God's Hears. Isn't that Miraculous?

It's time. It's time to share my sisters' story with the world. I have wanted to do this for a long time now but every time I sit down to write, the words just don't get down on paper the way I want them to. I try to tell her story from beginning to end but it comes to a standstill each time. So I will be sharing this miracle from my perspective...

I was 11 years old when my dad told me the exciting news that there was another bundle of joy on the way. I was going to be a big sister again for the 3rd time. God had already blessed me with Timmy, from my dads remarriage when I was 8 years of age and then only a short year later my mom announced that Amy was going to enter our lives. Now again, I receive the awesome news that another sibling was on the way! I was given this information via the phone of course because we had been living in South Carolina for 3 years by this time.

It wasn't too much longer that I had another talk with my dad when he shared with me that we were going to have a little girl enter the family and her name will be Mireya Simone Howard. Mireya stands for "miraculous" and Simone means "God hears." They didn't do this with Timmy. They didn't find out the gender until he arrived. And there wasn't a need for meaning behind his name as it was after my father's: Timothy Scott Howard.

Of course these thoughts were none of my concern at the time. I remembered I was in the back yard at our house writing the name of my baby sister on the side walk with different colors of chalk.

Later on that year I got THE call that they were going in for delivery! I remember calling Marcia to talk to her and the strangest thing happened to me: I started to cry. "Taylor, are I ok?" She asked me. "Yeah, I'm fine." Was my immediate response. That was strange... Something just did not feel right. So I sat and I waited ready for the next call.

Finally, the phone rang! She's here! I was all smiles as my dad told me about her tiny little hands and tiny little feet and of course her cute button nose! I just wanted to see her.

After all the talk and excitement about her precious little features, my dad began to explain to me something that was not so tiny: Her head. He started going into all of the complications that went on during the pregnancy that they were cautious to tell me about. Mireya had hydrocephalus.

During Marcia's pregnancy there was a blockage very early on. The fluid entering her brain now had no way to drain back into her stomach causing a massive build up.

During the next 5 months this fluid would continue to backflow in her brain, causing a serious amount of pressure that would crush her brain against her skull. This will lead to zero brain activity, leaving her in a vegetative state.

Of course the most sensible plan of action, according to the doctors, would be to terminate the pregnancy. My parents refused to go through with this and had to calmly explain: "As long as there's a heart beat, we will continue to pray." This infuriated all of them because now they have to waste their time with regular check ups on a soon to be lifeless child who had 0% chance for survival. Sounds harsh? That's how it was layed out to my poor step mom every time she had to deal with a nurse or a doctor. Yes, it was very harsh.

The day before her delivery they had to sit around a table with the doctors and make decisions on how they want to end this babys life. The doctors told them that she will most likely be still born and if she were to cry, it might only be a whimper. My parents had to make a decision on how long they would like the doctors to resuscitate if this were to take place.

The next day when they wheeled Marcia into the delivery room, she noticed there was a rainbow on the door. Hospitals do this when a could has died. But remember: there was still a heart beat and we were still praying.

The Sunday school class my parents attended was there in the waiting room praying for Mireya's arrival. Soon they started singing songs of praise as they stood together and held hands. Then at 10:09 one of the women said, "Stop, I feel like it's time to stop." So they stopped.

Meanwhile in the delivery room, 10:09 hit the clock and Mireya was here. She came out of the womb screaming with no need whatsoever for resuscitation. In that Moment, she declared God.

after the delivery my dad managed to catch the doctor and ask him, "how would you compare this delivery to a 'normal' one?" "Exactly the same." Was his reply.

Of course CT scans and MRIs were performed and her test results confirmed everything the doctors had predicted: Mireya has no brain activity. She is supposed to be in a vegetative state.

It's 11 years later and Mireya can do more things than I can! Her memory is outstanding naming all planets in order, recalling the family vehicle from when she was just a few years of age, and I could go on. And no, there are still no signs of brain waves. She sings, walks, and TALKS. Missy Prissy loves to have everyones undivided attention at all times! That's because God demands it. He needs everyone to see His Miraculous work so that we can rest assured that God Hears.