“Olga, I am referring you to a high-risk pregnancy specialist, in case you consider an abortion,” the doctor continued.

“I can’t do an abortion. This is our baby, whom we already love so much.”

All in tears I left the doctor’s office. Outside, shaking, crying, and having a hard time concentrating, I called Oleg at work and told him the devastating news.

“Our baby is a boy, who is having many heart issues. He will die if we don’t do the surgeries. Why did God let it happen to us?”

“Olga, God will help us. We should trust in His will,” Oleg said with a calm voice.

But I thought reality is reality and miracles just don’t happen in today’s world. Men often hide their feelings and don’t talk about them as much as women do. I wondered whether this was Oleg’ true feeling or if he was telling me what I needed to hear.

…….

That minute I remembered the Bible story of Job that Oleg and I had recently read. Job was a blameless, upright person, who feared God and shunned evil. Satan thought that Job was righteous because God had blessed him.

“If you take everything away from Job, I will prove to You that Job will curse you,” Satan told God.

“I let you test Job. I am sure he will not curse Me. He is a righteous and blameless person,” God replied to Satan.

With God’s permission Satan tested Job, by destroying his wealth, killing all his children and taking his health away from Job. But Job didn’t curse God. He remained loyal to Him. Satan was proved wrong and God blessed Job even more than before, by giving him more children and wealth. I wondered if God was testing us, as He had tested Job?

I drove directly to Mom’s house to see and talk to her. I knew her comfort would be forth coming.

“Our baby has very serious heart issues and may be born very ill,” I broke in tears. “He may not even survive…”

“Daughter, please don’t cry. Give your worry to God. He is in charge of everything and He will help you. We will be praying for your baby,” hugging me, Mom tried to calm me down.

I picked up our children and went home. Later that evening, Oleg and I talked to our children.

“David, Kristina and Michael, we have news for you!”

The kids came and sat next to us, ready to listen.

“The baby in Mama’s womb is a boy. You will have a little brother!” Oleg said.

David and Michael jumped up, being so happy about baby brother.

“But I wanted a sister,” Kristina started crying.

I comforted Kristina and shared the rest of the news.

“We also have very sad news for you. Your baby brother has many issues with his heart. When he is born, he may not even live long. He might require multiple surgeries and may not come home right away.”

The children were scared. With tears on their eyes, they looked at us, not sure what to ask, how to react or what to answer.

“We need to pray to God and ask Him to heal our baby,” Oleg said. “God is powerful. He heals people, if it is His will.”

Oleg embraced the children in his arms. We all prayed and cried out to God, asking for His mercy.

…….

One week later, while Oleg was at work, I had a second ultrasound at a high-risk Obstetrician/Gynecology clinic.

“Olga, this ultrasound confirms that all the problems with your baby’s heart are real,” summarized the doctor.

“Why did it happen to our baby? Did I do something wrong?” I asked through tears.

“No one knows why the Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome occurs. As with most congenital heart defects, there is no known cause.”

“Can you tell me more about the surgery?” I asked.

“Sure,” the doctor said. “It is a very complicated open-heart surgery. Eighty-five percent of babies survive the first surgery. Less babies survive the second surgery. And a lot less babies survive all three surgeries. With time, their heart becomes very weak. They require a heart transplant. If they can’t wait long enough for the transplant, they die. Only a few individuals live up to thirty years.”