Brandy & Preston have a new baby!

This story is about a miracle. I just received an e-mail from Sue Jennings a client of mine and stepmother to one of my oldest friends, Brandy. Brandy told me a few years ago that she and her husband, Preston, decided that they would not have children because she has MS and she was actually even been told by the Dr. that she probably should not/could not have any after 30. She just turned 31.

I was so happy to read this!! It is scary and amazing and I hope and pray that everything goes well for them. Steve and I are so happy for you Brandy & Preston. We are sending positive thoughts your way.

Rather than rewrite Sue’s telling of the amazing event, I’ll just paste it here:

This is a mass email to let everyone we know the wonderful miracle we had this past Saturday.

We got a phone call early Saturday morning informing us that Brandy, Stan’s daughter was in an ambulance on the way to hospital and that she was at least 8 months pregnant. This is truly a suprise because no one, even Brandy knew she was expecting. Now I’ll back up some in time and explain. Brandy and Preston (proud father) decided before getting married no to have children because of Brandy’s MS and Preston has a family problem he didn’t want to pass on either. Brandy began taking birth control even though she has been told many times by doctors that she probably could never get pregnant. She has big cycts on her ovaries and hasn’t had any cycles for the last two years, and a year prior to that hadn’t cycled for a term of 7 years. Going on with this story, Brandy must has gotten pregnant in Aug. and in Sept she went on a diet and began walking. Slowly, very slowly she began to take off a few pounds. Come Jan. she took a round of cemo therapy to stop an attack she was having that has all but taken her eye sight. This is significant because right before this treatment they gave her a pregnancy test and it came back negative. Also if she had known she was pregnant she wouldn’t have taken this treatment that saved her eveysight. Then to answer another question why didn’t she feel the baby. One symptom of MS that Brandy has is a numbness in the lower half of her body. She actully couldn’t feel the baby at all. She did start wondering what was making her stomach hard at times but couldn’t figure it out. The climax to this story that 10:00 Saturday morning April 8th , 2006 Brandy and Preston found out they were having a baby. By 11:00 that evening they had a healthy and I might add beautiful baby boy weighing in at 6lbs 6oz. 19 inches long and has been named Samuel Paul Shrout. Brandy is doing very well, she did have to have a C section because of eclampsia. She gained a whopping minus 18 pounds during her pregnancy. So there it is. In case you don’t know this couple personally please let me tell you that it was a sad day in all our lives when they let us know they weren’t going to h ave children. There is not two people more loving and patient and giving in this world and who wouldn’t be better parents. Well I guess we weren’t the only ones who thought this, God must have thought so too. He took in into his hands to make eveything happen just as it has so Brandy and Preston could be blessed with this wonderful little person without a lot of worrying and anxiety.

We would like to also ask eveyone to keep Brandy in their prayers now because after delivery of a child all MS patients go into a very high risk catagory with the disease, experiencing many “attacks”. I’m sure she will probably be taking more chemo very soon and this should help, but I believe prayers will help her even more. God has definitely had her in his sights so lets help keep her there. I’ve tried to call as many people as I could but have not gotten as far as I’d like so that is the reason for this email. We are very excited and full of joy and just want to share this miracle with our friends.
God bless, Stan & Sue Jennings