The thing about newborn babies is they don’t leave time for much else. But today is an anniversary of sorts. One year ago today (March 1), I took a positive pregnancy test, and now I get to tell you about how that story ends (when in fact it’s just beginning).
My pregnancy was textbook (physically). No complications and actually easier than my pregnancy with my older daughter. “Safer at Home” created a great environment for me to focus on my physical, mental and spiritual health.
I was expecting to deliver the first week of November, but she wasn’t ready until 6 days after her due date. God was still teaching me patience, and I was still struggling. I tried everything possible to coerce her to come, and eventually it worked.
I had been feeling contractions for weeks but nothing came of it. On the night of Nov 12th, I laid in bed and realized I was too uncomfortable to fall asleep. I woke up my husband, “I think it’s time”. He called our doula and the midwife. As he was on the phone with the midwife my water started breaking and then we knew for sure. Our doula arrived around 11:30 and the midwife, her assistant and a nurse arrived around midnight. Warren and the doula set up the tub while I tried to relax and make a few last minute preparations. I was relieved when I got the OK to submerge my belly in the warm water. I was working to relax through each contraction. My doula was doing anything she could to make me feel more comfortable. My husband was there the whole time. I had prepared some mantras as a reminder that God made my body to do this work, that soon my baby would be in my arms, and that I had everything I needed. He also read a prayer over me from the book Supernatural Childbirth a friend had recommended. I made an effort to lean on God during my labor and rely on Him to get me through it.
After about an hour I started to feel “pushy”. And it was maybe 15-20 minutes later that my baby was in my arms. “Hello Lexi, we have been waiting for you” I told her. Nothing was more true.
Lexington Faith was born at 1:49am on 11/13. She was 8lbs 3oz and 19 1/2″ long. She had a full head of long brown hair and she was perfect.
There were no complications and apparently I made it look easy (I assure you it wasn’t). My husband had to wake both his mom (who was sleeping in the room across from us) and my mom to tell them that their granddaughter was here. They had slept through it all. By 4am my husband and I were lying in bed with a new baby between us dazed by what had happened over the last 5 hours. “I guess now we go to sleep?”
Fast forward to today, Lexi is over 3 months old and brings so much joy into our family. London loves being a big sister. My husband continues to be Super Dad and Husband of the Year as we adjust to being a family of 4. I truly have the desires of heart.
I hold my baby often and thank God for this precious gift, this treasure I sometimes felt I’d never have. For 3 years my life has been tangled up in lost pregnancies, fertility treatments, diet, acupuncture, supplements, doctors appointments and scheduling. I’m just starting to come up from that fog and acknowledge that the fight is over and I have what I was willing to sacrifice so much for. God answered my prayer. He blessed me with more than just a beautiful little girl, He blessed with me a community of women who are fighters like me. He blessed me with a husband who has stood by my side and showed me every day how lucky I am to have him. He has made me stronger and more thankful. My faith, reliance and relationship with Him will be forever changed.
“Consider it a great job, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” James 1:2-4
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