+JMJ+
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
Hebrews 12:28-29
Considering we are nearing the end of this Easter season, I recognize God's perfect timing in all things. After 3 days of uncertain waiting and confidently praying for health and healing, God restored our baby boy to us. This is our story.
On Tuesday May 13th our sweet Vincent suddenly got very sick. Upon waking up Tuesday morning I noticed that he was definitely infected with something. Not only did he have a fever, but he was limp and moaning with every breath. Because he had just had nasal surgery last Wednesday (May 7th) to remove a congenital glial heterotopia in his right nostril that we had been dealing with for a long time, I was thinking that it could have been the source of the infection.
Almost as soon as I woke up at 6am, I had the ent on-call doctor paged with my concerns. Dr Higgins the resident doctor who was present for Vincent's surgery, called me back and said I could bring him in at 9:30. But before the office opened, Andrea called to chat about his symptoms and prescribed an antibiotic, telling me it would save us a trip in when he's feeling so crummy. But by the late afternoon it was clear that he needed immediate medical attention. He had a high fever, and was still very lethargic, not even wanting to nurse at all that entire day. At about 3pm he finally did nurse but, when I was picking up kids, dad texted that he threw up.
When I got home just before 5pm I noticed his soft spot was slightly bulging but he nursed again. By the time we had decided that he needed to go to the er, and were getting him in the van, he threw up again.
The drive
As I drove through Omaha construction, I remember being on 120th and Q st, stuck in traffic, and praying for God's will to be done. I prayed for the life of my baby, but saying out loud that "if 9 months is all we get with him, then we were blessed to have him for 9 months. And he's baptized so he would go straight to heaven, which is the whole point." Of course I was crying and it was then that I remembered that I'm not called to carry that cross at this time, not to worry prematurely, and to just take it one step at a time.
Arriving at Children's emergency room
When we got to Children's emergency room they gave him ibuprofen to bring down his fever, and some zolfran so he could keep down the breastmilk and said he likely caught a virus. I was concerned about the bulging soft spot and how lethargic he was, but they said that can happen with a virus. She said they could run labs if I wanted to. It was about 10pm. I asked her how long it would take to get the results and she said about an hour. I considered bringing him home since Tom was working overnight, and since they thought it was viral, maybe I'm overreacting. But I am so thankful that I followed my gut and decided to opt for the labs.
His veins were hard to find since he hadn't kept anything down all day, but when the blood tests came back, two doctors and a nurse walked in to tell me that his sodium was low, which could be a sign of meningitis and that they would be admitting us for treatment.
The tests
Before going upstairs, he had a series of procedures and tests including the troublesome iv placement, a 1am CT scan, and a urine sample from a catheter, all building up to the dreaded lumbar puncture at 2:20am
I vividly remember carrying him down the long hall as we were walking to the room for that procedure. It was a moment that stuck out in time. I described this moment to a friend of mine
I had to be a couple doors down in the family room until they were done. That was one the most difficult experience of the whole night.
Between each procedure we got to snuggle. But he still wasn't nursing
A young nurse came in and sat down with a paper and notebook and asked me to sum up the whole day from the moment I suspected he was sick. So I reviewed the whole day with her, then as she started the antibiotics she noticed my scapular and asked if I was Catholic. She said she is also Catholic. Then we started talking about being Catholic and how much peace there is resting in the will of God. And then I mentioned how hopeful I am about the new pope. She actually graduated from Villanova so she felt super connected to Pope Leo XIV. She said she really admires Augustinian order and way of life. I admitted that I didn't know much about the order and she started telling me about the pillars and then reassuring about our situation too and that God is in control. And I don't even remember her name! I bet she wasn't even 25 but that was nice to have that conversation after such a procedure.
At 2:54am Wednesday she got him started on broad spectrum antibiotics until results came back pinpointing exactly what we were dealing with.
At 6am we were admitted to the hospital up in medsurge. His quick results labs came back saying he has pneumococcal spinal meningitis and later his blood labs would confirm this and eliminate that there was any other bacteria present.
The Scans
We got the results from the CT scan. It showed a persistent criboform defect, "a hole" is hour they described it to me, which could have also explained how he got the glial mass in the first place.
This is what they told me and they needed to get an mri to get a better look at what we were dealing with. The MRI could also tell us if there were any pockets of abscess that would need to be drained. I asked if we could wait until he was stronger for the surgery and they just said we'll see what the mri said.
Initially I was told that they were trying to gather ent, mri, neurosurgery and anesthesia to do a real time MRI where they could look and discuss together. The time they had told me the mri would take place was just after 3pm. Fr Mahowald was planning on coming out after his meeting in Fremont of the new Archbishop of Omaha. He said he could be at Children's at 2:30 to give him a blessing. I marveled at the timing of that since that would be right before mri was scheduled.
