A Persistent Voice

Graigavon, Northern Ireland

I was in a hospital in Ireland just having given birth to my fourth child. My husband and a friend were visiting my room the evening after the delivery when a nurse came in.

I mentioned I was losing more blood than with my other deliveries and she told me I looked pale. She suggested my husband and friend should return in the morning after I had a chance to get a good night’s sleep.

Soon after my visitors left I felt tired and dizzy. At one point I thought I was going to pass out. But I was not worried for my pregnancy had been normal without any complications.

I fell asleep quickly. Around 2:00 a.m. the following morning I heard a voice. It was stating repeatedly, “Wake up, wake up.” I tried to ignore it but it persisted.

I kept my eyes closed hoping it would stop saying, “Wake up.” But the voice kept calmly stating that I needed to wake up.

It then told me that I must press the “alarm” button. I remember wondering what an alarm button was. I felt around and found a cord by my arm and pressed a button.

A nurse entered my room and turned on the light over my bed. I was lying in a pool of blood.

Still confused and half asleep, I noticed that now three nurses and a doctor were standing next to my bed. I remember mumbling to whoever would listen that a voice had woken me up.

I was wheeled down the hall into an operating theater. They did emergency surgery and I was given a blood transfusion.

In recovery, I kept stating, “A voice woke me up.”

I was informed later that a large part of the placenta was still in my uterus--it was contracting and still pumping out blood. So I was hemorrhaging. I also most likely was unconscious and not just asleep.

The next morning the doctor told me I was one lucky patient. If I had lost any more blood I would not have survived.

I told him that a persistent voice had woken me up. He then responded that it must have been my guardian angel.

It has been eleven years since this happened. I still do not know if this voice was male or female but I do know the doctor was right it was my guardian angel.

This determined voice not only saved my life, it also changed my life.

I learned that my life has value. I now have six children and these days I focus more on them and less on my materialistic needs.