The Smell Of Rain (Long)

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the
Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy
from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves
for the latest news.

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana,
only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency caesarean to
deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches
long and weighing only 1 pound 9 ounces, they already knew she was
perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

"I don't think she's going to make it,"' he said, as kindly as he
could.

"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night,
and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future
could be a very cruel one."

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor
Described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she
survived: she would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably
be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic
conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and
on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their
5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a
daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that
dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held
onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep,
growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live and
ive to be a healthy, happy young girl.
But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of
Their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less
healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked
in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements.
Diana remembers, "I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything
trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I
couldn't listen. I said, 'No, I don't want to
listen to what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she
will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!'"
As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life
Hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her
miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new
agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous
system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only
intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny
baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All
they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in
the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to
their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger. But as
The weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an
Ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her
parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first
time. And two months later, though doctors continued to
gently, but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less
living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Danae went home from
the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl
with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She
shows no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment.
Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more, but that happy
ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of
1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother's
lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin's
baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop
with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly
fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell
that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana
replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Danae closed her eyes and
again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again Diana said, "Rain."
Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin
shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like
Him....It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play
With the other children before the rains came Her daughter's words
Confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family
had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and
nights Of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too
sensitive For them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest and it
is His
Loving scent that she remembers so well.

That one always makes me cry... meany

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Anna or Xavier due 10/17/04
"jenlore" wrote in message
lkaboutparenting.com...
A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the
Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy
from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves
for the latest news.

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana,
only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency caesarean to
deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches
long and weighing only 1 pound 9 ounces, they already knew she was
perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

"I don't think she's going to make it,"' he said, as kindly as he
could.

"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night,
and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future
could be a very cruel one."

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor
Described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she
survived: she would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably
be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic
conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and
on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their
5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a
daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that
dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held
onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep,
growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live and
ive to be a healthy, happy young girl.
But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of
Their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less
healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked
in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements.
Diana remembers, "I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything
trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I
couldn't listen. I said, 'No, I don't want to
listen to what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she
will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!'"
As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life
Hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her
miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new
agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous
system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only
intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny
baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All
they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in
the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to
their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger. But as
The weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an
Ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her
parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first
time. And two months later, though doctors continued to
gently, but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less
living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Danae went home from
the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl
with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She
shows no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment.
Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more, but that happy
ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of
1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother's
lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin's
baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop
with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly
fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell
that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana
replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Danae closed her eyes and
again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again Diana said, "Rain."
Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin
shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like
Him....It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play
With the other children before the rains came Her daughter's words
Confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family
had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and
nights Of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too
sensitive For them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest and it
is His
Loving scent that she remembers so well.