Everybody pray!
Before he went under, I told many people on my prayer groups and they are prayer warriors. I called and talked to Cece Passo just after noon and she already been told that morning and had offered her day for Vincent and his parents. The Sisks, Vincent's godparents, told the Nolles who contacted 3 convents, where 3 of their daughters are. The Sisters of Charity in Mexico City had their Mass said for him, the Carmelites in Denver and Missouri mater filius also prayed for him. Confraternity of Christian Mothers were praying and St Philomena archconfraternity were all on it too, since I am a member and Vincent is especially precious since he was born on her feast day. There were so so many prayers being earnestly prayed for the healing of this little boy.
The visit of the relics
Surprisingly, just after 1pm, I was told that they bumped up the scan to 2pm. I panicked a little because it didn't look like Vincent would get the blessing before he went under. At 1:08, as soon as they told me the change, I started asking people for Fr Troung's cell phone. He called me back but there wasn't time for him to get here before 2pm. It was very short notice. Fortunately Stephanie Pacheco felt the need to turn down Dodge Street on her way back from church. She called and offered to come pray. It would be tight but she was able to make it up to our room with her collection of 2nd & 3rd class relics.
There were about 7 holy cards that he wsa prayed over immediately before the MRI, asking these saints for their prayers: St Rita, St Philomena, St Pio, St Charbel, St Gemma, St Jude and finallly Sr Wilhelmina, which was the only 2nd class relic. I remember very clearly, kissing her relic, looking at her photo, and asking for Sr Wilhelmina to interceed for Vincent and for Gods Will to be done. Not even once did I think that a miracle would happen but I did have faith in the outcome being for the glory of God.
Shortly after praying, it was time for him to go to anesthesia. Stephanie gave him a kiss goodbye and left after her quick 10 minute visit, then Vincent and I followed the staff downstairs for imaging. This is the photo Stephanie took of him right before leaving for radiology at 2pm on Wednesday.
Neurosurgery wasn't able to make it so it was just going to be scans for now and then they would figure out what needed to be done. Before he went under, I had removed my medals to give him my scapular, at the suggestion of Allie Hengen, to see if he could wear my scapular during the scans. The nurse who was going to be with him looked me in the eye and assured me that he would have it with him during the mri, if not on him then right next to him.
I thought it was such a great idea and then I quickly realized that my scapular had touched Sr Wilhelmina's hand on May 22nd 2023.
Right after coming up from imaging was the time that Fr Mahowald was expected to arrive. So I sat in the entrance way of Children's and prayed until he got there. That's when I looked up and saw Dr Jones ordering some Scooters coffee, so I walked up and stood near by. It wasn't long until he turned around and saw me and said "Vincent's mom?" That's when we got to chat until Fr Mahowald showed up and I got to introduce him to Dr Jones. Then he said he had to run, and Father and I went back to the room in medsurge to continue our conversation and that's about the exact time Tom showed up too. Father kept us company until they brought Vincent back, which took longer than expected.
The wait after the mri was longer than expected but finally I could hear Vincent coming down the hall and I rushed to sweep him up in my arms as soon as I could. He was wearing only the scapular and a diaper with a yellow protective cover over him. And he was shivering. I was a little annoyed that he didn't have a blanket since he felt cold, but I bundled him up next to me to warm him up. I was told not to nurse him until we get the go ahead. It seemed that they were still looking at the scans.
Father gave him a blessing and then he had to go. It was almost 4 and he was saying 5pm Mass for the senior graduates at our parish.
Tom stayed overnight with him so I could go home and get some sleep. It had been 36 hours since I had really slept except for a brief doze here or there.
They can't explain it
After a good night's sleep I arrived at the hospital at about 9am Thursday morning. The rest of the day was a series of bringing down fevers, administering saline and antibiotics, keeping his right arm straight because the iv was very "positional" in the crook of his arm (the only place they could get it, early Wednesday morning) and chatting with the doctors about what they think is going on.
They couldn't figure out how the meningitis got in there and were "at a loss" because the MRI scans, taken 13 hours after the CT, showed no defect and no pockets of abscess to drain. We received the absolute best case scenario. They were baffled but kept trying to come up with theories. I figured they would figure it out eventually so I just waited for them to do so.
Was this a miracle?
