When I started reading the book, Supernatural Childbirth, by Jackie Mize, I was surprised to learn there were women out there that gave birth without pain and without pain medication! I was dreading giving birth because almost every aspect of it was scary to me. Contractions were painful, I was scared of how pain medication made me feel out of control...What if I didn’t make it to the hospital in time? There was so much fear and pain in childbirth spoke about in the world.
Over the course of my first and second trimesters carrying my son, I studied what the Bible says about pregnancy and giving birth and replaced Truth with what the world says about it. I had to squash many lies that went through my head, such as: "I can't do this," "it's not real," "I don't have enough faith for a pain-free birth." I was encouraged when reading what Terry Mize wrote in the epilogue of the book, "Look for God's goodness and mercy and deliverance. Don't look for trouble or problems."
It didn’t take long for my husband, Luke, and I to discover the powerful, amazing authority he had over my body. As husband and wife, the Bible says we are one flesh and the husband is the spiritual leader of the family. Where my faith lacked, he was able to stand in for it. During my pregnancy, when I battled anxiety and panic attacks, his prayers fought off the fear. Weeks before my April 15th due date, Luke kept saying I would go into labor at 3:00 am on April 17, and give birth that day. I didn’t really like that plan, but I didn’t verbalize any better one. I’m still not even sure why he kept speaking that over me! After photographing a wedding on April 16, I was disappointed that the baby still wasn’t here yet. I went to bed that night as normal, thinking if photographing a wedding didn’t trigger labor, he would have to come on his own timing.
On Sunday, April 17, 2016, I awoke to my first labor contraction. I looked at the clock, and to my surprise, it read: 3:00 AM. “You have GOT to be kidding me!” I thought to myself. I stayed in bed the rest of the night and into the morning. I attempted to count the minutes between contractions, but I kept falling asleep. The contractions felt like a tightening around my abdomen, kind of like if you were to make a fist and tighten your muscle. I had never been in labor before, so I guess I didn’t fully realize that those contractions were very painful for most women, women that didn’t know to believe for pain-free births. About 7 hours into labor, fear reared his ugly head. I began to have anxious thoughts and that’s when I felt it for the first time. Until now, I thought having cancerous cells burned off my cervix was painful. These labor contractions were worse. Luke came in the bedroom and I told him what was happening. He prayed over me, and the pain magically disappeared. About 9 hours into labor, I had this sense of urgency. I told Luke we needed to go to the hospital immediately. I can't really tell you how I knew this, but something in my body just changed, and I knew without a doubt it was time to go. He asked me how far apart the contractions were, but I had so many I really wasn’t sure when one ended and the next one began. It felt like it took him 10,000 years to brush his teeth and I was ready to walk out the door without him and call a cab. I called his mom, who of course didn’t answer, or notice my texts, “EMERGENCY- ABOUT TO HAVE THE BABY CAN YOU GIVE ME A RIDE TO THE HOSPITAL?!?!” So, I had to go with my slow poke husband instead. (He explains the situation much different, but this is how I viewed it in my about-to-have-a-baby state!)
One of the things that stuck with me throughout my pregnancy was what Jackie wrote early in the book about building your faith up until delivery- that if you haven't built up a confidence inside you by the time you are in labor, it's too late. So, I left my scripture cards at home and walked (aka waddled) to the car in full confidence of the Word of God. I hadn't considered myself very full of faith, but after reading others' supernatural testimonies, I couldn't help but believe that it could be true for me, too. That is what faith is - confidence in what is unseen.
In the car and beginning our 35 minute drive to the hospital, I was 95% sure I was delivering a baby in the car - which was NOT my birth plan at all! Serenaded by a NewSpring worship CD, I tried to think calming thoughts to keep the baby in there a little longer. Luke spoke over my body and baby, “Troy, stay in there until we get to the hospital!” “No,” I interrupted, “into our room!” “...and into our room!” He added. Within a few seconds, I felt things change. The contractions grew further and further apart. Around 1:30 pm, I was checked into my room and the nurse checked to see how dilated I was. To her surprise, I was 7 cm dialated, 3 cm away from being fully dilated. They stood in amazement at the machine monitoring my contractions. The scales would rare up, indicating a strong contraction but there was no reaction from me. My mom was working in the hospital I was delivering at, so she was able to clock out and come to my room. Soon after, Luke's mom joined, after she received a call on her land line from her friend, who we called and asked to pray for us. Right after Luke's mom walked in my room, something changed inside of me. I couldn't sit still and felt like I had to jerk and move my legs a lot. Thinking it had to be go time, I asked the nurses to check me. They didn't seem convinced I needed checking, but one of the nurses finally checked me anyway. To her surprise again, I was fully dilated and ready to push. I didn't go to any birthing classes or watch any videos on giving birth because I didn't want to plant a seed of fear. I knew there was so much negative press out there on giving birth. I planned to give birth different than the herd, so I didn't need to learn from people doing it different than me. I didn't figure Mary attended a birthing class or had a dula with her when she gave birth to Jesus, so I didn't need that either. (Although, I did have a dula and she was amazing!) We laugh about it now, because the first few times I pushed, I did it wrong. I didn't really know you could do that wrong, but I somehow managed to! One of the nurses expressed that she was upset because she had to leave at 3:00 and wanted to see the birth. We told her we would make it happen! Luke spoke to our unborn son, "Troy, it's time to come out now!" I gave another push and my water broke! I know what you're thinking, doesn't one's water break before labor? It's so rare (and amazing) that when I googled it, I couldn't even find anything about that happening on the internet. But of course some doctors break their patients' water instead on letting it happen on it's own. Breaking the water usually speeds up labor, but I obviously didn't need any help with that. With a second push, out came Troy Drayton Meetze!
