Feature by Rachel Martindale

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Features | Send mail to The Voice Miracle baby enlivens couple after anxious wait Chris Thatcher feeds James, his miracle baby. -Thatcher family photo Chris Thatcher leaned over in her chair to unfasten the car seat beside her. "Is that better?" she murmured to the sleeping infant. She adores this tiny bundle, this miracle baby. Before becoming Mrs. Thatcher, Chris Woods attended Multnomah Bible College. In 1998 she met Chris Thatcher, a pastor at Cedar Mill Bible Church. They fell in love and married in March of 2000. In January of 2003, when Thatcher was well into his schooling at MBC, they decided to try to have children. On May 17, they learned Mrs. Thatcher was pregnant. Everything was fine until week 20, the time for the ultrasound. After the procedure, they waited for a call from the doctor. It came one afternoon while they sat in their side-by-side church offices. The doctor delivered grave news. The ultrasound results showed an enlarged heart atrium, a cyst in the brain and only two instead of the normal three vessels in the umbilical cord. The doctor said these irregularities could be indicative of a chromosomal abnormality, meaning anything from Down's Syndrome to stillbirth. "That is not the thing you want to hear for your first pregnancy or for any pregnancy," Mrs. Thatcher said. "You have all those dreams for a child." She had hoped for hers to go fishing with dad and to play soccer. "You can't wait to see him and hold him and love him." She went to her husband's next-door office, sat him down and told him the news. Shaken, Mr. Thatcher gathered several associate pastors to pray with them. "We didn't know what was going to happen," Mrs. Thatcher said. They went home, sat on the bed, talked and cried. The Thatchers decided not to hide their pain. They would be open and share with their church family. They sent e-mails to the elder board, church staff and family members. They printed and passed out pictures of the ultrasound to the junior high kids at church. They sent a blanket e-mail to the 100-something people on the church prayer line. Someone forwarded that blanket e-mail to Luis Palau's prayer line. Mrs. Thatcher researched the baby's possible condition. "I was surfing the web constantly," she said. "I want to know about these things in case my kid has this." Too few vessels in an umbilical cord, she learned, might simply stunt a baby's growth. Her baby was bigger than average. Brain cysts usually go away. But the enlarged heart atrium could be dangerous. Three torturous weeks passed. Every day, the Thatchers met before their heavenly Father. "If the baby is sick, heal him," they pleaded. "If not, help us to know." Finally, what Mr. Thatcher called the "roller coaster day" arrived. Northwest Perinatal Center specializes in high-risk obstetrics. "They have to give a lot of bad news," Mrs. Thatcher said. For 45 minutes, the Thatchers sat in a doctor's office and discussed three generations of genetic history. Both of their families had been healthy. Next came an ultrasound. "What we're looking at today," the technician explained, "is Trisomy 18, which is most likely fatal." He checked the baby's heart first. The tech maneuvered the machine here and there. At length, he declared, "The heart looks fine." Puzzled, Mrs. Thatcher excused herself and slipped off to the restroom. Upon coming out, she found the tech standing in the hall, angry. The technician reporting on the first ultrasound had meant to write "enlarged brain atrium" but had written "heart." The heart was fine! Back into the lab they went. The tech delivered good news: "The brain looks perfectly fine." More probing revealed the umbilical cord was missing one artery, but the baby was three weeks ahead in growth. Minutes later, both the geneticist and the doctor joined the technician. The three workers stared at the screen. All three were smiling. Giving a family good news was probably the highlight of their week, Mrs. Thatcher said. It was certainly a day the Thatchers could never forget. That evening, the Thatchers celebrated, talking about their miracle and thanking the Lord. They sent a blanket e-mail to all on the prayer line, telling the wonderful news. Every four weeks until December and then every other week, Mrs. Thatcher went in for ultrasounds and appointments to make sure the umbilical cord was not causing growth problems. Each time she went in, their prayer was answered. The baby remained two-and-one half weeks bigger than the average baby. Christmas Eve of 2003, a baby boy was born. James David Thatcher was perfectly healthy. "We were just very thankful," Mrs. Thatcher said. Mrs. Thatcher had prayed the same for her unborn child, and God used little James while he was still in his mother's womb. "The junior high kids will be able to see and remember that the Lord took care of that baby," she said. The Thatchers don't know--and may never know--whether the first technician made a mistake or if there had been a problem the Lord healed. "Either way," she said, "his life is a miracle." Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Features | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2003 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.