Friday, 10 May 2013

 

Rebekah Ann Pope. Born May 8, 2013, 02:43 AM. 5lbs 12oz. 18 1/2 in. Perfect baby. Perfect birth. Perfect God. Blessed be His name.

 

We are thankful for God's work in bringing Rebekah into our family. From conception to birth, we have seen Him at work. We have seen so many prayers answered. We weren't exactly ready for her to come a little early. The crib and the feeding chair and a bunch of other stuff are still in their boxes waiting to be assembled.

 

In my experience, an uneventful delivery is the best kind. And that's what God did. Tuesday morning, my alarm went off and I started getting ready for work. Areli said she had had some cramping during the night, which isn't surprising at 36 6/7 weeks. She then noticed that she had a little bit of blood so that was enough reason for us to go in to get checked out. Her cervix had dilated to 4cm! Without much pain or a regular contraction pattern, she was sent home to labor some more. Good thing because the car seat that we had just bought the day before was still in the box at home. And we hadn't even packed our suitcase for the hospital. I called my parents who were still in town for my sister's graduation. They decided to stay another night. Throughout the day, Areli continued to labor and the contractions slowly got stronger. It was a beautiful warm day and we enjoyed some time at home relaxing and got the necessities done. We also got out the guitar and sang some worship songs to the Lord. Later in the evening, her contractions got more regular and we went back to the hospital. 8cm! Areli made labor look easy and in a few hours Rebekah Ann was born.

 

Things usually get better   

 

A few of the things we are thankful to God for:

--Healthy baby, healthy mom.

--Successful vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) delivery. This affects a lot of things since we may be out of the country for the next pregnancy.

--No anesthesia. No epidural. No meds. Which was Areli's desire from the beginning.

--My dad being alive after his cancer diagnosis in the fall. And that he happened to be in town and in a recovery period between finishing chemotherapy and starting radiation.