By Nancy J.
We were 4 months pregnant with our 3rd child. I had miscarried a baby before this pregnancy. The Lord had already given us a name for this child. The name was Zariah. It always seems like the Lord gives us a name. The name was really heavy on my heart two weeks before we found out we were pregnant. I googled it and didn’t find anything significant about the name. It was different and unique and I liked it. Plus, it was a name that I felt strongly the Lord had given. So when I was 4 months pregnant, I started to get a little anxious about losing the baby. I knew a gal who lost her baby at 4 months, and another gal at 8 months. So that fear was starting to creep into my mind. While I was putting my daughter down for a nap, I was reading her a Bible story of Noah and the Ark. As we got to the rainbow part, I felt so strongly the Lord say, “That is why I have given you the name Zariah; it’s My rainbow to you that this child will be ok.” That brought a lot of peace.
Fast forward a month or two later. We went to our appointment – the one where you find out what you are having. Since we were given the name Zariah, I was certain it was a girl. We had a son and a daughter already and so we weren’t swayed one way or another. But I was sure it was a girl. Zariah was a girl’s name. When the tech told us it was a boy, I was devastated. It wasn’t so much because it was a boy but the fact that I KNOW the Lord gave me that name so I was very confused. I told my husband that I know for sure that it was the Lord who gave me the name. How could He give me a girl name for a boy? I was very emotional about it that my husband drove me to my Pastor’s wife and I sat down to talk with her. I know it seems like not such a big deal but for me it was. As I was talking to her, she pointed out that when the Lord spoke to me about the name and confirmed it was the name He had given, He said, “It’s My rainbow to you that this CHILD will be ok.” The Lord had never told me it was a girl. I assumed it was a girl name. She then went on to tell me that the name Zariah is in the Bible. It’s Azariah but the root ‘zariah’ means the Lord protects; the Lord helps. Once I heard that, I felt much better. I had started to question my ability to hear from the Lord after finding out it was a girl. I was certain that the Lord had given me that name. So once I heard that it was used as a male name in the Bible, it comforted me.
In about my 8th month, I went into early labor. I was taken into the labor and delivery and they were able to stop the labor. I was given a steroid that helps with the baby’s lungs just in case I went into labor again. I had to stay in the hospital for a few days just to make sure everything was ok. They needed me to stay at least 48 hours to make sure I didn’t go into labor again and it also takes 48 hours for the steroid to do its work. To make a long story short, I ended up having to have Zariah early via emergency C-section. Everything went well, but he was 6 weeks early and had to be taken to the NICU.
Zariah had issues with the Bilirubin count. His breathing seemed to be ok. Thank God for those steroids. We then found out that he was so premature that his body didn’t know how to digest food. They would tube feed him and then they would give it some time and check to see how much he digested. For 4 days, he wasn’t digesting anything. My husband had went in to visit him one night while I stayed home with the other two kids. He came back that night and every time I got up to pump milk, he was the one who would wake up and make the call to the NICU to see if he was finally digesting. We would basically call and ask how much residual he had. That means, how much was left after tube feeding. Around the 4 or 5am pump time, Bryan made the call, and we found out that he actually digested some food. It was a great moment. My husband looked so relieved. It was then that he shared with me what had happened the night before…
When he had gone in, he asked the nurse how Zariah was doing. The nurse had told him not good. She said that if he didn’t start digesting food, he was going to die. He kept losing weight, and it wasn’t looking good. Bryan had come home and wrestled all night with the Lord. Finally my husband told the Lord, “Lord, I’m ok if you take Zariah. He is Yours and if its meant to be for him to be with You, I’m ok with it.” Then shortly after, Zariah started digesting. He started gaining weight and getting stronger and stronger. I remember making a name tag for his incubator and it says, “Zariah – the Lord protects; the Lord helps.” Little did I know that a word from the Lord at 4 months pregnant was not only for that time with my fear of miscarrying, but also for this time of trying in the NICU. How fitting the name Zariah really was for our little man. He’s now a healthy, active and comical 6 year old in 1st grade. Now, we get to share this wonderful story of how the Lord knows what will happen, and He’ll prepare you.
