\u201cManuel\u2026Manuel, wake up. The baby\u2019s coming.\u201d I lifted my head from the pillow and opened my eyes. The dark bedroom slowly came into focus. I could just make out the anxious look on my wife Maria\u2019s face. She brought her hands to her round stomach, where our baby girl, Siara, waited to enter the world. \u201cShe\u2019s ready. I can feel it. Today is the day.\u201d I threw off the covers and got dressed. Today is the day, November 27.<\/p>\n
Only a year earlier, my son Manuel III had called me while I was at my carpentry job. \u201cDad, Mom is in the hospital,\u201d he said. \u201cThey said she had a miscarriage.\u201d Maria didn\u2019t even know she was pregnant. That made it all the more devastating. We had three teenagers, Manuel, Danny and Cherissa, but another child would\u2019ve been a blessing.<\/p>\n
Maria spent hours praying to find some way to move on. Our pastor, our relatives and friends made us meals, helped take care of our kids and sent their prayers. A community of faith got us through. Just like it had when I was a boy.<\/p>\n
We lived in Los Angeles, moving from one bad neighborhood to the next. Both my parents had problems with drugs and alcohol. But things began to change when I was 14. My mother was sentenced to a live-in Christian rehabilitation program in Hemet, California. Living there, I learned about faith. These people believed my mother could be helped. They believed I had a future.<\/p>\n
I met Maria in Hemet, at a neighbor\u2019s Quincea\u00f1era, a coming-of-age celebration for a girl\u2019s 15th birthday. Maria stayed with me despite the mistakes I made over the years. Because of the way I grew up, I didn\u2019t know how to be a husband, how to be a father and how to live a life. But once I trusted God to show me, he didn\u2019t steer me wrong. I had faith that he would find some way to replace our loss.<\/p>\n
When we learned Maria was pregnant again after the miscarriage, we were overjoyed, but cautious. Maria is a diabetic, so she was on a strictly controlled diet. The doctors planned to induce labor. I had walkie-talkies so we would be able to communicate with the kids from the delivery room. At Maria\u2019s baby shower all of her friends said blessings over the baby.<\/p>\n
It took us six minutes to get to the hospital. \u201cHer contractions are still far apart,\u201d the nurse said. \u201cWe have time.\u201d They admitted Maria to the labor room and our kids took turns visiting her.<\/p>\n
The contractions came more frequently. Maria grimaced with each one. \u201cI can feel her moving inside of me.\u201d They wheeled her into the delivery room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to induce labor,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cNow.\u201d They broke her water. Suddenly one of the monitors started beeping. The doctor looked up, and the color drained from his face. \u201cGet the crash team,\u201d he shouted. Then, \u201cCode Blue!\u201d More nurses rushed into the room. There were about 20 people now, some around the bed, others setting up a table.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, Maria,\u201d the doctor said, his voice calm but urgent. \u201cWe need you to make this happen now. Push!\u201d<\/p>\n
Maria closed her eyes and pushed. A nurse rushed to the doctor\u2019s side, pushing a steel cart carrying different instruments. I stared at my wife\u2019s face, twisted in pain, her teeth gritted. She was trying so hard. I\u2019m pushing with you, Maria. Push!<\/em> Finally, I saw my daughter\u2019s head poke through. She was blue; she wasn\u2019t moving. They pulled her out, cut the umbilical cord and beelined to the table they\u2019d set up. Why isn\u2019t she crying? A baby is supposed to cry.\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Maria cried weakly. The nurse looked at her through tear-filled eyes. \u201cPray, Maria. Just pray.\u201d<\/p>\n The emergency team worked frantically. I heard snippets of clipped replies, \u201cno sign of life,\u201d \u201ccompressed cord in the birth canal,\u201d \u201cno heartbeat.\u201d They slid a breathing tube down my tiny daughter\u2019s throat. The doctor began gentle compressions on her chest.<\/p>\n Never before had I felt so helpless. I unclipped the walkie-talkie from my belt and called Manuel. I tried to steady my shaky voice. \u201cThere are some complications with the baby. You must pray.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will, Dad,\u201d he said. He then told our pastor, who was waiting with him.