Henry's Birth Story

Some may not really care how the events on my son's birthday unfolded but, typing this helps me remember. And, this really was a day I don't want to forget! I wanted to type this out before Henry's 1st birthday..... which is next week! Nothing graphic or gross so you won't lose your lunch.:)

We woke up that Sunday morning at 4:30am. I knew something would happen that day because I felt different from the get-go. My parents and sister had been staying with us the week before with high hopes of cuddling a little grandson/nephew. Henry was stubborn and just wouldn't budge. As the week drew to a close, a realization that my family may not get to meet Henry until Christmas set in. That reality was sad but, we still had a great time. When family gets together it's good food, great company and plenty of belly-laughing. So at 5am that morning when they packed up and left for ND, I cried. Like I always do. My brother and friend Laura(who were also staying with us) were still asleep. Joel and I went back to bed and, a couple hours later I woke up and realized my water had broke. Very very slow trickle just like when we labored with Norah. Sparatic contractions but, nothing painful or consistent. I called my midwife(Sue Lang- most awesome midwife ever!) and she told me that we should head to the hospital to get checked and get on a monitor.

Leaving Norah was very hard for me. We didn't want Norah to feel at all scared or anxious that day, as we had made arrangments for our neighbor's to watch her. Danny and Laura must've sensed how sad I was(seriously, I was a bawling mess) because, they decided to stay for a while and hang out with Norah. Joel and I arrived at the hospital, got checked(2.5cm) and it was confirmed that my water had indeed broke.

I was emotional for a good chunk of the day. It was hard to say goodbye to family, hard to be away from Norah and, hard to walk a bjillion miles around the maternity unit trying to get labor moving. At 1:30, Sue suggested starting a pitocin drip. With Norah I denied pitocin for 5 hours, not wanting drugs of any kind. With Henry, pitocin was started at 2(I think). I didn't see the point of dragging this process out, Joel and I were anxious to meet our son!

Throughout the afternoon, Satan tried relentlessly to drag me down and, do all in his power to ruin this amazing day. He reminded me of how painful it was going to be, told me I couldn't do it, told me how dumb I was for refusing an epidural. Reminded me time-and-time again that Henry was already over 9 pounds and Norah was hard to push out at just 6pounds 15ouces. There was a very dinstinct moment in the day where I felt God stomp Satan's lies out of my mind. My attitude changed and I was focused. Focused on God and his plan for my family. It was awesome having Joel there, he was nothing but positive and relaxed the whole day. Sidenote: I think he really enjoyed spoon-feeding me the ice chips!

Fast forward to 6pm. Danny texted and said they really needed to get on the road(headed back to MN). I asked Joel to drive home(25 minutes) and, eat with Norah and get her settled with the neighbors. He reluctantly left and I sat on a birthing ball visiting with my midwife. Sue is also Catholic so we talked about different bible studies we were doing and, also her son's upcoming wedding. This took my mind somewhat off how painful the contractions were becoming. At around 7 she checked me and told me to call Joel to see where he was, I was at 9.5cm(I think Sue was getting nervous that Joel would miss the main event:). I called and, he was still about 10 minutes away. The nurses were called in at that point and the bed was made ready. Sidenote: I asked Joel this past weekend what it was like for him driving back to the hospital knowing his son would soon be born. He said he prayed and remembered saying a "Hail Mary" and ran from the parking garage to the maternity unit. He remember's people saying "There's the Dad! Is he going to make it in time?!"

Then, in what seemed like a split second, Joel was back, we were 10cm, ready to push. This is where the power of prayer came into play. I closed my eyes and pictured Jesus standing in front of me. I said, "please God help me." He responded, "You can do this, I know this because I made you. You were meant to have this baby, you were meant to be a mom. I made you for this." With every contraction and every push it was me with me eyes closed,  and Jesus right there with me, helping me thru(and Joel and Sue, of course). Joel tells me my head looked like it was going to pop off and we laugh about that but, in all seriousness, the birth of my two kids were the most personal moments I've had with God. With Norah, I would say the LORD's prayer until the pain got so intense that I would forget the words. It went something like this, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come......." and repeat.

^13" I can do all things through Christ^[a] who strengthens me."   Philippians 4:13

After 10 minutes of pushing my little boy entered this world. His cry was loud and, they placed belly for a quick moment. Sue whispered something to the nurses(something to do with his mega cisterna magna that was detected in the 38 week ultrasound) and they rushed him over to the table to examine him. They checked him over, weighed him(10 pounds 5 ounces) and Joel brought him back to me.

At 7:35 that night, we glorified God for giving us a healthy baby boy. One year later, we're glorifying God for the joy and love Henry has added to our family. We know God has something really incredible planned for Henry, we can't wait to see what it is!

As Joel held Henry, he blessed him "The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

And with that, Henry fell asleep... and to this day, Henry hears that blessing every night before bed.