Answered Prayers

The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity…if we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." ~ J. Hudson Taylor

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day for Josh and Cali. To help Josh out, he's dubbed me the official updater, so I'll do my best to summarize because I know many people are anxious to hear the latest. Hopefully I've remembered all of the facts straight.

Like was mentioned yesterday, the doctor's determined Cali suffered cardiac arrest due to an amniotic fluid embolism. It is extremely rare for this to happen in pregnant women, but once it happens and you survive (survival is rare), it's almost certain to happen again within the same pregnancy. They determined there would be no way for Cali to safely finish her pregnancy. The baby up to that point hadn't been affected at all by what happened to Cali and still had a very strong heart beat and was doing great--however, he was not at a developmental stage to be viable and would surely be lost upon delivery.

Cali was thankfully allowed to wake up before the surgery so she could be a part of the decision regarding her baby. There was some initial concern Cali may have suffered some brain or neurological damage but all of those concerns faded when Cali woke up. She was fully aware of what was going on and could move all of her limbs just fine but was unable to speak because of the breathing tube in her throat. Fortunately Cali grew up learning sign language (she has an aunt who is hearing impaired) so she was able to communicate perfectly through sign. Cali's mom and Josh tried to explain to Cali what needed to happen in order to save her life but Cali didn't want to believe it and kept shaking her head in resistance. Then the doctors came in and Cali basically said to them "give it to me straight" and they indeed confirmed that terminating her pregnancy was the only way to spare her life. Cali was completely devastated, as you can imagine, but because there was no other way, she reluctantly gave her permission for the surgery to be performed.

The surgery went as expected and all of Cali's vitals were good as she came out of surgery. Unfortunately things suddenly turned for the worst as she was turned onto her side after surgery. When they turned her, she started hemorrhaging uncontrollably from her uterus and her heart rate skyrocketed through the roof. The doctor's knew they needed to act fast and rushed her back into surgery to try to stop the bleeding. Cali had already lost a person and a half worth of blood through all of this and this new turn of events did not look good. Our family was on pins and needles as we waited in the waiting room and pleaded with Heavenly Father to spare her life. About two hours later, the doctor's emerged from the operating room to tell us that Cali was stable but that they ended up having to remove Cali's uterus in order to stop the bleeding. It seemed to be causing all of the problems. Once they removed the uterus, they were able to get the bleeding under control and gave her clotting factors to help the bleeding stop.

As of this morning, they've been able to remove the breathing tube and Cali is stable for the time being. She was able to call Oakland on the phone and talk to her for a little bit. Josh says she smiles every once in a while but doesn't remember anything short term. Her long term memory is still there and the doctor's think her short term memory should come back as the meds start to wear off. I'm sure this is only the beginning of a very long recovery road for Cali--physically and emotionally--and we're not entirely out of the clear yet, but God has truly answered the bulk of our prayers thus far and we feel so blessed to still have her with us.

We want to thank each and every one of you for your continued faith and prayers throughout this experience. Our family has felt them, Cali has felt them, and we know they've played a huge part in helping the doctor's know what to do to save Cali's life. The doctor's said what happened to Cali is so rare there are only four known cases like it before, so they haven't had much to go off of but they have truly been miracle workers.

We are all aching over the loss of her precious baby but are rejoicing that Cali's life has been spared. We ask for your continued faith and prayers as Cali begins her recovery. I'm sure it will be a long and painful process for her especially as she learns to cope with the loss of another child. My heart just aches for her. But if anyone is capable of enduring it, Cali is. She's proven that in the past.

As Cali quoted on her blog a few weeks ago: “… dark times and trials are important. Trials show us the beauty of God’s comfort. It’s through the comfort we receive from God during our difficult times that we learn how to comfort others. Sometimes the process of growing closer to our Heavenly Father comes along the path of heartache and pain.” I know Cali knows that is true. She is an amazing woman and mother and I feel so incredibly blessed to know her.

Original post by Erin