|  r   Hello, Vanguardians! Here are some pictures of our little guy! Jessica's birth went wonderfully, although it was not what we were expecting. We had presupposed that the room in which Jessica would give birth would be dimly lit with the silent luminosity of a hundred candles; it would have the sounds of Fernando Ortega playing in the background; it would be just Jessica, the midwife, and me. Jessica would be enjoying the luxorious, hot, and steamy birth tub as we all cheered her on. Beautiful scene. Just beautiful. Like our wedding, nothing that we planned came into reality for us. Jessica woke me up at 3:30am saying she thought she was going into labor. Well educated by all the books I have been reading, I figured I had about 12 hours to get ready for this birth to happen. So Jessica went and took a hot shower (midwife's orders), and I went and had a cup of coffee. My father-in-law, Almos, woke up to the sounds of the shower and I told him calmly that the baby was probably coming. So he adopted the contagion that was going around, that we should all be calm and conserve our energy so as to survive the long haul of labor, and he too sat down to eat breakfast. Well, Jessica got out of the shower and we decided to go put the plastic covering around the mattress. As we were doing that Jessica doubles over and her first major contraction sends her to her knees. I thought, "Ummm...that shouldn't happen yet. We don't even have the birth tub ready." Realizing that we needed to reevaluate our priorities in this situation, Almos and Bobbi (Jessica's mother) scrambled to get the birth tub full, while all my energies were focused on pushing on Jessica's back (for she yelled at me to do so). But as the water level rose to about a half-foot, the water heater, which we foolishly thought would fill the tub, started shooting out ice cold, Pacific Northwest, 2500 ft. elevation, death water. Jessica was probably on her fourth "pulverizing" contraction and I was just praying and praying and praying over her. I called my midwife and tried to sound like I had the situation under control. Aaron: Are you, uh, um...are you uh, on your way? Carol: Yeah, I'm at Dupuis Restaurant. (Dupuis is a good 45 minutes away from us.) (Jessica is yelling in pain in the background.) Aaron: Oh, okay. Cause Jessica is really going fast here. So Carol was coaching her over the phone on how to breathe and was telling me what to do, but I couldn't hear her over the ruckous of the birth tub operation and the screams of my beloved. After hearing her baby's fourth scream, my mother-in-law started to lose her cool, so she was sent to get some supplies from the store. Almos was later quoted as "running like a decapitated chicken" or something like that in his efforts to build the fire, fill the tub, check the water heater, see if Jessica needed anything, and running back and forth from the faucet to the tub attempting his best to not soak the floor. Sensing the urgency of our situation Carol called in "the troops." Two other midwives were on their way. I helped Jessica over to the toilet where she could sit (not go to the bathroom, just sit). We were both praying and asking Jesus to attend her and take away the pain. The only thing Jess and I could do was pray. As we were praying her contractions receeded and she had a time of peace until the midwife and her assistants arrived. The midwife asked me if she had ate or drank anything. I told her we didn't have the time, and she was afraid we'd have to take her to the hospital, which would have been a nightmare to us. During this time in the bathroom, Almos had successfully filled the tub with kettle after kettle of boiling water from upstairs and freezing cold water from the faucet. Jessica was finally able to get in the tub. A couple minutes later the contractions came back, and about an hour later Cyrus was born through much encouragement, prayer, and praise. How great is our God! How wonderful when we trust in Him! "He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak." Is. 40:29 "But women will be restored and saved through childbirth--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety." 1 Tim. 2:15 "I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears."Ps. 34:4 "'Shall I bring to the point of birth, and not give delivery?' says the Lord. 'Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?' says your God." Is. So yes, no candles, no quiet solitude, no luxuries, but an amazing God that held Jessica's hand the entire way. What more can someone ask? Our God...is...amazing. |
