God Still Raises the Dead

Reported by Peter Edwards

Siara

A year ago my wife, Maria, and I (Manuel Hernandez) were happily married raising our three teens, Cherissa 13, Danny15, and Manuel III 17. We were shocked to learn that Maria was having a miscarriage. We did not know she was pregnant, we thought we were too old. We mourned our loss and believed God would not allow us to stay in mourning, but would comfort us.

Maria is diabetic and one of the complications of her disease contributed to the miscarriage. Because of her diabetes we did not think that she could conceive again.  But before we knew it Maria was pregnant, and we embraced it as a God thing. One year to the day after the miscarriage, Maria packed her things in preparation for what would be the next morning’s trip to the hospital. In the early hours of November 27th Maria went into labor. We arrived at the hospital at around 4:45am. The delivery seemed to proceed normally until it became clear the baby was larger than expected and both mom and baby were having trouble. When I saw some concern in the eyes of the doctor and nurses I started praying for my wife to deliver as soon as possible. Our daughter, Cherissa, now 14, who was with us in the delivery room also began to pray. We believed God would help us. Then the baby began to emerge and I saw the cord tangled around her neck and her skin a blue color.

I didn't want to alarm Maria, so I started worshiping and exalting our Lord. Because the Bible says God inhabits the praises of His people, I knew He would be with us. Even before our little Siara Monique was completely out, the “Crash Team” began to assemble in response to a “Code Blue”. At 2:38pm she was born weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces. The very first test given to a newborn, the Apgar score occurs right after birth in the delivery or birthing room. The test was designed to quickly evaluate a newborn's physical condition after delivery and to determine any immediate need for extra medical or emergency care. The highest possible score is 10. A score of 0 indicates a baby with no pulse, no respiration, no reflexes, no muscle tone, who is bluish-gray in color, and is in need of immediate, desperate medical attention. Siara had a Apgar score of 0 at 1 minute, 0 at 5 minutes, and 0 at10 minutes.

The Crash Team acted as though we were not there. Their focus was entirely on the baby and while they did their best to revive our daughter, their exclusive use of medical terminology made it seem as though we were in another world. And we were. As the assembled doctors and nurses were putting their training and experience to work in the fight for our daughter’s survival, so were we. Maria, Cherissa, and I went to war for Siara. We declared all the promises of God that we could think of. We prayed in the Spirit, trusting God for His perfect will. We declared the devil a liar and spoke life to Siara. I also made a quick call to our son, Manuel III, and asked him to pray as the baby was having problems breathing. I knew he would call others for their prayer support. And he did. We did not know it then, but within minutes people were going to God on our behalf all across the country. In the providence of God, there was a number of the hospital staff that were praying with and for us, some in the birthing room – including the hospital chaplain, some of the nurses, and the director of nursing services, and others in the hall outside the room. After 21 minutes of effort the doctor declared Siara dead and called off the Code Blue. Nurses wept as they left the room. Once the baby had been declared dead, it seemed the focus began to shift from believing with us, to giving us comfort. While we appreciated the concern and compassion of those around us, our focus was not on the death of our daughter, but on the power of God to raise the dead! We were at war in the Spirit and in no way about to concede defeat.

I could not see my wife going home without her baby. I felt impressed by the Lord to walk slowly over to the baby, so as not to alarm the medical personnel. I did not want to appear as an out of control, hysterical, grief stricken father, because I was not. Strangely, I was not afraid. I was frustrated that the baby still was not breathing. I fully believed that God was going to raise her from the dead. I carefully pushed a cart out of my way and approached my blue and lifeless child. I prayed, "God, You have never failed me and I know You won't start now." I put my hands on my baby and reminded God that the breath of life comes from Him. Then I said, “You raised Lazarus from the dead. Raise Siara now so that everyone here will know that You are alive and love Your children, I say, Siara come forth!” Then I spoke to my baby for a while encouraging her to fight and wake up.

One of the nurses stepped in and said, "Let's take her to Mommy." She then wrapped her limp, blue body in a blanket, carried her to Maria and laid Siara on her mother’s chest. My wife cradled our baby in her arms and told her to wake up. Maria reminded her that she had been moving in her womb a short time ago. "Come on, Mija, wake up!" she said. (Mija is Spanish for "my daughter".)

Kathleen Overton, RN, an ER case manager who has training in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, was one of the “Code Blue” responders. As she left the room, she took one last glance at the family. The image she left with was of the lifeless blue hand of the baby pressed to Maria’s cheek while Maria caressed and spoke to Siara.

Suddenly my wife noticed that Siara's chest was moving and was turning pink. She called for a nurse or doctor to look at the baby, but was told it was just the oxygen they had used to try to revive her coming back out. Maria would not give up and demanded someone look at Siara. The doctor who delivered her came and embraced mom and baby, and then exclaimed, "I feel something!" He moved Siara over to the table and used a stethoscope to listen to her chest and called out, "I've got a heartbeat!"

They took Siara to the nursery to continue working on her, leaving us in the delivery room. Nurse Overton said that when the obstetrician walked in with the baby and said, “She is alive,” her first thought was of incredulity. “How can this be?!” Then she thought, “This is horrible. This poor family will only have to grieve all over again, because the baby cannot survive.” (The ER doctor estimates that the baby was deprived of oxygen for a minimum of 37-38 minutes.) When our Pastor, Peter Edwards, arrived at the hospital a few moments later, the head of nursing services and I directed him into the nursery to lay hands on Siara. The medical personnel stepped out of the way to allow him to lay hands on the baby and pray. Then he joined us in the delivery room where we continued to pray and worship. The head of nursing services shuttled back and forth between the nursery and the delivery room encouraging us to continue to pray and believe as she gave us updates on Siara’s condition. At one point she said, “If God can raise old stinky Lazarus, He can raise this baby.” A nurse came to us later and told Maria and I that her pulse was steady and the baby was growing steadily pinker and that color was beginning to come into her extremities. Throughout this time we were enveloped with an amazing peace as we sensed God’s presence.

Later that evening Siara was air evacuated to the neonatal I.C.U. at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital so that she could be closely monitored and receive care as needed. They were sure that after such a traumatic birth, she was going to need a lot of care. They were wrong. She did suffer some seizures the first few days, but they have stopped. And Siara thrives.

On Friday, December 8th we were able to bring Siara home from the hospital. Now, more than one month after the miracle, Siara is gaining weight, nursing well, and doing everything that is age appropriate. The medical community is amazed not only at her survival, but also at how well she continues to do. They want to closely monitor Siara’s development going forward as they struggle to lay aside the medical to grasp the miracle. Nurse Overton stated, “This baby was not revived. She was resurrected.”

This is an amazing story - almost unbelievable.  But I believe it, because I was there.  I believe it may be one of the "signs and a wonders" the Bible says we will see in the last days.  A "wonder" is something that captures your attention and a "sign" is something that speaks to you.  This story has certainly captured my attention.  And I feel that God has been speaking to me (and many others) through it.

All babies are miracles.  And as surely as God has a plan for each and every life, so does the one Jesus called the "thief" whose agenda is to
"steal, kill, and destroy."  We need to fight for our children, praying for them, believing for them, if they are going to fulfill their
God-given potential.  Don't give up. Even when the experts say it is hopeless.  Even when circumstances tell you, "It's over.  It's too late.
There's no hope."

It's not too late.  It's never too late.  Our God raises the dead.  And if He can raise the dead, He can do anything.   He can even release His
grace and work His will in the lives of people like you and me.

The Happy Family