Everyone was so amazed that nobody bothered to look at the clock to record the time of birth! But we do know it happened before 3:00 pm.
As I am writing this, Troy is turning 4 years old. He is a happy, healthy, smart, energetic, inquisitive, and the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of creating. And now we are in the process of creating another little amazing human! Read about our journey here: Miscarriages
On Sunday, April 17, 2016, I awoke to my first labor contraction. I looked at the clock, and to my surprise, it read: 3:00 AM. “You have GOT to be kidding me!” I thought to myself. I stayed in bed the rest of the night and into the morning. I attempted to count the minutes between contractions, but I kept falling asleep. The contractions felt like a tightening around my abdomen, kind of like if you were to make a fist and tighten your muscle. I had never been in labor before, so I guess I didn’t fully realize that those contractions were very painful for most women, women that didn’t know to believe for pain-free births. About 7 hours into labor, fear reared his ugly head. I began to have anxious thoughts and that’s when I felt it for the first time. Until now, I thought having cancerous cells burned off my cervix was painful. These labor contractions were worse. Luke came in the bedroom and I told him what was happening. He prayed over me, and the pain magically disappeared. About 9 hours into labor, I had this sense of urgency. I told Luke we needed to go to the hospital immediately. I can't really tell you how I knew this, but something in my body just changed, and I knew without a doubt it was time to go. He asked me how far apart the contractions were, but I had so many I really wasn’t sure when one ended and the next one began. It felt like it took him 10,000 years to brush his teeth and I was ready to walk out the door without him and call a cab. I called his mom, who of course didn’t answer, or notice my texts, “EMERGENCY- ABOUT TO HAVE THE BABY CAN YOU GIVE ME A RIDE TO THE HOSPITAL?!?!” So, I had to go with my slow poke husband instead. (He explains the situation much different, but this is how I viewed it in my about-to-have-a-baby state!)
One of the things that stuck with me throughout my pregnancy was what Jackie wrote early in the book about building your faith up until delivery- that if you haven't built up a confidence inside you by the time you are in labor, it's too late. So, I left my scripture cards at home and walked (aka waddled) to the car in full confidence of the Word of God. I hadn't considered myself very full of faith, but after reading others' supernatural testimonies, I couldn't help but believe that it could be true for me, too. That is what faith is - confidence in what is unseen.
In the car and beginning our 35 minute drive to the hospital, I was 95% sure I was delivering a baby in the car - which was NOT my birth plan at all! Serenaded by a NewSpring worship CD, I tried to think calming thoughts to keep the baby in there a little longer. Luke spoke over my body and baby, “Troy, stay in there until we get to the hospital!” “No,” I interrupted, “into our room!” “...and into our room!” He added. Within a few seconds, I felt things change. The contractions grew further and further apart. Around 1:30 pm, I was checked into my room and the nurse checked to see how dilated I was. To her surprise, I was 7 cm dialated, 3 cm away from being fully dilated. They stood in amazement at the machine monitoring my contractions. The scales would rare up, indicating a strong contraction but there was no reaction from me. My mom was working in the hospital I was delivering at, so she was able to clock out and come to my room. Soon after, Luke's mom joined, after she received a call on her land line from her friend, who we called and asked to pray for us. Right after Luke's mom walked in my room, something changed inside of me. I couldn't sit still and felt like I had to jerk and move my legs a lot. Thinking it had to be go time, I asked the nurses to check me. They didn't seem convinced I needed checking, but one of the nurses finally checked me anyway. To her surprise again, I was fully dilated and ready to push. I didn't go to any birthing classes or watch any videos on giving birth because I didn't want to plant a seed of fear. I knew there was so much negative press out there on giving birth. I planned to give birth different than the herd, so I didn't need to learn from people doing it different than me. I didn't figure Mary attended a birthing class or had a dula with her when she gave birth to Jesus, so I didn't need that either. (Although, I did have a dula and she was amazing!) We laugh about it now, because the first few times I pushed, I did it wrong. I didn't really know you could do that wrong, but I somehow managed to! One of the nurses expressed that she was upset because she had to leave at 3:00 and wanted to see the birth. We told her we would make it happen! Luke spoke to our unborn son, "Troy, it's time to come out now!" I gave another push and my water broke! I know what you're thinking, doesn't one's water break before labor? It's so rare (and amazing) that when I googled it, I couldn't even find anything about that happening on the internet. But of course some doctors break their patients' water instead on letting it happen on it's own. Breaking the water usually speeds up labor, but I obviously didn't need any help with that. With a second push, out came Troy Drayton Meetze!
Everyone was so amazed that nobody bothered to look at the clock to record the time of birth! But we do know it happened before 3:00 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment