On March 17, the day we went to pick up Joshua, I found out I was pregnant. This was the Sunday after Spring Break. We had just returned from a wonderful trip in the Hill Country, a trip that turned out to be our baby-moon. I had grown so weary of taking pregnancy tests and seeing negative results. I was only on day 28 of my cycle, so I wasn't late. However, I normally spotted for days before aunt flo actually came for her visit. This cycle was different. No spotting! I decided to take a pregnancy test and the results were unbelievable!
It was hard not to become too excited until I had my hormone levels tested... but just seeing the plus sign was exhilarating! I started planning how I'd tell my family and dreaming of having two children soon. On Wednesday, I had my hormones checked and I was definitely pregnant!! On November 25 we would become a family of four! This is how we told our family:
I loved being pregnant! I wanted a girl so badly and started calling the baby by the girl name we had picked out. However, at every sonogram, I instinctively called the baby "he." Yet I continued to believe we were having a girl.
It was a boy?!?!? I know my face showed disappointment and in my heart I was questioning God. I was so sure He would give me a girl! What happened? Thankfully, He showed me reason after reason why we were having a boy. He quickly put my mommy heart to rest and I just couldn't wait to meet our little guy.
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| 8 days before due date... the day I went into labor |
On November 17, husband and I were getting ready for bed around 9:00. I had to work in the morning and wanted a good night's sleep. I walked into the kitchen to change a load of laundry and felt a gush drip down my leg and puddle on the floor. I texted my midwife that I thought my water had broke (it was clear, the consistency of syrup, and about a fourth cup). She called and said that wasn't my water, but that I had lost my mucous plug. My labor had begun!
I was told to take a shower and some Benadryl and to try and get some sleep. But then we had a scare. I started seeing blood and we were told to rush to the birthing center. When we got there, Donnellyn (my WONDERFUL midwife) listened to his heart and reassured me everything was fine. I was only dilated to 2 cm and she said it could still be a while before my labor really started to progress. So we went home to try and sleep. Laying down while having contractions was unbearable! So I paced the house and sat on a yoga ball while husband timed my contractions. Around 4:30 they started getting closer together and by 5:30 we were on our way to the birthing center. I had such a strong urge to push but knew I needed to wait.
After being checked again, I was at 8 cm, which was enough to get in the bathtub. I drank some red raspberry tree, listened to our birth playlist, and relaxed in between each contraction. Donnellyn told me not to fight the contractions but to breathe with them. I figured it couldn't hurt to try since fighting them wasn't helping. It was incredible how my body took over and did what it needed to do once I submitted. I kept thinking each contraction would bring me closer to meeting my baby. After each one, I heard his heartbeat strong, loud, and clear! That was also reassuring and gave me motivation to keep going. After only an hour and a half, at 8:12 AM, our sweet baby boy surprised us all by being born breeched! His bottom popped out first, his legs flipped down. Then came his arms, and finally his head. He was immediately put on my chest and we enjoyed our first moments of skin to skin contact. Concerned that I was losing too much blood, Donnellyn had me move to the bed. She prepared to stitch me up, but after examining me realized I had not torn at all! There was hardly any bruising. (I contribute both to God' s mercy and grace alone!)
Donnellyn and husband checked our little man out. He weighed seven pounds, eleven ounces, and was twenty-one inches long. He was perfect.
Next we took an herbal bath to relax and big brother Joshua came to visit. I love my boys so much and am grateful the Lord called me to be their mommy.
I knew I had wanted to deliver at a birthing center since before I was married. The Lord divinely led me to All About Babies while I was still infertile. Donnellyn prayed with me to conceive and then, years later, helped me bring my baby into the world! Everything went so smoothly and I know the Lord was with me the entire time, watching over every detail. Delivering a breeched baby can be really scary and serious. But God had everything under control and gave me (and Maverick) an amazing birth story that so vividly shows His sovereignty!! He is so, so good... all the time! I truly can't wait to do it again!
Coming up with a boy name was very difficult and sweet baby wasn't fully named until a day after he was born... Liam Maverick Wright.
Liam - determined protector
Maverick - independent, non-conforming
My verse for him is from Romans 12:2.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
He's our little Mav and he is the most beautiful blessing! My heart has doubled in size!
Within a year, I was able to decorate a nursery twice!! We used the furniture from big brother's room (and moved him to a big boy bed). I wanted Mav's room to be calm and peaceful. I had loved the classic Winnie-the-Pooh since I was a little girl. I was thrilled with how it all came together.
My dreams were realized in ways I never could have imagined. But that's the beauty of serving such a mighty God whose ways are soooooo far beyond our comprehension. I spent the first few months of Maverick's life just snuggling and holding him, smiling at him and telling him what an answer to prayer he was. My house stayed a mess and I had never been so "unproductive" in my life. But I wouldn't change a thing. People always say it goes by so fast. And while it has, I have truly soaked up every moment enjoying my two blessings from God.
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