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BirthWise Maternity Care, LC |
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Gentle Births Happen at Home |
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Dear Laurel |
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Dear Laurel, August 2nd 2004 is the date that I was given to expect your arrival & we got pretty close! Your Uncle Bob was born on August 2nd 1952, so I expected to be able to surprise him with your birth on August 2nd 2004 but, God had another plan. Friday, July 30th 6:00 a.m. I felt the first significant contraction that made me believe that you may want to join our family earlier than the given date. You were pretty active Friday evening as well so I began to anticipate another middle of the night baby. 4:00 a.m. Saturday, after performing a few miscellaneous tasks, I went to bed. When I woke later that morning you decided to rest to prepare for the coming evening. I kept myself as busy as I could on Saturday, knowing that remaining active would be beneficial to your delivery; Though I still prayed that I would deliver you on Monday! As the day progressed I experienced no significant signs that I might have a child that evening so your father, brothers, sister & I decided to go to the Solid Rock café’, a coffee house not far from our home. While there Josh, Kacie, Sydney & I shared a couple of Gatorade’s, daddy had a cup of coffee & we listened to a Contemporary Christian band sing some tunes. You began to get very active ten minutes after we sat down to listen to the band. Fifteen minutes before the music would end I decided it was time to call our midwife & go home to prepare for your arrival! This was @ 9:45. When we got home 5 minutes later your brothers began to pace the floor awaiting Heather, our midwife, who was in our home by 10:30p.m. By this time you once again decided to rest for the task ahead so Heather suggested that your father & I go for a walk to stir you, which we did. As we walked every ten to fifteen paces I would contract & while this would happen your father & I would embrace until the contraction subsided. This was an incredible feeling! (A feeling I pray that one day you & your sister will experience!) Three laps around our block & contractions every three steps gave me the impression that you were ready to come out (though in hindsight three more laps around the block probably would have brought you forth quicker) so we went back inside where I paced around our kitchen table conversing with Heather. A short while later I decided to get into the warm water of the pool & relax. As I sat in the pool your brothers decided to join me while Sydney was put in our room to sleep (since the pool was placed in the room you & she would share). Josh & Kacie couldn’t resist the experience of sitting in a swimming pool inside our home!. They would remain with me for the duration of hard labor & your father “hung out” with the midwives anticipating the first experience of you. By this time Melissa Mayo, another midwife, had joined the event. As I sat in the pool & the contractions came harder & more frequent prayers to the Lord began to flow from my lips & His presence became apparent. My prayer for you Laurel is that you, as well as your brothers & sister, realize the strength that comes from God & that you cling to His promises for your lives. After almost two hours in the pool it was decided that gravity wasn’t working well in my favor in the position that I maintained so Heather suggested that I move across the hall to the bathroom. In the bathroom I sat on the toilet & with the necessary sphincters working together after 2 pushes you began to emerge. I then stood, supported by the midwives, & began to feel you move from my body. This, although I have had three other children, is the first time I have “felt” a child moving from my body. How amazing! The sac of water that you were in for the previous 9 months remained in tact until your shoulders emerged. Then everything began to occur incredibly quick! After three more intense pushes you were here. Within seconds I was placed back on the toilet & you were placed on my chest to begin the bonding process! What beautiful experience! Heather made me aware of the idea that females who are born in the water sac will become midwives when they grow up! I will encourage you & Sydney wholeheartedly toward that end after this experience! Twenty-nine months before this day God allowed me to be pregnant with your sister. It was at this time that the idea of delivering the child I was carrying in our home, in the water was presented. After reading information & watching videos regarding water-birth I was absolutely convinced that this is the way I would deliver my child; Your father, however, was not so taken with such a “radical” idea. So, for six months I saw a (bobo) Gynecologist, who was not even present for the delivery & Sydney was born, with me on my back, in the hospital. Twenty months later the Lord, with absolute omniscience, allowed me another opportunity to fulfill my previous desire & you were born! After this experience I am again absolutely convinced that this is how God would desire each of His creations to be born into this world. Midwives were the way children were born in the Bible. Exodus1:17 is a specific reference to this. You are a beautiful child, as are all of the children God has given us to care for while we are here! As you grow, Laurel, I pray that you cleave to the Lord & realize who you are through His eyes.
All my love, lady-baby
Mom |
