My daughter turned 14. Unbelievable!

I can still remember the day we found out we were pregnant with our first child.  After trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for a couple of years, we were just beginning to seek more aggressive measures.  The doctor had some medication he was going to put me on that would prompt probable multiples so he suggested that we do birth control for a couple of months prior to get my cycle regulated and my hormones at the ideal place.  We never ended up having to do the fertility meds (which I understand are really hard on your body).  We got pregnant the first month on the birth control.  It’s just a testimony that these things, like everything else, are in God’s hands.  We knew He was in control.

Delighted to finally be pregnant, we enjoyed the first trimester and most of the second uneventfully and excitedly, reading everything we could get our hands on.  To our shock, we began experiencing pre-term labor around week 24 or 25 and thought we were going to lose her.  I had experience fear over this very thing since my mother and sister both lost their first babies. But God had a different plan for us.

I could go into great detail about our experience, but I’ll spare you.  Just suffice it to say, her delivery was imminent and we felt we were lucky to get past week 28.  There were a number of times being stuck at the hospital getting labor under control.  And if you’ve never experienced bedrest when you’re trying to get through a holiday season and while trying to set up your nursery for the first time, it’s very difficult.  What I discovered though was that God was at work in my heart, preparing me for motherhood.  He was taking me out of a place of self-sufficiency to a place of God-sufficiency.  We were completely dependent on Him to bring this baby into the world safely.  It was scary.  But it wasn’t without much joy.

Once we got past week 31, we were pretty sure she would survive.  We just needed to be prepared that she might be in the hospital for a while.  She was also breech, which meant for a first delivery, she was going to be delivered c-section.  We were a little disappointed after having gone through lamaze and wanting to try out everything we had learned, but we were just wanting a healthy baby.

The other issue going on was the early loss of my income.  I had had to stop working 2 months before I had planned and the financial loss was definitely felt.  But God provided.  It was His best for me.  I had continued to have nagging thoughts like, “How can someone be completely fulfilled just being at home with a baby all day? Won’t I be bored? “.  Stupid thoughts now that I think back on it.  But like it or not, those were the thoughts I was having.  And with God allowing me to be on bedrest for weeks on end, it settled my heart and taught me to appreciate the simpler things in life.  I learned a new kind of contentment.

I had to stay on a medicine called Terbutaline for the duration of my pregnancy (causes shortness of breath, sweats, shakiness, and other undesirable side effects) but I learned to tolerate it.  I also was constantly on a baby monitor – not a great fashion accessory.  But these were small inconveniences to keep track of how our baby was doing.

The day she was born, we were scheduled to have an amniocentesis done where they check lung maturity by inserting a long needle into the amniotic sac (did I say I was going to spare you the details…sorry) and measuring some of the chemicals in the fluid.  But before they performed this test, they put me on a monitor and discovered I was in hard labor (I was so used to the constant contractions at this point that I was unaware).  They said, “Well folks, we’re going to have a baby today!”  She had decided that she was coming out one way or the other.  

We were kind of in shock at this point and had to rush over to Labor and Delivery where they were preparing a surgical suite for the c-section.  It was really an answer to prayer in a way.  Since they had said all along that we would be having a surgical delivery, we knew we wouldn’t get to experience the rush-to-the-hospital-the-baby’s-coming moment that new parents get to experience.  But in our shock in this moment, we had the equivalent as Randy couldn’t process the information quickly and found it difficult to drive from the medical building we were in to the adjacent hospital entrance.  He was nearly paralyzed mentally and after driving around in the parking lot (literally half a football length from one door to the one we needed to enter), I finally asked him to drop me off.  It’s a funny memory we will always treasure and felt it was God’s kindness to give us that adrenaline moment in the way He did.

Cut to the chase: they prepped me in about 20 minutes and the anesthesiologist did his thing and she was born half an hour after we arrived in Labor and Delivery.  They made quick work of it all and she was perfect.  Her Apgar score was low at first (typical with preemie c-section babies) but very quickly we heard her VERY functional lungs.  She weighed a tiny 5 lbs. 7 oz. and was a little peanut but had ten fingers and ten toes and a LOT of curly hair.  I thought she had a beautiful olive complexion only to find out later it was a little jaundice (duh! also typical with preemies.).  She was small but strong and was able to go home with me (my boys weren’t quite as lucky – they each had extended hospital stays but those stories are for another time).  Finally, we were a family and no longer just a couple.  And she’s been an answer to prayer ever since.  

You can tell by the level of detail I described above that it could’ve happened just yesterday.  It feels like it did.  But alas, 14 years have passed and she’s grown into a lovely young woman with a heart after God.  We are blessed!  I don’t know that I would trade any of the experiences of this pregnancy.  God knew what I needed and used these circumstances to change me.  I’ll be forever grateful.