MOSS GROVE: Fruits of Miracles

A week ago yesterday, my pregnant wife's water broke. 24 hours later, a week ago today, our first daughter was born, three weeks early, @ 6 lbs. 15.5 oz.; 19.75"

To me, birth is a miraculous thing, but reflecting back on this particular birth it seems there were additional miracles encompassing the miracle of birth itself. Why did the water break break so early? Why did we have to wait an extra day before official labor commenced? How did all of that timing coincide with the particular people who helped us?

I feel that all of those things were actual answers to prayers and fulfillment of blessings and comfort. And that’s not to mention the miracle of having a girl after a trend of five boys!

I saw God’s hand in all of this and I saw the same hero in my wife that I saw with all our babies.

After spending all day Thursday in the hospital, bored to death, while my wife was slowly drained physically and emotionally by the unproductive contractions forced on her by the Pitocin, we were pretty discouraged. The only comfort was being able to hear the baby's heartbeat on the monitor and know both she and Heather were still healthy and safe. By dinner we turned off the Pitocin, said more prayers, and tried to enjoy a relaxing evening in our hospital dungeon.

In answer to our prayers, with no more help than some previous cervix softening medications, my wife started contracting on her own around 1am. I was unaware of her contractions until 2am when I recognized that she was in true labor. I folded up my bed and geared-up for the part I hate the most-- watching helplessly as she suffers inconceivable pain and agony.

After a few hours of intense torture, my wife was only at 3cm. Laboring so painfully long, so early in the morning (after a full day of forced contractions), with very little progress overwhelmed us and we decided to try our first-ever epidural.

I've always been nervous about it and had reservations about epidurals partially because my wife is generally sensitive to medication. When the anesthesiologist came moments later he resolved most of my concerns and started preparing for the epidural.

Suddenly I noticed a different reaction during the next contraction--my wife was pushing! In just about 20 minutes, my wife went from a 3 to an 8! This prompted the anesthesiologist to move faster, but almost in a blink, my wife was pushing again and the head crowned.

The anesthesiologist ended up delivering the baby about 10 minutes before our doctor arrived at the hospital. The whole labor was about four hours. As surprised and somewhat unprepared for the baby to come three weeks early as we were, if we weren't already in the hospital when the labor started, its possible we might not have made it to the hospital in time--let alone to get settled and prepared.

Although we had competent nurses helping, if we hadn't asked for an epidural, there would have been no doctor to deliver the baby...and we still didn't have to go through with the epidural. [Note: I say 'we' knowing full-well that it really means Heather.] We found out later that the anesthesiologist who delivered our baby used to teach OB classes--what are the odds.

This was a unique experience for us, but the whole process was a witness to me that God is mindful of our needs and, although He allows us to learn through some difficult challenges, He is always nearby to offer comfort and support. I know God loves His Children.