A woman from Montreal tells the following story. She says that this story is a chain of events that led to an ending filled with revealed goodness and blessing.
I believe that a mitzvah should always be done with joy and happiness. I do my best to observe every mitzvah in this way, and Mikvah especially so. Immersing in the mikvah on time has always been very important to me. I have made it a priority and do everything within my power to keep to this resolution.
I was three months pregnant, some time after the birth of my sixth child, when I fell down a flight of stairs and miscarried. Understandably, I was quite distraught and yearned to conceive again, however, a year went by and still I did not conceive. I continued to be very careful to immerse in the mikvah on time.
About a year after the miscarriage, I had to go to mikvah on a Friday night. The mikvah was located about an hour walk from my house and the temperature at the time was quite freezing, reading -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Farenheit)!
It was the middle of winter and it gets very cold in Montreal. I did not want to drive there before Shabbos since I had small children to care for and wanted to light my Shabbos candles on time, meaning I had an hour long walk both ways. My husband advised me not to go; he said it was dangerous to walk that far in such cold weather. However, I was adamant. I wanted to immerse on time. No delays in this wonderful mitzvah!
The walk was long and icy. I dressed warmly, but nonetheless, I got frostbite on my knees, as the cold was so intense it pierced through my clothing. I got blisters on my feet, in my boots, but I was very determined to do my mitzvah on time. Hashem was with me, and with great thanks to Him, I did conceive that night.
When I was about two and a half months into the pregnancy, as I was coming out of the shower, I felt a sharp, sudden pain, deep in my abdomen and an unexpected flow of liquid. Panicked, I called the doctor who said: "You have lost the waters and most likely lost the baby. Today is Thursday, come see me on Monday and we will do a D & C."
After a difficult weekend, I met the doctor at the hospital. He decided to do an ultrasound before the D & C to see exactly what was going on. On the table, the technician says, "There is a heartbeat!" The doctor looked and miraculously, there was the baby, floating in a thimble full of amniotic fluid!
The doctor assured me that all looked ok. He told me to go home and not to worry, the amniotic fluid would replenish itself and all would be fine.
My seventh child, my beautiful daughter, was born Motzoei Yom Kippur, in a peaceful, uneventful birth, Boruch Hashem.
The story does not end there.
When this same daughter was 8 years old, my elder daughter, my fifth child, who was 15 years old, was diagnosed with a very rare form of leukemia.
The doctors said that without a bone marrow transplant she would not survive. We immediately had all my children tested. The only child who was a perfect match was my youngest, this wonderful daughter born from that challenging Mikvah immersion.
Hodu LaHashem Ki Tov!