It wasn't until the next day, Friday the 16th, (the day Vincent started waking up) when each one who visited, still couldn't explain it. That's when it occurred to me that a miracle might have just happened. I threw this idea at Dr Jones when he was standing there still bewildered. He widened his eyes and said "Maybe!" Then later I told Dr Higgins about Sr Wilhelmina and if he would consider this a miracle. He said "It's either really good luck or divine intervention. Whatever you want to call it." "But would you call it a miracle?" I asked. "I wouldn't rule it out" was his answer.
This is the message I sent to my confraternity of Christian mothers group at 8pm Friday night.
Thanks be to God! He's going to be okay
Finally after 3 days of uncertainty and patiently waiting to see if he would come out if it, on Friday morning, he almost immediately turned the corner. He had given a slight smile the night before. Both Tom and I were there for it. It was just the one, but we took it as a good sign. The next morning he really started improving. There's nothing like seeing your sick child wake up again.
I told Tom, "This is the photo of the year"⬆️
Dominic and Philomena (siblings) came up to visit on Friday when he started feeling better
A baby is born
My oldest goddaughter was in labor. Her water broke early Wednesday morning at the exact hour that Vincent had his lumbar puncture and started antibiotics. 48 hours later, a baby girl with 2 very Carmelite names was born. 48 hours is how long everyone was saying it would take for us to see an improvement in Vincent. And they were right on! This was no coincidence.
On Monday the 19th, baby Adeline Therese Majella received the gift of baptism from Father Audino FSSP, who just so happens to be the priest who baptized Vincent last August.
Except right after baptizing him, he moved to Virginia to continue his studies. This is where Gwyn and her husband now live.
The incredible timing and visits to the dentist
On May 2nd I was able to get in to see my dentist because I was worried about one of my molars. Scans showed a fractured molar with some possible infection so Dr Mcmanigal prescribed a 10 day antibiotic and to see if that took care of the pain. I finished the round on the day before Vinny got sick, with no improvement. After canceling due to Vinnys sickness, I asked about still getting in this week. Shelly said if I could be there at 8am on Friday, he could take another look. So my plan was to go to the appointment and then go to the hospital.
Wednesday and Thursday nights are the nights my husband is off work. So he was able to stay at the hospital while I went home and got some sleep. Thursday morning, when labs came to draw blood, he had to hold Vincent as they poked his finger and milked it until they collected enough. Vincent cried the whole time. There was no heads up that they were going to do that, or that they were going to need to do it again the next morning. But I woke up early Friday and needed to relieve some milk. If it was just a little earlier or later I would have pumped, but I thought about it, and figured I could make it to the hospital, nurse the baby, and then make it to my appointment by 8am. So that's what I did. I quickly showered, grabbed my stuff, drove to the hospital, parked the van, took the elevator, scanned in to the wing and, as I walked in, labs were just dressing to enter the room* for another blood draw. Tom gave me Vincent, we sat down, started nursing and within 1 minute they poked him and started collecting. He let out one little cry when they cut him but then wasn't bothered at all. Tom and I met eyes and his jaw was almost on the floor. I got there at about 7:15 and could only stay about half an hour, but within the half hour, labs were done and Dr Martin was doing his rounds and I got to be there for that bonus too. This was no coincidence.
*(we are in isolation because he tested positive for rhinovirus when we arrived, but seems to be asymptomatic)
By the way, the scan showed that the fracture inside my molar had not gone away but had grown from the last scan so I am being referred for a root canal sometime this week.
***UPDATE***
With no change to the above statements!
May 20th, 2025
Well thank you Sr Wilhelmina! You keep coming through! I had a dentist appointment this afternoon for a root canal, but the new scans showed ZERO molar fracture and the root is fine!! Praise God for this powerhouse saint!
Before going in for the scheduled root canal, I asked for Sr Wilhelmina's intercession that I would have no fracture and not need a root canal. Because I was so confident that she would grant this, I invited friends to ask for her powerful intercession and I was about to be shocked if it wasn't granted. This is how sure I was that she would come through and God would grant her prayers.
Of course I told the dentist this was a miracle and he said, no it's just that he has better scans. This could be the case, but still the prayer was answered that I do not have a fracture and I don't need a root canal. So, once again, thank you Sr Wilhelmina for those powerful prayers!
My dentist office is closed on Tuesdays but I had to see what they would say, so I texted the receptionist the results of the referral. This was her response..
