60 seconds later, my legs gave out beneath me when my eyes saw a very positive reading. I cried in disbelief on the floor. This could not happen to me. I was the medical school bound, over-achieving, God-fearing, and constantly planning daughter of Dr. & Mrs. Ransone. When Nate got home, we really did not know what to say or do. When we tried to talk about it, the conversation was short and ended with me saying, “I cannot be a doctor and have a baby. I can’t.” The next day I made an appointment for us to go to Planned Parenthood to talk about my options.
Nate, even then, was ready to be a father. He had just graduated and was willing to change his life. I wasn’t. I had always been taught: Career. Marriage. Baby. In that order. I had none of the above. I didn’t even have a degree yet. Just a dream and a relationship hanging by a thread. I told my mom, and our close bond was deeply strained by the news. I felt completely alone. So I did the only thing I knew to do: I prayed. For so long, I had lived as though God were a silent presence in the background. But now, knocked off my feet, I finally cried out to Him.
Planned Parenthood didn’t really help. They gave me a lot of information on abortion services, somewhat counseled me on what having the baby would mean for my life, and said very little I remember about adoption. I still did not know what to do. I just kept thinking about how convinced I was that I could not have a baby and go to medical school, but how devastated I would be if I didn’t have this baby, and then got to medical school and saw a woman living the very thing I thought was impossible.
I had a number of leadership positions on campus, and now that I was pregnant, my shame convinced me that I would no longer be able to serve in a visible capacity – because a pregnant peer advisor, vice president, or organization member would not be a good image. I met with my boss and tearfully told her the news. And that very moment is when God stepped in. She told me that my decision to resign would be totally up to me. That they did not want to see me go, and I would not be their first peer advisor with a child. In fact, a few years ago one of their peer advisors had a baby as a sophomore, and she was now going into her third year of medical school. I arranged to have breakfast with that same girl that week and that is when I knew I could do it! I still get tearful thinking about it now. Within weeks of making a decision to keep my baby, God aligned me with someone who was living the life I deemed impossible, and succeeding! With God, ALL things are possible.
The other campus organizations I was involved in received the news with the same compassion and love as my job. Throughout my pregnancy, my friends were my angels by keeping my spirits lifted, being there to listen, and helping with anything that I needed. I did not tell anyone else about my pregnancy that wasn’t close to me for about the first five months.
Nate proposed that September, and the rest of the semester I was focused on doing well in school and getting into medical school. My pregnancy was what most doctors would call “textbook” free of complications and my senior year grades ended up being one of my best years academically in college. On January 28th I was induced – because I had two medical school interviews lined up for February – and on January 29th I gave birth to Nathan after pushing for 5 minutes. This is another testament to the greatness of my God. After the baby came, I moved in with my fiancé (40 minutes from campus), went to my two interviews, and was back in school after four weeks. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out, but I did not want this to stop me from graduating on time. Once again, the favor of God was on me because my professors were all willing to allow me to do work from home while on maternity leave. When I got back to school, I wasn’t behind, and it was as if I never left.In May 2009 I graduated. Although I had received 14 rejections and was placed on one waitlist for medical school, I was still further than anyone thought I would go a year before. May was a hard month because after the excitement died down from graduation, I realized that my contingency plan if I didn’t get into medical school did not exist. In their rejection letter, Indiana University recommended me for a graduate program to prepare me for medical school the next year that started two weeks after the date on the letter. Although rushed, I packed up the baby and we moved to Indianapolis – my fiancé was unable to leave his job and had to stay in Michigan.
That school year, I realized that I had not been ready for medical school. If I had been accepted that year, I would not have been able to properly adjust to the workload because I had no idea how much work medical school really was going to be. Someone said, “Rejection is God’s protection.” God was definitely protecting me from something I was not yet ready for. As time went on, I grew in my faith in God and my confidence and I completed the school year alone with my son in Indianapolis not only more prepared for medical school, but also more prepared to be the woman I was born to be. In April of 2010, Nate and I got married. In May, I completed the year with two medical school acceptances. It is such an amazing feeling when you know that God is on your side, when you know that ALL situations can work out for good, all you have to do is trust and obey Him.
In April 2010, Nate and I got married. In May, I finished the program with two medical school acceptances. That fall, I began medical school at Indiana University with a full-tuition scholarship.
We added one more Johnson kid during my last year of medical school, I graduated in 2014, and matched into the OB/GYN residency program of my dreams. From there, I completed a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Today, I serve my community as a MFM physician and health equity champion. I am a wife, mother, doctor, advocate, and servant leader. Every step of the way—through rejections, setbacks, and triumphs—God has been my strength. I know I didn’t do this alone. His favor carried me, and His grace sustained me.
I could not have done it myself and when I look back and wonder how I got through certain things, I know that God was my strength. I know I did nothing to deserve it, but I also know that if He can do it for me, He can do it for you. So to anyone doubting whether the road ahead is possible: it is. You can take that first step in faith—and watch God do the rest.
