot stop it from happening, and there is no treatment for her, even now. All they’re trying to do is keep her alive tonight. If she makes it through, and gets through the months of recovery, she’ll then have to deal with the fact that 2 of her children died in the process.
Pray for her husband, Mark, too. Pray for her 8 children at home, whom she homeschools. I know I have never met this sister in Christ face to face, but she is so much one of my friends, and I ask you to pray for her, that God might spare her here on earth a little while longer.
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