Sunday, her due date (and Husband’s birthday), came and went… yet I remained pregnant. Monday I bought Husband a belated birthday cake, plans for a pink, pint-sized, hospital-delivered birthday gift thwarted.
Tuesday I found more things to clean and went in to the office. Wednesday the midwife reported no signs of labor. Thursday I had spicy food, a vigorous pedicure, and walked our dog for the umpteenth time.
Feeling like a watched pot, we spent Friday evening with friends, enjoying a pleasant stroll through their farmyard. I pushed their two preschool-aged kids uphill in a double stroller with two flat tires, through gravel, a few extra laps around the driveway for good measure. Late that night I finally felt the first murmurings of labor…
It was early Saturday morning when I couldn’t sleep any longer and crept out of bed to shave my legs, wash and style my hair, and apply makeup– because: First baby. Our dog wouldn’t leave my side but also didn’t get close; he new. I only managed mascara before waking Husband to tell him it was time.
Grabbing the bag that’d been packed and waiting for weeks, we drove to the hospital. We phoned extended family on the way, and, being the weekend, a crowd gathered in the lobby. We were all eager to meet her, but it took 13 more hours…
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. -Psalm 139:13
We padded up and down the halls on repeat. Grandma rubbed my back. I soaked in the tub, rolled on the birthing ball, and Husband tried to brush away back-labor with a hairbrush. My gracious nurse stayed late, despite the end of her shift.
She arrived at 5 to 8 weighing 8-5, surprising us with a full head of red hair (which has slowly faded to her current strawberry blonde), husband’s lips, and a healthy layer of squish already in place on her tiny frame.
He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. -Psalm 113:9
Her arrival altered our lives in an instant, now we can scarcely recall the days prior. We are grateful to be Daddy and Mommy to our precocious, determined, passionate Firstborn. She’s eleven.
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him. -Psalm 127:3
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