God’s hand was completely in this as He is in all births! I am excited to share how God showed His glory and favor to us!
Both of my other children had to be induced for different reasons and I desired so much in my heart to go into labor unassisted medically.
God designed birth and I knew that He could put my body into labor without medical assistance and I prayed so hard for this. Not only were Jim and I praying for this, many of our wonderful friends were praying the same thing for us. During a beautiful Mother Blessing, several close friends prayed fervently that God would grant this!
We were narrowing in on the day that a decision had to be made and I continued to pray that God would see fit to bring Him glory by my body to do what He designed it to do without assistance.
I had been contracting off and on for a couple of weeks, which is not surprising given that it was my third pregnancy in three years.
On Tuesday morning I was at our weekly playgroup with our church and noticed contractions again. Because of the off and on contractions the previous weeks, I took note but thought little of it.
Around 3:00 pm, I noticed that they were much more frequent and perhaps a bit regular, but they were no stronger than the ones I had been having for the past couple of weeks. Jim and I debated and prayed and decided it was nothing to call about. I had a doctor’s appointment the next morning at 10 am and decided I could wait until then if nothing changed.
I went to bed around 11:00 to get a good nights sleep in my own bed before we had to decide what we should do.
Praise the Lord I slept! What a beautiful thing.
I felt mostly rested when I got up in the morning and I was still having contractions. This was great!
I was so excited and hoping I would be about 3 cm dilated at my appointment, since I had been contracting all night. Rebekah came to watch the kids for my appointment and Jim and I left.
On the way there the contractions started to change a little bit. Just a little bit stronger and needing a little more concentration.
At 9:45 am we checked in for my 41 week appointment and they looked at me and asked if I was in labor. I said maybe but I wasn’t sure. They got me back and I had to wait a few minutes for the doctor. While I was waiting the contractions felt a little stronger.
Dr. Pridham came in and listened to the baby and checked my cervix. I was 6 cm dilated! I was rejoicing that the Lord had given me the desire of my heart and had put my body into labor as He had designed it to do!
Dr. Pridham told me to go to check out to get a copy of my chart and head over to labor and delivery. I had intentionally not taken my bags because I really was not expecting to be that far along and was going to go home to labor for a bit. So I called Rebekah and her mother came to watch the kids. Rebekah got all of our stuff together and took care of things at the apartment arranging childcare for the rest of the day.
And so my time in the hospital began.
They knew I wanted a natural delivery and they completely respected that and worked with me. I had a wonderful nurse, Debbie, who loved that I had been an L&D nurse. She put me on the monitor to check the baby and gave me a saline lock. Since I was going natural they allowed me to walk and drink water. I even got to have a Popsicle! The nurses at the station heard I had been an L&D nurse and talked to me about it. It was really neat for them to be excited about that and they were super nice to me.
I walked until I really could not stand through my contractions any more, around five hours or so. I went back to my room and struggled through positioning as the contractions continued to grow in strength.
Transition came on strong. It became difficult not to push but God gave me the strength to resist and hold off until my water did break. It was perfect timing, God’s timing. I had a very strong contraction that broke my water. At that moment my doctor was walking by my room from a C-section and came in to check on me. I have never screamed in labor before but that day I did. All I could say was “God help me!” My wonderful husband whispered in my ear “He will.” And He did.
It was time to push. About 10 minutes later Reuben Yates was born!
God gave me the strength to endure and gave us a son to care for for Him. What a wonder! What a blessing! Birth is so amazing and God is so amazing.
I will admit that this was my most challenging labor, but it was my easiest recovery. With the inductions they were so fast it was almost as if I had no time to feel anything. This one was longer, but it was in God’s timing and gradual. Reuben tolerated it so well and we both did wonderfully. I also did not feel as tired afterward. Reuben fed within an hour of birth with no problem. They did not even give me pitocin after the birth and I had no complications. God is so good!
