Faith

It is so hard to believe that my precious gift from God is already here. As we came home today from the hospital I still find it hard to believe how also this whole experience was.

Let me first preface her birth story by saying that from about five months I was pretty set on having a c-section. I did not have a bad labor and delievery with Ellie, but a horrible experience after her birth because of the delievery. I was so determined not to ever have to go through that again. So my doctor was very supportive and understanding. At one of my earlier check-ups in November I was given the scheduled date of December 7 for my c-section. It was then that I started questioning whether or not that was best, so I turned it over to God. I began praying every night, not only for a healthy baby but also if I could deliver naturally then for God to work through that. It just amazes me still after all these years just how he does work.

The week of Thanksgiving was a pretty crummy week. I did not feel good at all and barely made it through the days. I kept telling everyone at work that this would be my last week. But as I left on Wednesday (not feeling quite as bad as the two days before), I promised I would be back on Monday, but could not promise more after that. I was a lot concerned for leaving my classroom because they had not found a sub yet for me. If anyone knows my teaching style this stressed me out more than having another child. Wednesday from the time I left school, headed to New Albany to sign papers, ate dinner at Tumbleweed, and drove home in pouring rain, I was having contractions starting 7 minutes apart and then going to 5 minutes. I really considered going to the hospital, but I had nothing ready. So I went home and put my feet up, and after about an hour they all stopped. I guess she was not quite ready yet.

Sunday I was so exhausted from the weekend that I did not feel like getting ready and going to church. So I downloaded the sermon on podcast. I woke up early before anyone else got up to spend some alone time with my ipod and God. The sermon was on Faith. And how God often test our faith, but that is when he works his greatest miracles. We had not at this point decided on a first name, but we were ready to go with Faith as the baby's middle name. I had no idea just how perfect that name would be for her.

That brings me to Monday of this week. It was a pretty good day at school. I was not too drained. I came home and Ellie asked me if I could lay on her bed while she played Barbie's. Of course I said yes, and of course I fell asleep. Bob woke me up when he called to say that he was on his way home. Also he told me not to bother with dinner because his aunt called us over for chili. So when he went home we went up the road for dinner. After eating I felt an intense urge to go to the bathroom. From that point I was pretty sure that my water had broke, but not certain because I did not go through the "normal" process with my induced labor with Ellie. But after about an hour of the same symptoms (no contractions though) I called the doctor. He told me to come on in to the hospital to get checked. So at about 8:30 pm I was declared in labor, 2 centimeters and guaranteed a long night. My doctor told the nurses to keep me comfortable and he scheduled the c-section for 8 am.

I really like have labor in the middle of the night. The room was very small (the last one--there were nine babies born that night) and with all the lights down it was so peaceful. Then about 2:00 the pain hit and it kept getting worse. The pain meds they started giving only lasted a while. Finally the nurse, who happened to be a good friend from high school, came in and asked if it was time for the epidural-I signed on very quickly. At about 7:30 am when they came in to start prepping me for surgery I was 7 cm. I immediately thought I could do this on my own, no c-section. The nurses got the doctor and he agreed. He told me that we would wait until noon to see the progress before he took her. About 9 am I was fully dilated and pushing. She was born at 9:23 am. I was so tired from the meds they gave during the night that I would fall asleep during pushes. She came out blue/purple and it took a few minutes to get her breathing regulated and her color back to normal. But it did not take her long to look perfect. She was 6 lbs, 2 oz and 20 inches long. Tiny but this nameless child was all part of God's plan.

So that brought us to the name. We had been tossing around a few names, but as soon as we saw her we knew that she was Madelyn Faith Jenkins and because we love nicknames she was instantly given the name "Maddie."

And as I sit her typing this on my first day home I thank God that I can say I don't feel like I just had a baby two days ago.
Thank you Lord for this tiny blessing and for still showing us that you work through Faith.