Mini-Me Sent From Heaven

Mini-Me Sent From Heaven

Have you ever had dreams about how your life should be and when it was about to come true, fate just stepped in and changed it all? Have you ever felt that your life was just hit so severe that you just could no longer go on? In my life I have faced obstacles and time as this. However, not one thing had I faced prepared me for what was just around the corner. What I was about to come in face with turned out to be, by far, one of the most painful and traumatic events of a lifetime for me! However, in the end I managed to find something good out of it which allowed me to become a better human being.
My sister and her husband had been married for almost seven years and during this time they had been trying to conceive a child of their own. After being let down so many times, they had given up on the idea of having a child fo their own. They even began considering adoption. However, they knew a child of their own would be different than an adopted child, but the only dream they had left; was the dream of completing their family and the possibility of them having one of their own was highly unlikely.
One month, my sister begin feeling different. She couldn’t describe the new feels that her body began to take on and neither could explain them. When my family was told how my sister felt, they would say they felt the same way when they were pregnant, so my sister decided she would just try a home pregnancy test just to see if that could be the solution to her problems and if the impossible had really happened.
After what seemed like an hour, which was only about 5 minutes, the results were in. It was unbelievable, there were two-lines, my sister was pregnant! Those results weren't expected at all, not by anyone. She didn’t believe the test at all so she ended up taking more and more tests and the results were all the same. Still with uncertainty, she finally decided that she would go to the doctor and see what their result would be.
The doctor informed my sister, that indeed, she was pregnant and to her surprise she happened to be a little over three-months pregnant. The more they talked about it, my sister learned that her baby was to be due in December, 2001. This information was something that was totally not even thought about, for, she thought she would never be able to have one of her own.
When the family found out this, they were so excited and thrilled. Everyone was praying and wishing my sister the best with this baby and the health of both her and the unborn child. Looking back now it was amazing to see the support she had before and after the pregnancy.
Considering my sister was over three-months before she even found out about it, the rest of the pregnancy went by so fast. It was December, a week before the due date, and it was time to see the doctors for a bi-weekly tests on the baby’s heart and check-up on the mothers’ health. During those types of check-ups, the doctor would make sure my little niece’s heart was beating strong and to make sure she was healthy when she finally came into this world, which was to be only in a couple days.
I couldn’t wait to hear her little heart beat, saying to me in a way I could only understand. I wanted to hear her heart saying to me, “I will be there soon. I love you.”
Of all the check-ups that my sister had, this one was different. I noticed as they hooked the machine around my sister’s stomach, around the little unborn child’s body, it started getting colder. However, I thought it was from the air conditioner, but that wasn’t the case.
The nurse walked quickly out of the room and came back in with my sister’s doctor. The doctor walked up to the bed where my sister was lying and said, “Don’t be alarmed, but our machine isn’t picking up a heartbeat. I have ordered an ultra-sound and it should be here any time now.”
When he said that, my sister and I just started crying, uncontrollably. I, then, ran out of the hospital room, down the hall, I didn’t have time for the elevator so I took the steps, and I ran as fast as I possibly could to the parking lot, screaming and looking for my mother. I just kept thinking to myself “how could this happen? How could the one thing my sister wanted most be gone? There had to be a mistake, my niece was alive, I could feel it!” After what seemed to be forever, I found my mom sitting in the car, she could tell from the look on my face and the tears that were streaming from my eyes, what the problem was. She got out of the car, took my hand, and lead me back to my sister’s room as I kept repeating to her “the baby’s dead, the baby’s dead!”
After a very long period of crying, calling out to family on the pay-phone in the waiting room, trying to tell them what had happened, and finding the courage within me to go in and face my sister. As I was sitting in the hallway, the doctor cam out and reported to me that my sister was requesting to see me.
I stood up, thanked the doctor for telling me, and tried to wipe the tears in my eyes but it didn’t matter, the more I wiped away the more they multiplied. I walked in the room, sobbing but managing to keep my head up trying to be strong for my sister because I knew how much she wanted this child and how much planning she had already done. I knew she would have a rough time with this so I had to be strong to show her that we could get through this.
The room was dark, the only light that was shown was coming through the shades, which wasn’t that much at all, and to top it off the temperature seemed to be dropping more and more every second. I, finally, made my way up to my sisters bedside and she hugged me and just busted out with tears. I was lying on her stomach hoping and praying to hear, my wonderful nieces, heartbeat or even a kick just to let me know she was alive, because I had heard from others that his sort of situation had occurred before with the machines not picking up a heartbeat. However, fate didn’t seem to be playing those cards.
For the next couple of days, it was continuous crying. One day, the doctor walked in, with that look on face as all doctors do when it’s time to do something. He informed my family that it was time to induce my sister’s labor because it appeared that the baby wasn’t coming on its own.
After a very long time of, my sister, being in labor and trying to have the child naturally, the doctor decided that it was time to do a C-Section on here and it needed to be done stat, because she had been in labor to long and she was at risk. When we found out they would have to do surgery on my sister that made a little difference in how we all felt, but the family was scared that she wouldn’t make it through. We knew God would be with her the whole time and He would make sure she came out of it fine.
The family was either sitting in the waiting room or pacing the hallway waiting for someone to come out and say that she was okay. After about thirty-five minutes, which seemed like forever, my aunt came out and told the family and I that my sister was fine and we could go back to see her in a few minutes.
I took off running down the hall crying about my niece, but at the same time thankful that my sister was fine and God was with her. When all fo a sudden, I ran past a big picture window that was separating me from this beautiful black-headed baby, which was surrounded by nurses and one who was taking pictures.
Seeing that, I stopped and ran in the opposite direction, back towards my family. I was smiling saying she looks just like me in the pictures of me before I left the hospital before I was born.
When the doctors got done with my sister and my beautiful niece, the doctor allowed the family to come in after my brother-in-law and sister spent time with their daughter. We got to spend time with her before she was taken to the funeral home.
I remember it as if it was only yesterday. I walked in the room and saw my brother-in-law sitting beside my sister, who was holding this baby girl that was surrounded by a beautiful light. ( Just like on “Touched By An Angel” when they find out Monica’s an angel.) When I looked at that beautiful angel-baby, it looked just like me in my first baby picture. This baby was kind of fat, long, and had the blackest hair that you could ever see.
By the time I had got in the room, my mom then had her. So I walked over to her and got the baby in my arms. Once I picked it up, my heart just broke into more and more pieces, she went so limber. It was if the baby had no bones in her body what-so-ever. I couldn’t hold her very long because here was this baby that looked just like me and was so limber that I thought if I moved her any her head would fall off.
I soon gave her back to my mother, and ran to my sister and her husband, who both took me in there arms telling me, “Ashley, there’s your mini-me”
It will be four years December 2005, since I saw my “mini-me,” but it seems like only yesterday. Now when Christmas comes, it’s no longer a happy and joyful time, instead, it’s sad for me because I have flashbacks about my “mini-me” sent from Heaven. Taylor will always remain in my heart, dreams, and thoughts. She may not have been here long but the impact she had on my life and the lives around me is unexplainable. Even though I lost a great gift from God, there were many morals and lessons to be taking from such a situation. Losing my niece has changed me and allowed me to shape into a different and more understanding and caring person. I now look at life in a different prospective. One of the all important lessons that this experience has taught me is that in life there are let downs and moments when life doesn’t seem worth living, but you just got to keep on going because one day life will be all worth the rain!