Saved by God’s grace after losing a baby

HOW does a woman recover after losing a baby she carried and loved in her womb for nine months? Moreover, how does she recover after losing more than one of those pregnancies? If we learn anything from one special woman’s story, we learn that it is by nothing less than God’s grace! We caught up with the beautiful, soft-spoken powerhouse and founder and director of Laud Dance Ministries, Nickeisha Antonette Jones, who recalled when she had a stillbirth as a young mother and how she was tempted to take her life.

“The nurse said, ‘don’t push until I come back’, so as a first-time mother, if the nurse gives you an instruction, even if you feel like pushing, you are gonna close your legs. So that’s what I did and it ended up sending the baby in distress because the baby defecated inside of me and inhaled it. And later on the paediatrician that came to talk to me said that if the baby had lived she would have been a vegetable,” Jones recounts.

Losing a baby can certainly be one of the hardest emotional and physical experiences for a woman, especially for a young mother. To make things worse, the hospital where Jones delivered placed her in the same space with women who had just delivered their babies safely.

“So that was like torture. I remember when I was lying down on my bed, it was four women in our cubicle and when I looked over I saw this teenager who I had learned worked in the market. She didn’t have anything. And another lady was there and she wasn’t married or anything, and ‘the enemy’ just came in. I literally just felt a presence sit on my bed — it sank. And he was like, ‘you do praise and worship, yuh dance, so weh your God deh, weh your baby deh?’ And he showed me the teenager and the lady who wasn’t married, with their babies, and he showed me some other women and I just drew the screen around myself. And he was saying to me, when the nurses do the last call just tell them that you are going to the bathroom, go all the way to the top and jump off the building ’cause you don’t have no purpose.”

Jones was so broken by the experience that she decided in her heart to jump. However, God in the nick of time sent one of His servants to encourage her during this dark moment. She remembers an African nurse who was to do the last check on the ward that night.

“She asked, ‘why is the screen drawn? You are not supposed to draw the screen because we have to see the baby’. And the other lady who was across the bed told her that I lost my baby and then the nurse said, ‘oh’. And when she pulled the screen she just started to pray and she started to cover my mind. She said, ‘The Lord is going to give you a child that you think is like 10 children’ (which is now my son) and He is going to allow you to do things, and she started to prophesy over my life, and when she did that I started to feel different. I was actually planning out everything (to jump off the building) but when she was leaving she said, ‘God loves you and I will see you tomorrow’, and I said OK. And by the time she left, the place wasn’t so gloomy anymore and so I started to go over to the ladies, and I went to the teenager and I said where is your stuff? And she said her mother didn’t bring it yet, and I took up most of my baby stuff and I gave it to her and the other ladies, and I just started walking around and giving away all the things. The only thing I kept was a blanket my mother bought, and a bootie.”

Since that time, Jones experienced some miscarriages but she is happy for the two wonderful children — a talented daughter and son — who God allowed her to have. The phenomenal dancer and mother is certainly a woman of faith who has experienced God’s hand in her life and now more than anything else she just wants to make Him smile, through dance.

 Visit familyandfaithmagazine.com to learn more about Nickeisha’s story.

WE CAN BE WISE AND COMPASSIONATE AT THE SAME TIME

AFTER cooking around 15 meals in the past week, I decided to pick up pizza for the girls this weekend. I wore a face covering and had my purse and sanitiser in hand. With no plastic bag, the cashier tucked some napkins and pepper on top of the boxes of pizza which I was hoping would kind of just stay put since I didn’t want to handle the napkins until I sanitised in the car.

I walked out and sure enough ‘likkle’ breeze blow and all the napkins scattered all over. Of course, in my head I know I wouldn’t be using them anymore but I didn’t want to just leave the place like that. But before I could figure out how to pick up everything with my hands already full and breeze blowing, a man in his own face covering was already picking up all the napkins. He looked at me and asked if he should throw them away since they had touched the ground. I said yes, thank you. He rested the packets of peppers on the box and said I may be able to use them. He made sure that all was well with me before going in the store to collect his own pizza. 

I share this experience to remind myself and others that there are still good, kind, compassionate strangers out there. Let us also choose to be the kindness we want to see – let love overcome fear. And when we remember those horrific stories built on fear, let us resolve to be kind and compassionate in these desperate times. We can be wise and kind at the same time.

Shelly-Ann Harris is the founder and editorial director of Family and Faith Magazine.

Send comments to allwoman @jamaicaobserver. com or familyandfaithmagazine @gmail.com