Baby and Blessings

Hi to all you sweet ladies!  I borrowed a laptop from the hospital and have relished reading your precious comments!  ..Don’t think I haven’t cherished every single one, and thanked my God as I read all the prayers and concerns that were lifted up for us.  It was one of the most trying events of my life and I was fully aware of the intercessions on our behalf.

(Our original “updates from Kathy” didn’t work out since the hospital’s system isn’t updated enough–but she did a great job communicating with Robin and I want to thank them both for their stamina and excitement in sharing this with us.  I’ll be putting together a video from Kathy’s pictures and filming a bit later to share.)

I’m still going to wait about the full story–don’t have long left with the computer loan, and the story must be told gently 😉

It was so good to see my children welcome their new sister…

I am so grateful for my family…my mom, dad, Bria and my dear friend Kathy (who was behind the camera) faithfully “labored” beside me through the long night.  It was tough on them too–physically and emotionally.  My father prayed and my mother cried her share of tears and I was blessed to be accompanied by her tenderness.

Let me just publically cheer for my husband…he was incredible.  He served me tirelessly for the 15 hours of labor at the hospital, warming my rice pack, standing in the gap for me when the nurse encouraged pitocin, praying over me, holding me and telling me all the things I needed to hear to endure what was a very difficult labor. God has given me such a gift in him.

And did I mention he was very protective of me too?  What kind of husband wouldn’t check out the safety of the birthing ball before he let his wife ride it?

God was so faithful to give me second-shift nurses who not only didn’t mind natural labor, they PREFERRED it and even taught natural child-birth classes.   What are the odds?  That’s why I don’t bet on odds, but rely on the Lord because “He doeth all things well”.  All my nurses were great; but I really anticipated that at best, I’d just get a nurse who “tolerated” our decision to go natural.  It makes a huge difference in a nurse who just lets you labor naturally but doesn’t really support it, and one who is actively encouraging you to stay the course!

By the way, I know there are those out there who are wondering, “what about the way you feel about working mothers?”  I’ll admit, this has always been one area that is hard for me.  I don’t know these ladies’ personal circumstances, and maybe I don’t have a good answer for the question now that so much medical care has been moved out of the home; but I know God did use them to bless me and I wanted my readers to know the apparent contradiction does not elude me…maybe more thoughts on it when I have more energy 😉

We were all shocked at how long the labor dragged on, especially since I started labor early Tuesday morning and didn’t even arrive until that night–during what we thought was active labor.  The contractions came hard, just too far apart for a long time.  Resisting the urge to “hurry it up” was difficult in the moment of exhaustion, but my husband was so strong for me and made the decisions that I was too tired to make.  I’m so thankful for that…intervention would have precipitated more intervention, and at the stage I was when we talked about it, it would have been more complicated than at an earlier stage.

Kudos to the hospital too…they really respected our wishes to be left alone during the night so we could rest; they were so sensitive and respectful of the things we requested, and they attentively cared for our every need.  (We go to a Catholic hospital and I think their respect for children and life makes a big difference in their care.)

Ellia Brynn

8 lbs. 7 oz.

I’ll post more details in a day or two;  for now, I’m glad to be holding Ellia Brynn (pronounced “EL–ee–yah” and resting and learning to walk normally again (yay!)…God is so good…His mercy endures forever.