Uli's Testimony

A Pregnancy That Could Well
Have Ended Differently
by Uli Rudhof, January 25, 2007

Since January 1^st, I am the proud mom of a wonderful and lovely baby girl! This is probably nothing too special, although such a small human being is always a miracle in itself. But in my case, it definitely is remarkable. It clearly was a pregnancy where God had His hand over it and even the birth date was set by the Lord!

My name is Uli Rudhof. I am 36 years old and although nowadays, it is no medical problem anymore, I am not the youngest for being a first-time mom. Yet my husband and I wanted to have a child and this is why I stopped taking the pill by the end of January 2006. We didn't have to wait long and in April, I started feeling bad...

Pretty fast I realized that this "flu" wasn't a flue at all! This really was great, since it can take quite a while to become pregnant after the pill! At the beginning of May, my gynecologist first calculated the due date for January 3^rd, 2007, but corrected it a bit later to Januray 1^st.

A little later, we heard of the so-called "parent pay" (which is a new German law for young parents to get money from the state for a certain period of time). I can't say why, but from that moment on, we had a 100% security that this was God's provision. The due date January 1_^st became a certainty - no day earlier, no day later!

Unfortunately, I felt very bad the first weeks. I couldn't stand any smell. Our trip to the US had long been planned for already. With 4 more pastor's couples, we wanted to attend a Foursquare conference in Oregon. I desperately wanted to go and attend, but I was ever so sick... So we began to pray very hard with several other friends. Also our American brothers and sisters started praying. A week before our flight, I promptly felt better. In fact, I didn't only feel better, I felt fantastic! So we took this as a prayer hearing and set off to the States!

It was a long flight - 27 hours all together with changing planes and waiting times. But I arrived completely fresh! I felt the prayers of all the friends. All 3 weeks that we stayed there, passed without any problems at all; we had a great time! It was so very clear that it was a God given time, since I usually feel a bit awkward being at a strange place with strange people. But here, I felt at home straight away and could totally enjoy my time!

For two months after coming back from the United States, I was very fit, also at my work place at an optician's shop where I worked as a manager. By mid September though, we worked very hard because we changed the shop's decoration. I must have lifted too much weight, for suddenly, I had contractions. My doc sent me to hospital straight away where I was diagnosed with early labor pains that were caused by bacteria. They gave me tocolytics and kept me for a week and a half.

Yet the first regular checkup after my stay at hospital gave me a shock: the cervix was too short (a strong sign for the birth to come very soon). So - back to hospital... There came the 2nd shock: new bacteria had accumulated and they turned out to be chlamydia (a very mean sort of bacteria that can cause premature delivery and sterility). Antibiotics could not be avoided. And all those pains... Yet I only was in week 28...

The hospital docs said that I could forget about the due date on January 1^st. But my husband and I didn't want to accept this. Once again, we were reminded of the fact that it was indeed God Himself giving us the certainty for this due date. Again, our prayers became more intense. And during these prayer times, we became aware of a very bad fact: these were attacks directed against my very own person! Our child has never been affected, it was protected and always well off. Only I had those problems. The woman who was to take my position as manager of the optician's shop was trying even before time to push me out of my position. On closer inspection we were even suspecting occult actions...

After God had given us these insights, we were able to pray more tightly focused. My boss became aware of those weird actions and handled them accordingly and... well, what shall I say - the chlamedia disappeared! It was truly remarkable! For quite a long time, my baby had a diagonal position and did not turn. So we prayed again and at the checkup next day, it was in the correct position again!

I stopped working and by mid October, Eric lost his job... Oh my, did this fit....! But we did not panic, just the contrary, we never felt as secure in God's promises as we did here! Now, it became very clear why God had given us the certainty for January 1^st: this new law concerning parent pay was due to take effect as from January 1^st - God's way of providing! Okay, we would have received that money anyway, even if my daughter would have been born after that date, yet God wanted to show His action in this situation!

Despite all, I had to take great care of myself. The cervix was still too short. On December 4, my gynecologist diagnosed an even greater shortage and additionally, the mouth of the uterus had opened half an inch. The doc didn't give me chances for a week....

But Eric began to proclaim and said to everybody who wanted to listen or not that our baby will come on January 1^st, no day earlier, no day later! He rounded everybody up for prayer. At first, this sort of proclamation made me a little insecure, but it didn't take long and I felt exactly the same! We prayed by storm. Well and 3 days later, the mouth of the uterus was closed and the cervix had a normal length!

My doc didn't believe his eyes when he saw this and could only mumble, "A miracle!" And I could testify to him! He confirmed having heard of how effective prayer can be. He was impressed when he learned that in countries like Brazil for example, where people pray a lot, premature deliveries and complications don't happen as often.

Every week, I had to go for a checkup, but the results were always the same: mouth of uterus closed, cervix normal. It was thrilling until the end!

Shortly before Christmas, my doc went on vacation and I had to see his replacement colleague at the hospital. On December 27, this lady doctor diagnosed that I had too little amniotic fluid and wanted to initiate the delivery. But after confirming us that the amniotic fluid was still enough for baby not to have any trouble, we decided against the initiation. The lady doc agreed but insisted that I should come every day to see her. She was very nervous. Yet the fluid kept its amount and my baby was very fine. As of December 30, the doc wanted me to stay hospitalized for a permanent control. I felt great and was very calm.

Januar 1^st, the doc wanted to initiate the delivery, as she would not have permitted any prolongation. She was so nervous that she could not sleep at night and made a nurse wake me up very early in the morning to prepare me for the initiation of the delivery. Just imagine - she could not sleep and I, being very advanced in pregnancy, had to be woken up as I slept like an angel, deep and peacefully!

At 5:45 am, my labor pains began all by themselves! The examination showed that the mouth of the uterus was already open an inch - all by itself!

Shortly afterwards, my husband came and was being received with "Fantastic findings - no initiation necessary!" I had no pain for the whole morning and so I was sent to walk. At around 11 am, a slight pain began and I went in into the delivery room. At around 4 pm, I had strong labor pains and at 4:19 pm, our Lilli was born! No cut, no perineal tear! I was amazed at how fast things were over!

I did not suffer any postnatal depression, breatfeeding went well right from the start, readjustment of our new life was no problem to me, I got my former weight back in no time and Lilli wakes up only once a night! Isn't that swell??!!!