🍀🍀🍀
Sitting here in the hospital, I have a lot of time to ponder and pray. I believe that the time we had to wait until his surgery, when we were trying to get it resolved back in December had to happen at the exact moment God wanted it to happen. Our original ent doctor appointment was January 29th. She ordered a CT scan and that took place on February 18th. Then we also needed an MRI so that was scheduled for March 12th. Finally the consultation was going to happen. But first available wasn't until April 30th with Dr Jones at twin creek. I told them that if anyone drops an appointment to call me and we will be there. I don't care where and I don't care with which doctor. He just needs to be able to breathe through his nose. When we finally got to meet with Dr Jones, he was just as frustrated as we were because he wasn't sent the scans. So he promised me that he would call me first thing in the morning after taking a look at them. I asked him how far out surgery was booked and he said July. That's when I showed him a video of the struggle to breathe that Vincent had been experiencing and he said he was going to get us in asap. And he did! Within a week, Vincent was having surgery!
St Joseph
During the month of April I completed my second St Joseph Cloak novena, ending in time for his feast on May 1st and joining with a mother whose family is in need. Then for May I have 3 other moms in need for similar intentions so I'm currently going another round. This is an intention we ourselves have had experience with so I'm very sympathetic and I know how powerful St Joseph is. The prayers of the holy cloak are so beautiful and I've found them always fruitful. Even if in ways you don't expect. There are a million little clues I have received to give me such confidence and I believe this has all be a gift from St Joseph.
***update***
On Sunday night, after finally finding my copy of the book "Gods Will" that was published by the sisters, I brought it to the hospital and stuck 3 holy cards together randomly in the pages. Later when I went to open the book, I noticed they were randomly stuck in the page dedicated to St Joseph❤️pg 63
**UPDATE**
I just realized I completed my first St Joseph cloak novena at the end of May 2023. On June5th is when the 30 days ended and on that day, I received confirmation of "message received" in the form of the arrival of St Joseph heart earrings. This is what gave me such confidence in prayer. That God said, "I hear your prayer" "The answer is not yet" I remember being in the midst of that first cloak novena when I touched Sr Wilhelmina. We would go to broomtree cabins later in May with some friends and I prayed those prayers everyday up there. And I honestly don't remember who told me about the cloak! I wish I could tell them how great they've been.
June 4th, of that year, Fr Berg gave me a blessing of motherhood because I had just found out I was pregnant with#11. He later would establish the St Joseph prayer at the end of each low Mass at ICC.
I experienced my first loss with this pregnancy on June 14th. We were only about 6 weeks along so we named him Basil William and buried him in front of the Mary statue in the backyard with dirt I had collected from Sr Wilhelmina's grave on in May.
It's beyond words sometimes when I'm hit with how big this is. How all those little steps may have been leading up to and preparing for this moment.
☘️oh and then there's the clover in my hand which connects the Benedictine Abby, St Joseph, and my tooth story. .. well that's possibly a story for another day,🍀
*** Be sure to read the story of the "Clover in my Hand" This gives a glimpse of another gift received during the month of May and many of the connections I have noticed, including a sequential timeline of events. You'll find the story in the upper right corner
Thank you God for healing my baby boy!!
On Friday after connecting this to Sr Wilhelmina‘s intercession I had this to say..
From the bottom of my Facebook post on Friday May 16th
Science cannot explain what happened. Neurosurgery's best guess is that some bacteria might have gotten up in the menenges veins but ent said he wasn't even close to that area. They are also at a loss to explain how the hole was there at the CT, and gone at the MRI only 13 hours later. I know ct gets images of bone vs soft tissue on the MRI, but they were fully ready to have to go in for surgery. And then they didn't have to.
This week has been full of promptings from the Holy Spirit. I'm going back and collecting texts with time stamps to piece it all together. Connections are appearing that tells me this is all part of God's amazing plan.
Today is even the feast day of St Simon Stock, who was given the brown scapular by Our Lady!
I'm so hopeful and excited on his recovery. And crying in gratitude, considering what could have been. Completely in awe of God's saving mercy and how he connects us all in the body of Christ. For his greater glory!!🥹 Thank you Jesus for the healing. Thank you to all those who prayed for this sweet little boy, and thank you to Children's Hospital for the excellent care!
We will probably be here a few more days to make sure the infection has totally passed but I believe the seriousness of this infection is behind us. Praise be to God in his angels and in his saints!
Sr Wilhelmina isn't done yet.
Start a novena today leading up to the feast of the Ascension.
Ask for anything! If it be God's will, I'm sure she would love to have her hand in it. Pass it on.
☘️☘️☘️
O God, who hast mercifully given us the beautiful life & example of Sr. Wilhelmina of the Most Holy Rosary, grant that we may hold fast to our holy Faith, true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, & fidelity to our daily duty in 'ora et labora,' for the salvation of our souls, & the unity & restoration of the Church.
We also ask, if it be God's holy will, that He grant the favor of _________ through her intercession, commending all in our hearts to her beloved Bridegroom, Jesus. Amen.
