Nerka E NDE

Experience Description

My daughter was born by natural childbirth in the hospital operating room. About fifteen to thirty minutes after the delivery, I told the nurse that I wasn't feeling well. I felt like I was going to pass out. That is all that I can remember of being my normal self before things started happening. I never lost my hearing. I could hear every word the nurses said. I heard them say that my blood pressure was going down to eighty over sixty, and that they were not able to start an IV because my veins were collapsed. I heard the doctors screaming about losing a patient. In my mind, I was going down a dark tunnel. I saw many pictures of myself from my childhood to that present moment in the operating room. Then I was ‘above’ my body, looking down on myself. I also saw several nurses and two doctors from above. After that, I was ‘back.’

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 08/18/1989

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Childbirth. Life threatening event, but not clinical death. It happened just fifteen to thirty minutes after delivering my daughter.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I was ‘above’ my body and I could see and hear the situation in the operating room. I saw me on the bed with an oxygen mask and monitors. I saw the nurses and doctors. I clearly left my body and existed outside it

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal I'm not sure.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? Probably in the beginning, when I was going down the tunnel.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning

Were your senses more vivid than usual? More vivid than usual

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. It was scary. Seeing my whole life from the beginning to that moment, in just a short time.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I never lost my hearing.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? Yes, but the facts have not been checked out

The experience included: Tunnel

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Yes

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

The experience included: Darkness

The experience included: Unearthly light

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? An unusually bright light

Did you see an unearthly light? Uncertain

The experience included: A landscape or city

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Sadness.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? No

Did you have a feeling of joy? No

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? No

The experience included: Special knowledge or purpose

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No I didn't know what was happening. I kept thinking, ‘What will happen to my daughter if I die?’

The experience included: Life review

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

The experience included: Boundary

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a barrier that I was not permitted to cross; or was sent back against my will After being ‘above’ me, and seeing my whole life up until the present, I felt sadness and worry about what would happen to my daughter. So I started crying and praying to come back, and I was back within, probably, several seconds.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Not important to me

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated- Atheist No religion at the time of the experience,I always believe in God

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Moderately important to me

What is your religion now? Christian- Other Christian Start going to Christian Church 19 yrs ago

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes Six years after my ‘experience,’ I accepted Christ and started going to church. My ex-husband, all his family, and most of my family are Muslims.

The experience included: Presence of unearthly beings

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? No

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? God definitely exists

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? God definitely exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Unknown

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? Unknown

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists No

Did you fear death prior to your experience? I did not fear death

Do you fear death after your experience? I slightly fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Not fearful in living my earthly life

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Moderately fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Unknown

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are meaningful and significant

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Slightly compassionate toward others

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No

Were you compassionate after your experience? Moderately compassionate toward others

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Slight changes in my life I'm able to ‘feel’ that something bad is going to happen, also, sometimes I have dreams about the present or the future, concerning things that are about to happen.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes I was afraid that nobody would believe me.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience I think about this experince all the time,since 1989 I did NOT have any more children or any medical procedures....I'm scarrid that "experience" will happen again,and not sure how to "take it"

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes I can ‘feel’ when something is going to happen. Also, I have dreams that come true.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I first shared it probably more than ten years after it happened, when one of my friends said something about a ‘near death experience.’ I read an article about them. I did share my experience several times with other people, but usually no one would say anything back to me after I told them, so I'm not sure if they even believed me and also I don't know what they believed about near death experiences, either.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? I think about it all the time and still have strong feelings about it.