<\/p>\n I looked at Maria, drenched in sweat. I held her hand lightly and rubbed her shoulder. On the other side of the room, the doctor continued to work. \u201cZero,\u201d a nurse called out, recording the readings off one of the monitors. Maria and I couldn\u2019t take our eyes off our daughter. Her hair was dark and curly and wet. \u201cI felt her flutter inside of me,\u201d Maria said. \u201cShe was alive.\u201d The doctor kept at it. A few more minutes ticked by. The nurse checked the vitals once more.<\/p>\n \u201cZero,\u201d she said, a flat, hollow sadness to her voice.<\/p>\n The doctor slumped over the table. They removed the breathing tube. The doctor stepped away. \u201cAre you going to call it?\u201d a nurse asked him. He dropped his head. \u201cYes. We\u2019ve done all we can.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria\u2019s face fell. I held her tight. Lord, no! My wife can\u2019t go home without her baby! All the pain we\u2019d gone through a year ago came flooding back. Most of the staff filed out of the room. Only the doctor and one of the nurses remained.<\/p>\n Suddenly, I was overcome by a strong feeling. An overpowering feeling. Something that was so certain it drove me across the room to the table where Siara lay. I thought about all the prayers we had said. How much God knew we wanted her. No, she could not die.<\/p>\n I went up to my baby and leaned over her. I prayed more intensely than I have in my entire life. Lord, you have never failed.<\/em> I put my hands on Siara. You raised Lazarus from the dead. Give my daughter your breath of life.<\/em> I kissed Siara on the forehead.<\/p>\n \u201cWould you like to hold her?\u201d the nurse asked Maria. She nodded weakly. The nurse came over and swaddled Siara in a soft blanket then took her over, laid our baby across Maria\u2019s chest and backed away.<\/p>\n Maria caressed Siara\u2019s tiny face. \u201cWake up, please,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to fight little one.\u201d She took the baby\u2019s tiny hand and rubbed it against her own cheek. \u201cGod, you have to finish what you started.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria wiped away some spittle that had formed on the baby\u2019s lips. Then her eyes went wide. \u201cShe\u2019s breathing!\u201d Maria cried out. My heart jumped. Was it possible?<\/p>\n The nurse shook her head. \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d she said sadly. \u201cThat\u2019s just the oxygen we pumped into her being expelled.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria\u2019s doctor took his stethoscope and placed it on the baby\u2019s chest. \u201cI don\u2019t believe it! Call Code Blue again!\u201d<\/p>\n A slight pink began to bloom across Siara\u2019s chest. \u201cWe\u2019re going to take her to the nursery,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cWe\u2019re still working to stabilize her.\u201d<\/p>\n Alone in the room, Maria and I cried together. Tears of joy at what we\u2019d just witnessed. The nurses went back and forth to give us updates. \u201cShe has a steady heartbeat. She curled her lip and moved her left arm. These are very good signs.\u201d I radioed my son in the waiting room the good news and he told our pastor. \u201cShe\u2019s alive,\u201d I said. The praying continued all through that day and that night, until she was out of danger.<\/p>\n With such a traumatic birth, the doctor was worried about brain and heart damage. She suffered some seizures the first days. But her heartbeat was strong and she didn\u2019t show any signs of being disabled. On December 8 we finally brought Siara home. An early Christmas present. \u201cI can\u2019t explain it,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cSiara is a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, when I hold my rosy-cheeked, giggling child in my arms, I realize that Siara is a link in a chain of miracles. From the second we heard the silence where cries should have been, despair threatened to make us give up. That same despair that chased my family from neighborhood to neighborhood growing up. That same despair that hit us after the miscarriage. But like those times and so many more in my life, faith replaced despair with hope. We never lost that hope. And that\u2019s a miracle too. The miracle of faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cManuel\u2026Manuel, wake up. The baby\u2019s coming.\u201d I lifted my head from the pillow and opened my eyes. The dark bedroom slowly came into focus. I could just make out the anxious look on my wife Maria\u2019s face. She brought her hands to her round stomach, where our baby girl, Siara, waited to enter the world. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[618,619],"class_list":["post-25132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-true-stories-of-answered-prayer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n