Ann Voskamp challenges her readers in her book "One Thousand Gifts" to slow down and live fully in each moment. When you are delivering a baby, there is no moment that you want to necessarily slow down or quite soak in. That is until afterward when you are desiring to go back and recount the blessings that hid in the background of the momentary affliction. The day after I gave birth, I had already suppressed so much of that laborious day, yet pleaded with God to bring it back just long enough so I could see evidence of Him in ways I didn't recognize at the time. So here goes...a birth story recorded through the gifts He gave me along the 22 hour journey to meet Nora Grace.
- Car ride with no pain
- Go bags packed and prepared
- Calcified placenta - meaning I could be emitted that night instead of 2 days later when I was "officially" 41 weeks
- Delivery suite with bedroom and living room
- Yummy foot long subway sandwiches
- Cold showers...for overheated pregnant women
- Fans that hide the lack of A/C
- Nurses eager to practice English
- Natural medicine to "ripen the cervix" before trying Pitocin
- Contractions starting only 2 hours later
- A mom who is a light sleeper (gently tending to my "midnight moaning")
- Hymns to hum
- Fluffy pillows to squeeze
- Verses memorized
- Medicine removed...natural contractions in full gear!
- No Pitocin needed
- Personal doctor that comes at 2:00 am to sleep in our suite to just "be there" if I need her
- Yoga balls
- Hands to grasp...squeeze...clench...
- Warm showers
- Warm showers with yoga ball
- Sweet nothings whispered with every contraction
- "Turn your eyes upon Jesus..."
- Mom/husband team of worshipers and prayer warriors
- "Be still and know that He is God."
- The act of waiting, groaning, longing...reminding me of Jesus
- Filled lungs...deep breaths
- 10 minute rest periods granted ("Jesus can I please just have 10 minutes of no contractions so I can sleep?")
- The ability to squat
- Lots of pillows!
- Effaced cervix
- Support team with lots of energy
- Grace and understanding to pause in conversation between contractions.
- Long awaited 3 cm!
- Contraction tracking app (to time some lasting 6 minutes long!)
- "So do not fear for I AM with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God"
- Maternity swimsuit top
- Wheelchairs for transporting
- Scrubs for my MOM
- Make-up to refresh
- Dimmed lights
- Soothing music
- Warm tub filling
- A room full of nurses just waiting to tend to me
- Weightless body
- Any position possible, moving all around
- Tub handles and pocketed bottom
- My legs fitting just right so I could push against the side
- Fixed gazes
- "Honey, you were designed for this..."
- Crying out to Jesus as is if He were the only one in the room.
- "Thank you for the cross Lord, thank you for the price you paid."
- Doctors praying over me
- "Turn your eyes upon Jesus...look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."
- Massages for my back
- Warm water
- "Be still, be still...and know that I am God."
- Healthy heartbeat check
- Hands to squeeze
- Assurance at my breaking point
- Overwhelming rush of PEACE
- Fixed gaze on the prize
- 6 cm!
- "Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord...Emmanuel, God is with us...blessed redeemer, living word."
- Strong lungs to breathe
- Self-control
- No irritable word uttered (truly a supernatural HELP!)
- "Jesus..carry me...hold me...help me...."
- "You can do this, Lauren"
- No cultural tension
- American advocates
- Air-conditioning
- Fists as loving head rests
- Silence
- Concentration
- Re-heated tub
- "I need thee every hour, in joy or pain...come quickly and abide...or life is vain."
- Back rubs
- Prayers of thankfulness - Jesus as the focus
- "Beautiful moments" recorded on cell phones (with permission)
- Another healthy heartbeat check
- More back rubs
- Sweet nothings in my ear
- Forehead kisses
- "I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
- New position...rocking, swaying.
- 10 cm only 30 minutes after 6 cm!
- Beautiful design for my body to work and take over
- Encouragement to finish strong
- "Great job, Mama" with every push...from all the doctors
- Guidance to slow down to protect me from tearing
- Deep breaths
- Perseverance
- Self-control
- Supernatural "Hulk-like" strength - as my man called it.
- Straining for the prize
- Visualizing Jesus
- "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith."
- An "it is finished" sigh...
- Relief
- Baby on my chest
- Happy, sad, I'm-so-proud-of-myself, confused, delirious tears
- Capable nurses to bring human color back to my blue baby
- More endurance for the 2nd birth
- Across the room gaze at my baby girl
- Locked eyes at my man...my support...my love
- Only slight tear
- Painless stitches
- Chinese doctors all practicing her little name "Nora, Nora..."
- More happy tears
- Pride filling my heart
- More loving gazes...in a trance...world fading around me
- Affection from doctors
- Healthy 7 lb 11 oz baby Nora
- New life...Jesus glorified
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (or doctors and nurses), let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely (fear, anxiety, panic), and let us run with endurance (taking deep breaths and pushing) the race that is set before us (delivering your baby), looking to Jesus (FOCUS), the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him (your baby) endured the cross (the pain, humiliation and vulnerability), despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (proud, loved, humbled)."
Hebrews 12:1-2 *emphasis mine...as well as the added words ;)
