First Fruits Friday - Redemptive Birth
One of the common reasons we hear for women seeking abortions is that they are afraid to relive a traumatic birth experience. Many have been convinced by a side comment or lack of explanation by a previous medical professional that their body is broken, and many do not know that the next birth has the power to be redemptive and healing.
At Seneca, we dream of a day when women innately trust God’s design, their bodies, the process of birth. That trust ultimately comes from trusting our Creator. He brought His son into the world through childbirth. He cares deeply about each family, mother and father, baby, labor, and birth.
As women, the Lord teaches us to trust Him in our birthing experiences. Every birth is unique and in every birth is a built in opportunity to learn to relinquish control and to trust in the faithfulness of the creator even more.
The following is the story of our Executive Director, Amber’s most recent birth experience:
In order to understand the miracle story of baby Christopher’s birth, we have to go back 3 years ago with the birth of his sister Stella Rose. Stella’s birth was surrounded by messages of doubt and distrust of my body. I was immediately labeled a high risk patient due to my age and previous complicated birth experiences. Those risk factors combined with my OB/Gyn’s busy schedule, pushed me into an induction which was one of the most challenging births I’ve experienced thus far.
The 22 hour labor was painful and difficult, long, and restrictive as I was constantly being monitored, confined in the small space of the hospital room with nowhere to go to distract me. My prayers and supplication to God for all the prayer intentions I could muster with my husband and mother as well as my nurse, Lindsey, by my side was my only consolation. It was these folks along with prayer that got me through successfully with natural labor and delivery to birth Stella Rose into this world. My biggest take away from Stella’s birth was relinquishing and trusting the Lord with all my heart and walking in the pain with humility to suffer for the greater good.
The memory of that induction was almost paralyzing for me when headed into the home stretch of Christopher’s impending birth. In the last two visits to my OB/Gyn, my doctor started talking about inducing labor. My first thought was, “NO Way, not again”. I shared my difficult experience and that I would do whatever I could to avoid being induced again. The doctor gave me an 8 day window to go into labor spontaneously: from there the challenge was on.
I took this opportunity to prayerfully dedicate this next birth for the glory of God. In those 8 days, I asked everyone I encountered to pray for us. That was a huge consolation for me because I knew I was not alone going into labor...whenever God decided labor would begin.
This was my first gift, allowing my faith to grow in waiting for labor to begin.
Research shows that in women who’ve had multiple children “prodromal labor” or “Braxton Hicks” start earlier and earlier. From around week 30 in this pregnancy, I experienced those Pre- labor pains nightly, and it was exhausting.
At its worst, I was unable to feed or bathe my disabled child because of how painful the contractions were. I had to trust that this is what my body needed to do to prepare for labor and build the faith that God was in control and each painful contraction was worth offering up to the Lord.
During the 8 day countdown, I decided to stop working full-time and rest a bit at home, working as I was able, but mostly praying, taking nice long walks to the park with Stella, and preparing the house to bring home a new baby! It was a wonderful time to spend in preparation for baby Christopher to be with us. By Friday, my due date, I started to get ancy. I realized the impending date for induction was just a few days away. I began to research home induction methods. I tried every natural induction remedy I could find. Then, I went to church with my family. The service at church was peaceful and prepared me with hope for a beautiful birth. I just felt such consolation from the Lord that this birth would be different, in a special and holy way, from Stella’s induction birth. Going to sleep that night, I thought, this could be my last night being pregnant, and maybe, just maybe tomorrow I’d be able to hold my newborn in my arms!
The next day was Sunday, March 6th. I spent the day napping, enjoying my family, and trying a few more induction techniques. The contractions started around midday. The ebb and flow of daily life activities for a family of 8 kept me busy and distracted. I also found time for a good bit of rest thanks to the help of my husband.
By the end of the evening, my 6 children’s needs were met, so I continued in the early stages of labor while doing laundry, taking a shower, doing my hair, bouncing on the birth ball in a candlelit room while meditating on the suffering of Our Lord Jesus. My goal was to align my suffering in labor to His suffering on the cross, to make this labor redemptive!
By 10pm, I realized that this was it: labor was going to happen without the hospital induction. I was praising God in my prayers and thanking Him for allowing me the labor I was so desiring for the birth of this baby. I told my husband to go to bed, that I’d call him when I needed him to drive me to the hospital, as he typically is the final stage birth coach. As is our family tradition, I called my mom to come to help coach me in the earlier stages of labor when my body’s labor pains started to increase in intensity and duration.
We went to the ER once things began to progress, and I was given the choice to go home and continue to labor there, which I happily accepted. I thought I would have several more hours and wanted to have the calming atmosphere of home, but God and baby CJ had other plans. In a short time, we were waking Chris, and he was rushing me to the hospital.
After the check in, Chris made it up to the room in the nick of time. I had gotten to the delivery room and the team assembled around me to get me checked and ready to deliver. I did all I could to keep my eyes closed and just keep breathing and praying.
This time, the birth team listened to my instincts and helped me deliver in just two pushes. The doctor made it for the final moments of the birth. At 3:13am baby Christopher was born! The labor and delivery I was praying for happened, just as God planned it. It was love at first sight! Chris announced we had had a baby BOY! I was overjoyed. God had answered all my prayers. A smooth, uncomplicated natural labor and delivery along with the deepest desire of my heart, a baby boy! I was so in love! Thank you Jesus. I kept repeating, “thank you, thank you, I can’t believe it’s a boy”!
In all this I learned the greatest lessons: trust in the Lord your God with all your mind. All your heart, and all your soul. He will provide for your every need and He knows your greatest desires. This labor and delivery increased my faith, my hope, and my capacity for love in ways I could never imagine. What a gift it is to be a woman, a wife, and for the 7th time a mother! Thank you Jesus for this miraculous birth!