Simon's Birth Story Part 1....To God Be the Glory

I've never been big on birth's stories. Maybe it was because Isaac's story was so hard to go through and I didn't like telling it over and over again. Simon's birth story is so totally opposite. I want to share his story so that God gets all the glory. Luke and I know with all our hearts that it was God alone who made all this happen. So here we go:

It started on Labor Day. At 10 that night, I started feeling some contractions. They were somewhat painful and started coming in a pattern. By about 3am, they were more painful and about 6-7 minutes apart. We called the doctor and she said to stay home until I couldn't walk or talk through them. Luke got in the shower and we started gathering up the last few things we needed. At about 4am, we called Luke's mom to come and be with Isaac. She arrived at about 5am. Then the contractions started diminishing. I started pacing around the house to get them going and Luke and I went walking up and down the street. Then at 7, the contractions completely stopped. I was very discouraged and confused. We called the doctor again and she told us to come. I hadn't really made any progress, only 2.5 cm. So we went home very discourage. Luke stayed home from work becuase we didn't know what could happen. Unfortunately, nothing did happen.

On Wednesday, the same thing started happening again, and almost at the exact same time. The contractions were stronger than they were before and were at a good pattern. We called the doc again and she told us to go ahead on to the hospital. So at about 6am, we woke Isaac and headed to Luke's mom's house then went to the hospital. But first we snapped a quick photo. At this point, my tummy was rock hard and super pointy. Of course, as soon as we got there, the contractions died down again and eventually disappeared again. So we left the hospital. On one hand, we were glad they let us leave the hospital and didn't corner us into a c-section, but on the other hand, we were sad to leave without our baby. We went to pick Isaac up and headed home. Feeling fairly certain that the same thing would happen, that is, nothing, Luke went on to work. At this point, I'm not only emotionally drained, but physically drained from all the stress on my body and lack of sleep.

That night, nothing happened, but I was still up all night long. I was so discouraged and afraid that we would have to go ahead with the c-section. I was battling with the Lord. Asking why it had to be this way? Why couldn't the contractions stick? Why won't my body work? Why can't God just answer this prayer for me? Then feeling guilty that these thoughts were entering in my mind. Then Satan comes in and accuses saying that now God definitely won't answer my prayer because of my lack of faith. What a battle that was waging inside of me. I finally threw my hands up in the air and remembered what God said to Gideon:

The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

I prayed to the Lord that He wouldn't do this for me or Luke, but for His own glory. That everyone around will fall on their knees and praise God, knowing that it was all Him. It was like a turning point for me. I had to make myself remember truth even when it was so easy to focus on my emotions and let them guide my views of God. Luke was also a great source of truth for me. He reminded me that God doesn't change. The day of Simon's birth was already decided and no matter how faithful or faithless, God doesn't change. Elementary I know, but when I was clouded with emotions, this truth made a profound difference.

Thursday was pretty uneventful as far as labor. But I had a fun day with Leah and took advantage of my time with just Isaac. Then I did some last minute cleaning before my mom came in. She arrived at about 6pm and we went to dinner.

At about 3am, the contractions came back again. These were very painful from the get-go. I didn't want to wake Luke up becuase I was so sure I was gonna get faked out again. But he woke up anyway because of my heavy breathing. They started about 10 minutes apart and over the next few hours got to about 4-5 minutes apart. Baby was right on my bladder so with every contractions, I felt the painful urge to run to the bathroom even though my bladder was completely empty. And sure enough, at around 7am, the contractions were back to 10 minutes apart. We decided to to just stay at home, again, feeling fairly confident that the same thing that happened that last few days would happen again. But they didn't. Over about the next hour, they were back to 5-6 minutes. Instead of running to the hospital right away, we decided to go to the doctor's office first and see what they say. Progress!!! I was 4 cm and the doctor said to go ahead on to the hospital. YAY! But there was still a long way to go to have a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).

Okay, this post is way too long already so I'll stop now and post the hospital part of the story tomorrow. Stay tuned.....