“We quickly realized what a danger we might have been in. I was pregnant, with an IUD inside of me. If it were an ectopic pregnancy, it could rupture the fallopian tube at any moment and cause severe bleeding which would be a life-threatening emergency for me, and the pregnancy would be terminated.” Inspiring Women: Life with Meghan.

I met Meghan and her husband Mark through our church.  You only have to spend a few minutes with Meghan to realize what a lovely young woman she is. I asked Meghan to tell her unusual pregnancy story. So, this feature looks a bit different from the usual Inspiring Women features.

Inspiring Women: Life With Meghan

I stepped off of the school bus, and Mark stepped off after me. We strolled hand-in-hand into the St. Vital Mall and began another one of our shopping adventures. It was the November of 2016, four months after we got married and moved away for my University program. We moved to Otterburne, Manitoba,  four days after our wedding. It was a bit of a crazy decision, maybe even crazier than getting married at eighteen on Mark’s twenty-first birthday.

In Otterburne there was my school, a feed mill, and a post office. Nothing else but some houses and farms. And people say there’s nothing to do in the Sault! Mark and I had no vehicle to take us to get groceries, so every two weeks we would take a bus from my school to the St. Vital Centre in Winnipeg, where we could stock up the essentials (as much as we could carry, that is)

This trip was especially exciting. While Mark went to find something from our shopping list, I went to the drug store to buy something not written on our list, that I had never bought before: a pregnancy test.

I knew that it was very unlikely that I was pregnant. After all, I had an IUD put in five months prior because we knew we wouldn’t be in a very good position to be having a baby. I was working on getting my TESOL certificate, and Mark was just starting out as a farmhand on a local chicken and grain farm. I was barely nineteen, and he was twenty-one. As I mentioned before, we had no vehicle and little money in our bank account. Still, every time my cycle was late (which frequently happened after getting the IUD) I convinced myself that I might be pregnant.

Because of this regular worry, I began to do some online research on the topic of IUD pregnancies.

I learned that having an IUD increased my risk of having an ectopic pregnancy, which can be deadly if gone undetected. If I was pregnant but it wasn’t ectopic, the baby would still be in danger of being harmed by the IUD or miscarried. Knowing this put me on edge and made me wary of getting pregnant, even though it was next to impossible.

When we got home from our shopping trip, the bags were unpacked, and we talked about the idea of having a baby. It was exciting. It would certainly be inconvenient in our current situation, but we knew right from the start that we wanted to be parents. I tried not to get my hopes up too much, but I wanted a baby so badly. We went to sleep, and early the next morning I took the test.

When I looked at the test and saw the absence of a second line, my heart sank.

Negative.  

I told Mark after he woke up and although he was relieved, he was sensitive to my hope being crushed. When I got to school that morning I told my only close friend at the time, Chelsea, that the test had been negative. She sympathized with me, knowing how much I longed for motherhood, even though we technically weren’t ‘trying’.  

I continued on at school, excelling in all of my classes. I made the Dean’s list at the end of the school year, and had completed every course and placement that had to do with teaching English – I had worked very hard. All I had left were two Bible and theology courses, which I would come back to do in September.

We returned to the Sault for the summer, and I found a student job as a youth leader at a local church. Part of my job was being a counsellor at a week-long youth camp at the end of the summer. It was difficult. I was having a hard time connecting with the youth because I was so close in age to them and in a position of authority. I felt that they didn’t like me. There was one girl, though, Amy, who was very kind, and mature beyond her years. She could sense my discouragement. We had some really great discussions. We prayed together at chapel and sat together at some mealtimes.

One afternoon some people were visiting the camp (whom I assume were previous staff) with an adorable baby. They walked into the dining hall where we were spending some free time. Sitting with me at a nearby table, Amy caught me gazing. I couldn’t help it; I’ve always loved babies and I love to watch them (I know it’s weird, I get it from my mom).

“Do you want a baby?”, Amy asked with a bright smile.

“More than anything,” I said longingly. She had no way of knowing that I had an IUD, or that Mark and I hadn’t been trying to conceive.

“Maybe you should pray about it,” she replied.  

“Yeah, maybe I will.”

And I did. I asked God to give me a baby when the time was right.

Summer was over and school had begun. I had a light semester. Intro to the Bible and Christian Theology II, and Spiritual Formations. Easy peasy. Then, finished! I would have a TESOL certificate that could get me a job pretty much anywhere. Mark and I began to seek out opportunities to train for missions overseas. We wanted to do (and still hope to do) children’s ministry, and we were in contact with some different places that were interested in taking us on. Things were going pretty smoothly.

I had made peace with my IUD, trusting God to use His perfect timing to build our family.

Then I had another late period. A week late was pretty normal, but this time I was feeling nauseated. It had been over a year since I had been sick at all, and Mark felt fine, so I became suspicious. I took a pregnancy test that I had left over from before. When I looked at the test the result was unclear; I blamed it on the test being old. I needed to get another one.  

