A Baby Story

When I was pregnant I would watch TLC's "A Baby Story" and always end up in tears when the baby was born. I wondered what my own baby story would be like as anticipation welled up inside of me. Only the Lord knew what my labor and delivery would be like so I had no choice but to lift it up to Him and trust that He knew best.

Ray and I really wanted to go to CBC's annual retreat. We made it for the first night and thought maybe Norah would wait just long enough for us to stay. Norah, on the other hand, had plans of her own. After a long night of strong but irregular contractions, I woke up with the feeling that labor would happen soon. As soon as I told this to Ray, I felt my water break at 7:30 a.m. We rushed to the hospital and by 8 am I was having strong and regular contractions...craziness!

We got to the hospital by 9 am after making a McDonalds detour for some sausage mcmuffin with egg. I was a sight to behold - a 9 month pregnant lady stuffing her face with McDonalds in the car inbetween painful contractions. I couldn't help by laugh at myself. Anyways, when we got to Cedars Sinai I was admitted to the pre-labor room where I experienced contractions for another 2 1/2 hours until I got the epidural around 11 am. By then I was 4-5 cm dilated. I was then given a the smallest dose of pitocin to help things along and moved to the actual labor and delivery room. One important note: I LOVE EPIDURAL!!! Praise God for the comforts of modern medicine. I don't think I could've gone through without it. :)

After the epidural it was just a matter of waiting. We expected to be ready to push around 8 pm since the nurses said it takes about 1-2 hours to dilate just one cm. So, I got comfortable and enjoyed Cedars' delicious italian ice pops. At 3 pm I had a fun conversation with my sister on the phone where I told her I still had to wait a while, and got another exam as soon as I hung up. Lo and behold, by 3:15 or so I was fully dilated and Norah was ready to come out!! I couldn't believe it all happened so fast. Doctor Sumen arrived at 3:45 and after about four sets of pushes, Norah emerged into this world at 4:09 pm. God was SO gracious to have me push for only 20 minutes - something that rarely happens with your first baby.

The doctor put Norah directly onto my belly after she was born and though I thought I would be bawling, I was actually laughing and just utterly relieved and amazed that she was healthy and that everything had gone so smoothly. Ray bravely cut the umbilical cord as the nurses cleaned up the baby. Having my baby in my arms was such a precious moment that I will truly cherish.

That's the birth story in a nutshell. We stayed at the hospital for 2 nights and came home on Monday morning. Since then it seems like it's been one long day. God is definitely giving us grace, though, despite all of the physical and emotional difficulties. When I'm tempted to give in to discouragement and sadness, I know that the Lord is near. I've been meditating on the Psalms and especially Psalm 24. God is my refuge and I know that He will continue to strengthen us for ALL that we need. I know we'll look back on this time with warm fuzzies, even though it's difficult now.

Praise God for His wonderful blessings. We can't believe we have a daughter and that we are parents!