Just What I Needed

I'm certain that the people you meet are not accidental. Every meeting, even the small, random conversations with total strangers, are orchestrated by God, I've always thought.  Most times, I can't understand why and maybe never will, but no exchange is meaningless. Anyway, I've been a bit blue lately. Not a day goes by that I'm not struck with sadness about the events surrounding Baby D's birth; and some days, it's a little more than that. A birth story, an article, news that someone's in labor, or even sometimes just looking at Baby D will set me into a deep funk for days. Mainly I harbor a deep bitterness against the current medical system and worry quite a bit about the next pregnancy, and I'm trying to work through all that. Doing some research a couple evenings ago, I wasn't too surprised to learn that oftentimes NICU parents suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and I also would not be surprised to learn that I have a mild case.

Anyways, I went to church this morning. Baby D, who normally loves the opening music, inexplicably started wailing halfway through, so I carted him off to the nursing room to calm him down. After I got him all sorted out, I went to wait the foyer waiting to go back in the sanctuary, and met another woman sitting there. Baby D is a conversation magnet, so before long, I found out that this lady had gone through three C-sections, starting with her oldest, who was unexpectedly born a month early. And she was so... normal. Happy, even. It was just nice to see someone a few years on the other side of the trauma of an unexpected birth, a C-section, and a probable NICU stay (I'm just guessing, the baby being a preemie and all). She even went on to have more C-section births, and guess what? Her life went on.

It was a few minute's exchange, but I found it healing. 

Did the lady know? Probably not.

Was it random chance that I left the sanctuary and met her? Probably not.