My wonderful friend, Chelsea, who was no longer a student at my school, was coming to visit us from her hometown a couple of hours away. I messaged her, asking her to pick up a test for me on her way over. She must have thought I was completely paranoid at this point. I suppose I was, but with good reason.

The next day was Thanksgiving Monday. Like the last time, I woke up early and took the test.  

Positive.  

POSITIVE.  

I could hardly believe it.

I jumped onto our bed and woke Mark with a kiss.  

“You’re gonna be a daddy,” I told him.

That day was an adventure that we still talk about. We quickly realized what a danger we might have been in. I was pregnant, with an IUD inside of me. If it were an ectopic pregnancy, it could rupture the Fallopian tube at any moment and cause severe bleeding which would be a life-threatening emergency for me, and the pregnancy would be terminated.  

If it wasn’t ectopic, as I mentioned before, the baby still might be miscarried or harmed by the IUD. Either way, we needed to get to the hospital.

Another dear friend of ours, Yvonne, took us to the Emergency room in Steinbach. She would have stayed with us the entire time if we hadn’t urged her to go home since we didn’t know how long this would take.  

I had bloodwork done to confirm that I was indeed pregnant.

But I couldn’t get an ultrasound because it was Thanksgiving and there was no ultrasound technician at the hospital. They told us to come back the next day, so we walked to the closest hotel, got a room, and ate snacks from a vending machine for our supper. We were afraid, excited, and exhausted. I prayed for the little life inside of me.

The next day was a big one. We checked out of the hotel and walked back to the hospital. I prayed some more as I went in for my ultrasound. I couldn’t see the screen, but the technician assured me that it wasn’t an ectopic pregnancy, which meant that I wasn’t in danger, but my baby was in the uterus alongside of an IUD.  

Please let it be low, I prayed silently. I didn’t know much about the situation, but I just had a feeling that low would be best.  

“Wow.” The tech said almost instantly after. “The IUD is really low. That probably explains why you got pregnant.”

I could hardly believe what I heard. I prayed a silent “thank-you” and went back to Mark to tell him the good news. After what seemed like endless waiting, a doctor came in.

I was asked if I wanted to keep the baby. Without hesitation, I said yes.

I believe that a baby is a precious miracle, no matter how inconvenient , and no matter how seemingly hopeless the circumstance.

-Meghan

 

The doctor told us that I would need to go to Winnipeg regularly for ultrasounds and check-ups. A nurse said that she didn’t know if they would want me to keep the IUD in or have it taken out, as it was risky either way. All we knew was that we wouldn’t be able to get to and from Winnipeg, and we were fairly certain that we only had coverage for emergency healthcare in Manitoba. We decided then and there that I would drop out of school and we would return to Sault Ste. Marie.  

Coming home was nice, but even nicer was getting to tell our family that we were expecting. We still kept it on the down-low because of the obvious risks, but we were bursting with excitement. It was scary not being sure of the baby’s safety, yet I had a sense of peace.

I had the strongest feeling that God meant for this baby to happen and had His hand of protection around him or her.

When I went to get the IUD situation figured out, my Obstetrician explained to me the risks of leaving the IUD in, along with the risks of taking it out. I knew I wanted it out, but we decided that she would check it out and then we would decide to do what was best.

She went to examine the positioning of the IUD and the next thing I knew, it was out!

She told me that it would have come out on its own if we had waited any longer.

I was so relieved and thankful. I knew that this baby was in God’s hands. After the IUD was out, there was little risk for the baby and I was able to switch over to care from the Midwives. Other than some extreme nausea and vomiting throughout the pregnancy (which had nothing to do with the IUD), everything was fine.

We announced the pregnancy to our friends and extended family as soon as I entered the second trimester.

What an amazing God we have! He certainly blesses those who love Him.

On June 2nd, after over 24 hours of hard labour, our Roger was born. Healthy, beautiful, and perfect. He’s seven months old now. He’s just incredible and so worth the longing, the uncertain times, nine months of morning sickness, and really tiring labour.

We may not have been in what most people would consider a “good” position to become parents, but our hearts were ready. We have had so much help and support from our family, friends, and church family. I love them all and am so thankful for them.

But most of all I am thankful for our wonderful Heavenly Father who continues to provide for us and shows us that trusting in His timing really pays off.

Meghan has an amazing story of trusting God when life seems uncertain. Would you like to spend more time with God, so you too can learn to trust him with your life? Download our free Read the Bible in a Year Plan start at any time during the year.  It will change your life!

I hope you enjoyed your time on Beauty from Ashes. We have many more amazing women in our Inspiring Women series you can read about. Rachelle received a diagnosis that changed her life. Read more: Life With Rachelle

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