No ill effects from premature birth

Patti Sue Hansen

While I was pregnant with our first son, my husband and I had decided to wait until I was closer to term before we had a telephone installed in our military housing. We felt the temptation to call friends and family on the other side of the country would be too great!

The day after Christmas, though, I was doing some errands and found myself outside the business office of the local telephone company. The thought came strongly to go inside and arrange to have a phone installed. I hesitated, because the baby wasn't due until the end of March, and this was going against the agreement my husband and I had made to wait. But the thought was insistent, so I went inside and filled out the necessary forms. The person who helped me indicated, to my relief, that it would be at least four to six weeks before our telephone would be installed.

That night I told my husband what I had done. Because of the delay in receiving service, he thought I had done the right thing. Later that night I started not feeling too well, with some low back pain and just a general malaise. Though I didn't feel much better the next morning, I assured my husband that I would be fine and that he should go on to work. The nearest pay phone was about a quarter of a mile away, and there was almost three feet of snow on the ground.

After my husband left for work I went back to bed. Sometime later there was a steady knocking at the door. When I went to answer it, I found a telephone lineman, ready to install our telephone. I was stunned! He explained that so many people were gone for the holidays, our request for service had come up early.

While he was doing the initial installation work outside, I realized I was starting labor. I opened the door and called to him. He came quickly to see what was wrong. He was so considerate. First, he used his equipment to call the local fire department rescue squad. Then he had a fellow worker in the area phone my husband while he returned to me. He had me lie down on the sofa, moved furniture out of the way, held my hand, and told me that while he had never actually delivered a baby, he had three little girls of his own at home and would do whatever he could to help me.

We continued to pray and declare that this child was cared for and loved by God.

My contractions were right together when the fire department arrived. I was quickly taken to the Navy hospital on the base. When they took me inside, the large clock on the wall read 10:00. The time on our son's birth certificate reads 10:09.

Because this little fellow was almost three months early, the doctor didn't think he would be strong enough to survive. When the wonderful nurse that had been in delivery with me heard this, she asked if I would like her to say the Lord's Prayer with me. We said the prayer together, and I was so grateful for her suggestion. When my husband got to the hospital, he immediately called a Christian Science practitioner for treatment. We continued to pray and declare that this child was cared for and loved by God.

The baby got stronger and stronger, much to the doctor's delight and surprise. In about six weeks we were allowed to take him home. Today, this same son is married with a family of his own.

Patti Sue Hansen
Hawkins, Texas

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Testimony of Healing

Reliance on God restores equilibrium

October 26, 1998

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit