Sleep wasn’t coming easy.

Getting appropriate rest on a firm bench in a hospital room was always a challenge. The room was sterile and cool with bright light and noise filtered in from the nurse’s station just outside our door. My young daughter, Raegan Aria, laid motionless a few feet away, connected to numerous monitors and machines. We had been there for weeks, recovering from surgery to place a stomach tube. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Raegan wasn’t doing well. Her brilliant smile and joyful laugh had been absent for days. The doctors just kept repeating that special needs children are at greater risk for complications when undergoing medical procedures and she would take longer to recover.

Raegan was born with a rare brain malformation three years earlier leaving her without the ability to walk, talk or develop normally. Although her initial prognosis and life expectancy were quite grim, this beautiful, angelic child had been thriving, despite her many physical and developmental limitations.

But, things just didn’t seem right to me.

I understood what I was being told by the medical team, yet I just kept feeling as if something was being missed. My pleas for more tests were met with condescending remarks about over-reactive parents. I was advised not to question the wisdom and experience of a gifted surgeon.

As I sat there in the dark, physically and emotionally exhausted, the phrase "It’s growing" popped into my mind.

I asked out loud, "What’s growing?"

I heard in my mind, "In my throat, Mommy."

I leaped from my position on the bench to my daughter’s side and said to her in a teary voice, "Are you trying to tell me something, AngelBaby?"

A resounding, "Yes" was the reply that flooded my body. Yet, she remained sleeping with no physical indication that she was communicating with me. I knew it was Raegan, as we had similar moments at other points earlier in her young life. I didn’t know how she was doing it, however I decided at that moment and believed with all my heart it was the Truth she was conveying. So I pressed for immediate medical intervention.

And, to the doctor’s surprise, Raegan was correct.

A surgical stitch had been misplaced during her procedure and caused scar tissue to grow. This blocked her esophagus and left her unable to swallow. This fact was confirmed by a simple test we insisted on being performed.

She was required to have additional surgery to correct the problem. In fact, she had numerous procedures to try to reverse the harm done. Throughout the many months she was hospitalized, Raegan continued to teach me how to use our hearts to talk.

This unusual form of communication seemed especially acute during times of crisis and when we were both sleeping. At that point, I decided I would no longer make any decision regarding her care without checking in via our heart connection. It seemed to me, Raegan was operating from a higher place.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next