Please Pray

Hi guys. Yesterday had to be a happy post because it was my sweet little boy's birthday. Today I'm here to ask you for prayers.

Friday evening we were heading to a coworker's holiday party when my best friend called. The roads were icy and I didn't answer the phone. She left a message which I got when I parked the car at the party. She said, "We got some news at work today, call me when you can." She sounded upset, so I called her back immediately. She asked if I was at the party and I told her I had just gotten there, and she asked if I'd heard the news. We hadn't yet gone inside, so I was clueless as to what this news was about. I told her no, and she proceeded to tell me that a former coworker of ours passed away that afternoon at our hospital. She was a fellow NICU nurse who had gone on to become a neonatal nurse practitioner and had been working at another hospital nearby.

I had just spoken to her recently on facebook. She was due any day with their son, and she had a 3 year old daughter who she loved so much. She was looking forward to meeting their little boy. She had been out of work since early in her pregnancy due to being so sick and just wanting to make sure the baby was ok. She must have been bored sometimes because her facebook statuses in the evenings were usually running commentary on whichever show she was watching that night (she loved Real Housewives of Atlanta). She always commented or "liked" your statuses, she kept up with everyone. When she still worked with us she was always smiling, always mild mannered and even-tempered, and always seemed to try to find the best in people. She was just a great woman, beautiful and loving mother and wife.

Friday morning at 4am, she had a c-section. She met her little boy, and quickly thereafter her husband was asked to step out as she was bleeding uncontrollably. They tried their best and then transferred her to our hospital where attempts were made, but ultimately she passed. She leaves behind her 3 year old daughter, newborn son, husband, and parents. She was an only child. Her best friend is one of our neonatal nurse practitioners (she was also one of our nurses-they went through the practitioner program together), and almost 37 weeks pregnant. This has been incredibly hard on her as well, they were so close. This should have been a happy time for them to share with their new babies and each other.

Please pray for Shawnee's family, her sweet children, her husband, and her best friend that they can all find their way through this, and that she is at peace. I know she is in the Lord's Heaven but I don't understand why this happened to such a great person, someone whose children needed her. Not that it should happen to anyone, but why her? Please pray for them.