I want out NOW!!

This week we joyfully welcomed into our family our daughter April!!  While her arrival itself was not a surprise, she certainly made her entrance quite a spectacle.  In contrast to her brother’s leisurely 18+ hour labor, her’s was essentially just over an hour long.  We live 45 minutes from our hospital, so it truly was our LORD’s hand that was watching over us.  I’m so thankful that our God is a God of details!!  Even my doctor said many times afterwards, “Someone is watching over you for sure.”  (For those interested in her birth story, it is at the end of this blog.)

April weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces and measured 20 inches long.  She has a full head of head of dark blond hair and reminds me amazingly of her brother when he was born.  She even seems to have Abe’s laid back attitude.  She is quite the precious gem and, unsurprisingly, all of three us are already in love with her.  What a perfect addition to our family.  Thus far she is fulfilling her job as a newborn perfectly; she poops, eats and sleeps (usually in that order), and that’s about it

Abe is very excited to finally have his sister here.  For the last couple of weeks he’s been pulling up my shirt to look at the belly saying, “Let’s take her out!”  “We can play with her” and “She’s going to be a lot of fun!”  He met her very shortly after Mike and I did and he kept saying, “There’s April!  She came from Mommy’s tummy.  There’s April!”  He’s been so incredibly sweet with her; always wondering where she is, wanting to look at her, and hold her.  He really is proving to be quite the incredible big brother.

April’s Birth Story: At about 6am I noticed that I was having contractions that I couldn’t sleep through (different than the braxton hicks I’d been having for a month or more).  They weren’t anything regular though; about 10 to 15 minutes apart on average and the intensity of them would vary as well.  So, after sending Daddy off to work, Abe and I went about our normal day – this meant going to our Bible study (BSF) for the morning.

Contractions continued along the same path through BSF.  Even though I felt silly doing it, I called my doctor when class was over – 11:32am.  (We live way north, but my doctor and BSF are near each other so I figured I may as well go in and have them assess me while I was in the area.)  After verifying that I was indeed in the very early stages of labor (i.e. at my appointment the day before I was 3cm and 60%; now I was 4cm and 70%), they put me on monitor to make sure the baby was doing alright during the contractions and then planned to send me home to make arrangements for Abe and come back later when things had progressed further.  Once on the monitor, they weren’t getting quite the results they wanted (this was a blessing in disguise because otherwise I would have left and headed home) and since my doctor (Dr. Stephanie) was going to be back from lunch soon, they asked me to stick around.  So I called Mike to leave work and come get Abe so he could take him home for his nap – 12:31pm.  While on the monitor and waiting for Mike, my water broke – 12:48pm.

Thankfully, my doctor’s office is literally right across the street from the hospital.  At this point, my contractions were now very intense and only minutes (if that) apart.  Once Mike arrived at my doctor’s office he escorted Abe and I directly to the hospital.  A call to our friend Jessi and she, too, was on her way to get Abe.  Jessi arrived just in time to entertain Abe; I’m guessing Abe was about 10 minutes away from witnessing his sister’s birth.  At 1:53pm (1 hour and 5 minutes after my water broke), April was born.  Dr. Stephanie almost missed it, despite just being across the street; had she been one contraction earlier April would have been born then; had she been one contraction later, the nurse would have caught her.  We were at the hospital only about 20 minutes (30 max); this was according to nurse Sara who was fabulous – very calm and in charge.  I remember her positioning the other student nurses (who my doc later described as having “deer-in-the-headlight” looks) to catch April in case Dr. Stephanie didn’t make it time.  We were all glad she did.  It was a good thing we had planned a natural birth because there wasn’t time for anything else!!

Talking later with Dr. Stephanie, we both agree that it was “crazy fast” and “thank God for Bible studies.”  If I hadn’t gone to BSF that morning April would have been born on the side of MoPac.  As I process and think about the day, one thing is abundantly clear: God and God alone was in control and only He could have worked out the details like they happened.  I’m so thankful to Him for taking care of us so faithfully.  And as we look at our daughter, we are once again in awe that He has entrusted us with another one of His children raise for Him.  A verse comes to mind:  Psalm 8:4  “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”  I don’t know why He loves us like He does, but I’ll spend my whole life thanking Him and praising Him for it.  And what comfort this brings me for April’s future.  If God so planned her birth like He did, I can only dream what He has planned for her life!