Episode 214: Ethan's Mom

Timing. It is said that timing is everything. Although timing may not be everything, it does make a great impact on so much in life The other day, I lost a precious earring that my husband had given to me as a gift. We looked and looked for the earring thinking it was gone forever, but timing (with perhaps a little help from heaven) saved my earring. At the moment that it fell out of my ear, I had a grocery bag over my right shoulder even though I normally carry bags on my left. That earring fell at the perfect moment in time to land right in that grocery bag. Throughout my talk with today's guest, Rebecca, I thought about timing. From the time of her routine prenatal ultrasound with her son, Ethan, Rebecca and her husband knew that Ethan was not going to be a healthy baby. The option of terminating the pregnancy was offered to the family. They declined. Doctors suggested that they simply let Ethan die when he was born, but again, they declined. Rebecca and all her family and friends prayed for a miracle. They knew that little Ethan could be healed and they needed to do everything medically possible for Ethan to give him a chance to have a life here on earth. Ethan was born and Rebecca lived with him in the NICU. She continued her earnest prayers to God, and then, after 6 weeks, Rebecca and her husband knew that it was time. It was time to let Ethan go. Ethan was ready and they were ready. Ethan died in a beautiful hospice unit free of tubes and lines on his own timing. Rebecca would not have changed one single thing. Over the next weeks, Rebecca started listening to this podcast to help in her healing. Almost 10 months ago, Rebecca wrote to me to tell me about Ethan and that she wanted to share their story, but again, this is where timing comes back in. She was early in pregnancy with another baby, and her anxiety was very high that things would go wrong. She felt that she had to safely deliver this baby before talking to me about Ethan. So that leads us to today and the sharing of Ethan's story. The timing was not right for Rebecca last December, but now, after baby Miles' birth, the timing is just perfect.