Sixteen months after Elijah was born, we were preparing to welcome another son, Caleb. Again, I stayed in town at my mother in law’s home in order to be close. She was always so nice and hospitable to allow us to stay with her days, sometimes weeks before our babies were born! I have the best mother in law! It was a Sunday afternoon, and we had gone to church and were about to eat a family dinner. My mom was over also, ready to partake in the meal. We decided on Lucky wishbone, and if anyone has eaten there, you know how heavenly chicken and steak fingers are!
This pregnancy was similar to Elijah’s, (as well as the ones to come), in that every time I felt a few contractions, I was at labor and delivery thinking it was time. I remember going into triage on Valentine’s day convinced ‘this was it!’ It wasn’t, I was just having Braxton Hicks. Yay😐
This time I wanted to use midwives, so I switched providers from the doctor I had with Elijah. Only, this new set up wasn’t what I had anticipated. You would see different midwives for all your prenatal appointments, but when it came time for delivery, you would just get whatever rando doctor was on call. So, you never met the person that was going to actually deliver your baby until that time came. It was bizarre. There were some funny now, not so funny then encounters we had with one doctor in particular. He tried to guilt us into having a C-section because my blood pressure was elevated and Caleb wasn’t head down yet at 39 weeks. When we refused and and chose to trust God instead of him, he began berating my husband for ‘putting the life of his wife and child in danger.’ But we knew that when you chose God’s way over man’s way, the outcome will be blessed every time! This doctor ended up being on call when I went into labor. We were so happy. NOT! When Caleb came out perfectly and swiftly, and HEAD DOWN, he was less than thrilled. I think he wanted the opportunity to say “I told you so.” That didn’t happen though, and hopefully it was a testimony to him of the goodness of God!
Ok, back to that Sunday afternoon. My mom and I headed out to pick up the food. On the way back, I started feeling some pretty hefty contractions but didn’t want to say anything to my mom to give her false hope. We ate and settled in to watch a couple movies we had rented, but the contractions persisted. I mentioned to my mom and Alex that I had been having these pains for a couple hours now and they weren’t going away, but getting stronger and longer! Alex was a little hesitant to go to the hospital but, he drove me there anyway, just in case.
When we arrived, I was dilated to a 5. They admitted me and I got settled in my room and hooked up to the monitors and IV and all that good stuff. Yeah right lol. Contractions were still coming like crazy waves of death stabs. At least we were making progress, instead of them dying down after a bit like they had been doing previously. I started feeling a little “pushy.” The nurse checked my dilation, and I was only at 7cm. She tells the doctor my status, and he says “let her push.”
I began pushing, and a few minutes later, Caleb Michael was born ‘all natur-el’ at 11:14pm, weighing in at 6lb15oz, 21in long. There were complications during my pregnancy with Caleb, but God is so faithful and we are thankful that He worked all of it out for our good! I was so excited to introduce him to his brother and sister, and his one thousand cousins! I also was very thankful that Alex was able to be there with me this time. I didn’t know until I experienced him there how calming his presence would be at all the births to come. It was just me and him at this one, and that was just right! Hope you enjoyed this birth story! Sorry it was late. Isaiah’s will be up tomorrow! Until next time, Beloved…..
BE BLESSED!
