Shannon and I learned this week that we are having a girl. Now here's the crazy part. As some of you may or may not have heard, when Shannon was in her coma in Mexico, there were several families in Monterrey, Mexico who got to know us and followed Shannon's progress.

One lady, Marcela de Cardenas, asked one night if she could pray for Shannon at her bedside. Obviously, with nothing to lose, I said OK.

After praying on her knees for what had to be hours, she came out and stood in front of me and said in broken English..."You may think that I am crazy, but God told me while I was praying that your wife is going to have a daughter next year...and her name needs to be Mary."

I was just hoping that Shannon would wake up and be out of pain. Having a child in 2008 (which was next year while Shannon was in the coma in April / May 2007) seemed all but impossible. Shannon's hormones had been wiped out entirely by the RSD, medications and weight loss (as evidenced by numerous blood tests prior to the coma). So I thought it was sweet, but took it with a grain of salt. This is until Shannon tested pregnant in December. We had just moved into a new home about a week before we knew she was pregnant and the house had a bright pink baby room by the master bedroom. We intended to paint it another color in late December, as I did not want a pink room in my house.

Not really my style. When we found out a week later that Shannon was pregnant, we decided to wait to paint the room and see if we were having a girl. We called Marcela in Mexico to tell her that Shannon was pregnant, and she said "I know". It was getting pretty weird now. Marcela and her husband Adrian and their family came to Orlando for their vacation this year so that they could see us (and particularly Shannon and the baby-to-be).

Finally we went this past week to get the 20 week ultrasound and to officially find out if the baby was a boy or a girl. We told the ultrasound tech the story as she had started taking a look, but we never mentioned any of the names of the people that we met in Mexico.

She was as excited as us when she said ..."no boy parts...yep, this is definitely a girl!". After a little talking, she got up to leave and bring in the doctor. I asked what her name was as she approached the door, so that I could thank her for humoring us on our story, and she said "MARCELA."

Yep. She showed me her ID, because I was in disbelief. Totally Freaky. Our Ultrasound tech in Orlando had the same name as the lady in Monterrey who told us that Shannon was going to have a girl. The only two Marcelas that either Shannon or I had ever met. All of the doctors and nurses on the high-risk floor came in to hear the story, as they thought that the ultrasound tech must have misunderstood something in our story. Nope. She got it right, and man was it getting eerie.

As a final note, Shannon is due within 4 days of Marcela's (Monterrey Marcela) birthday (Due August 19th, Marcela's birthday is August 15th). August 15th also is the feast of the Assumption which celebrates the Ascension of Mary into heaven by Catholics. Yes, we were told in April 2007 to name the girl Mary.

Now, although Shannon and I are not Catholic (I was raised Catholic, but I am no longer an active Catholic), if this baby is born on the 15th, we will be absolutely freaked out. One thing is certain, although I do not consider myself superstitious, our daughter will have Mary, Marie or Maria in her name. Cause if not, I fear that my ass is getting struck down by a bolt of lightening.

The other good news is that even though Shannon was originally supposed to see the high-risk doctors four times due to her age and medical history, they told us this past visit (our second visit) that there is no need to come back to high-risk unless something changes, as the baby (and likewise Shannon) is as healthy as any baby that they have seen in a long while.

Greg Stocker

Husband

April 11, 2008