Burton's Miracle

We experienced an absolute miracle. No way around it. God provided a very tangible reminder of his love and provision for us. 

Matthew, Adalynn and I were going to Devin and Sarah's for dinner. It was our last night in Alaska together, so we were going to their house for a "goodbye dear friends" dinner. We had gotten about 12-14 inches of snow in the few days before. Matthew walked out the front door with Adalynn to get her buckled in and I was following shortly behind him. As I went out the front door I missed the second step going down our front steps. I landed hard on my behind and then continued to bounce down the remaining 6 steps. As I came around the corner in view of Matthew I was covered in snow and crying. He was immediately very concerned about me. As he helped me into the car he asked me if I wanted to go to ER. I really didn't want to go. Although I was concerned about Burton, I was feeling him move and I was not having any significant contractions. Matt asked again, if I was sure that I didn't want to go. I told him I was sure. I was hurting badly in my behind, but otherwise felt fine. Plus, I did not want to spend all night in the ER the night before we were going to be spending all night on an airplane. Matt ask me to call Papa to get a second opinion to make sure that I was thinking clearly and was okay to not go. I talked to Papa and told him that I was feeling fine and feeling Burton move. He said it as probably okay to not go to the ER, but to keep an eye on things. So, we continued on our way to Devin and Sarah's. After I got off the phone from Papa, Mama called me to get the run down of what happened as well. As I was talking to Mama and telling her everything was fine, I all of the sudden felt a huge gush of fluid. I reached down and saw that there was blood. I showed Matthew and I immediately started crying and Mama began praying for me and baby Burton. We were only a block from Devin and Sarah's house, Matt quickly turned the car around headed to the ER in Palmer. Matthew began praying for me and Burton as well and prayed the whole way to the ER. We both just knew that this was bad. Having a gush of fluid and blood at 22 weeks pregnant was not good. We were both pretty sure we were having a miscarriage and we were going to lose Burton. We called Devin and Sarah to tell them what had happened and to get them to let friends know and to get them to be praying for us and for Burton. We got to the ER after what seemed like the longest 15 minute drive ever. They took me back to a room and the nurse had me change into a gown and give a urine sample. When I got to the bathroom and took my long winter coat off, there was no longer any blood on my pants! There was a small amount of blood on the toilet tissue, but otherwise, NO TRACE of blood!! Matthew and I were in disbelief. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors to check my contractions and to monitor Burton. Burton's heartbeat was strong and regular and I was having very few, very mild contractions. The monitored me for about an hour. Then after they consulted with the doctor, the nurse came and checked me. She was looking for any signs of blood and also did a swab to check to see if the fluid had been amniotic fluid. She found no trace of blood AT ALL and the swab was negative for amniotic fluid. Besides my entire buttock already turning all kinds of blues and purples, there were no signs of my falling! A miracle. We absolutely believe that God heard out cries and answered our prayers to save Burton. In the car, Matthew and I both saw the blood, and all traces of it were miraculously gone at the hospital. At first, we began to try to explain it away and thought, "Maybe we didn't really see blood in the car". But, no. We did. We both saw the blood and fluid in the car, and God removed it completely. God performed a miracle for us. We know that God does not always answer our prayers in this way. With both of our previous miscarriages, we begged God to save our babies and he did not. We know that. God does not always answer our prayers as we think or hope that he will. But he does answer prayers as to what is best for us. He longs to draw us nearer to himself and to form us to be more like Jesus. God, being good and loving answers our prayers as to what is best for us, even if that answers seems difficult. But for us, this time, he answered and saved our baby Burton and we are forever grateful and in awe of his provision for us. We serve a good, loving, powerful, and perfect God.