"When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world." John 16:21
Well, I've forgotten some of the anguish except when I talk to others about it and the memories of labor pain come flooding back to me. Overall, though, I had a great labor and there is a lot of joy. God was faithful and gracious to me. Labor started Sunday morning around 10 a.m. I woke up from a late morning nap to contractions that were already 5 min. apart, lasting a minute each. They were not too intense at this point though and Dusty and I ran errands, ate lunch, and went for a walk over the course of the day. The contractions stayed 5 min. apart all day but progressively got stronger. Around 6:00 p.m. they were 3-4 min. apart and much more intense so we decided to leave for the hospital. When we got there I was 5.5 cm dilated and 100% effaced. I continued to progress well. I think Dusty and I both thought "this baby is coming tonight." The only thing I could think about through each contraction was Psalm 23. I kept repeating these three things: The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want (medication). He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. I definitely didn't feel "still" at the time, but I was clinging on to His promises and trusting that this pain would not continue forever. I ended up being in transition for two hours and then pushed for an hour and forty minutes. Dusty was such an encouragement to me during the trying time of pushing. I knew he was watching Natalie's head coming out and he would have such a huge smile and after each push tell me what a great push I just gave. It really helped me to keep trying even though I was begging God "let this be the last push." She finally did emerge at 1:38 a.m. on Monday, December 17th and she was so pink and chubby and beautiful. Seven pounds, eleven ounces, 20.5 inches, and a full head of hair! By God's grace and Dusty's encouragement, I was able to have a natural childbirth. I did have to have an episiotomy at the very end to prevent an upward tear. I also lost a lot of blood and had to be given saline to get my blood volume back up. I was really weak but after a week and a half of sleep and good cooking from George and Julie Robinson, I started to regain my strength. Doing great now.
