It is currently 6pm, on this beautifully sunny 84ºF Monday. The living room is nicely lit up with the natural lighting of the sun, but not burning us up inside (it’s about 80ºF inside right now) with our fan running as well (we don’t have A/C here). My precious little one is moving around in her “movey chair”, daddy is prepping some wings in the crockpot (he has become quite the chef since my pregnancy), and mommy is sitting here on the couch in her feels.
Do you ever have those moments when you just can’t help but feel grateful? Like, God truly has blessed me. I have the most incredible, self-less husband who REpresents Christ so well, the sweetest little girl that brings a smile to just about EVERYONE’S face, and a beautiful house that I get to call home with my little family. I am so grateful.
You know, I was thinking that today would be a great day to share my birthing story. As I mentioned in my previous blog, at the end of my pregnancy, my husband and I were directing a DTS (Discipleship Training School). We had just celebrated 2 years of marriage when the school began (March 13th).
A DTS is a 5 month program that mixes classroom learning, small group time, personal reflection, practical service, and community living. It is a program of 2 parts: a lecture phase and an outreach phase (where students will get the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned during the lecture phase).
Baby girl was due May 4th (go ahead, get all the star wars jokes out), however that is NOT when she decided to show up.
WARNING: There is likely to be a bit of TMI, so if that’s not your thing, skip to the yellow below.
Tuesday, April 19th. I had just come home, after spending the morning at the base (our YWAM base) for our weekly community meeting and a ministry meeting, and went to use the bathroom. It was one of those trips to the bathroom where I remember thinking that I was in there for a long time; I was peeing for SUCH A LONG TIME. After finally managing to “cut off the pee”, I went to the couch to just rest – I was 37 weeks and 6 days pregnant at this point so mama was TIRED almost all the time haha.
However, as I was sitting on the couch, I remember feeling like I was still releasing some liquid, so I finally decided to go to my room and put on one of those adult diapers (I bought some for my hospital bag and had some extras left). A little later, the hubs finally showed up and I remember telling him about the excessive amount of liquid. We talked and were wondering if it could possibly be that my water broke or that I had lost the mucus plug, but I was sure and didn’t feel any contractions (at least I didn’t think I was), so I left it alone.
Later that night, as we were going to bed, the hubs asked if I was still releasing liquid, and I told him I was. At that point he really was on team “I think your water broke”. We were all on the googles trying to read about what it would feel like, look like, smell like if your water broke. All signs were pointing to “my water broke”, but I didn’t feel like I was having contractions so I didn’t want to budge (I later found out what I was experiencing was contractions). At this point, it was about midnight, and I had called a friend who had just recently had a baby, and she was telling me everything I was experiencing sounded like what it was like right before she went in to have her baby. Still, I wasn’t ready to go into the hospital. So, I called the hospital and explained what was going on.
The receptionist I spoke to told me I should come to the hospital if I thought my water broke. As soon as I hung up with homie, the hubs was already getting dressed to head up to the hospital. However, ya girl was STILL reluctant to go. Because I “wasn’t feeling contractions” (which I was), I didn’t want to go to the hospital to only be told, “go back home until you have contractions” (I was told by a mom that this happened to her), especially since we don’t have a car and we would be depending on someone else to take us. The truth…I wanted to get a good night’s sleep haha. I was finally able to talk my husband into waiting until the morning, since the next morning I had a scheduled monitoring appointment anyway.
Wednesday, April 20th. I wake up before our alarm to the feeling that I was peeing on myself – it was at that point that I finally decided that YES, my water did break. I informed the hubs, sent a message to my ministry leader (who was on call to take us to the hospital), and began getting ready for the day. We told our ride that we would go to the base for our normal morning meeting with our DTS staff, and then we’d be ready to head over to the base. It was about 7:45am when we met with our staff, told them we would be gone the rest of the day, and then headed out. Yes, I was still in mode chill, trying to go about thangs all normal.
Once we arrived to the hospital, we went down to the “emergency room” and told them I thought my water broke. They checked out ya girl, and admitted me right away. By that point, I was beginning to feel a little discomfort, and realized that yes it was contractions, yet nothing too drastic. Once they moved us up to our room, all the fun began.
Of course, ya girl forgot all the paperwork I was told to bring with me to the hospital so I had to re-sign things (fun). I was tested for COVID and tested positive – like what?! With the positive test, it changed things a bit – food was left outside the room for the hubs to have to go grab for me (wasn’t a big deal), but then he wasn’t allowed to leave to get food because we had to be confined to our room – BOOOOO.
Because my water most likely broke the night before, they ended up having to induce my labor. I was also given an antibiotic to help avoid any likely infection – oops. Things were progressing slowly, but dem contractions were HITTING hard, that’s for sure. Dem contractions had ya girl on all fours when they would hit, and the hubs was rubbing my back. Once I finally hit 3 cm, I was told that I could have an epidural. I cried because I wanted to go fully natural for the delivery, but I was exhausted by that point (it was midnight by then), so I said yes.
Getting the epidural was such an uncomfortable feeling. My belly was already so big at that point; sitting at 90 degrees was hard for me – trying to sit with my back rounded was even HARDER! However, once the epidural started working, ya girl KNOCKED OUT!! I only woke up to the doc stopping by to check how far I was dilated and to turn me over. Like, the amount of epi I had straight up KILLED my legs – like, I was feeling NOTHING.
Thursday, April 21st. I remember the hubs and I were awake after having been checked out again and repositioned. I think a little after that, I had breakfast brought in for me and the hubs was in the bathroom when a nurse came in to check me out again. It was during that time that she told me that it was time. I remember thinking, “OH MY GOODNESS! WE’RE GOING TO MEET OUR LITTLE GIRL!”. I yelled at Andrew in the bathroom that it was time and that they were going to move me down to delivery, so he came out quickly and all the fun moved to the delivery room.
We were separated as Andrew was taken to put on scrubs and I was taken into the delivery room. When I got in there, the doctor began to look at me, and had me to push to check progress – he was very pleased. Now, keep in mind, I could NOT feel any of my lower body, so pushing was me merely trying to remember how to poop and hoping I was doing a great job pooping haha. I remember asking them if my husband was going to be able to be in there with me because things seemed to be progressing so quickly, and then he showed up. It seem that as soon as Andrew showed up and stood at my side, things were MOVING! I think I pushed like 2 times and then remembering seeing the top of baby girl’s head. As soon as I saw all her hair, I looked over at Andrew and said to him, “she has soo much hair!”
12:58pm. After 2 more good pushes, I felt her shoulders pass my pelvis and I saw her in the mirror. They place her on my chest and I cried, thanking God that our sweet girl was here. Then, she cried. What a sweet sweet gift.
My sweet Isabela Jael Elizabeth 
It was for sure an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget. The woman’s body is absolutely incredible. Our sweet little baby girl is here, and she brings so much joy to everyone that meets her. She is now 4 months old and has already attended a DTS, traveled to the north of Spain, and participated in outreach.
And the adventure continues…
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