Our Unexpected Birth Story & Blessings

Our son Noah made his debut on July 26 at 2:54 in the afternoon.

Three weeks early.

Though the nursery was ready and the hospital bags were packed, I was emotionally and mentally unprepared. Due to my track history of Jesus needing to teach me patience, I figured Noah wouldn’t arrive until his due date or later.

An unplanned induction had me in tears in the hospital admitting room. It just seemed unreal. James almost hadn’t gone with me to my doctor’s appointment because it was so routine. But at the last minute, I asked him to go with me because I wasn’t feeling great, and I’m so thankful he did. Because from the doctor’s office, he drove me straight to the hospital for additional monitoring after the doctor didn’t like how Noah’s heartbeat was responding (or not responding) to my early contractions.

After similar monitoring results, my doctor said the safest option was induction because we couldn’t be sure why his heartrate wasn’t responding the way it should. Later, when I was in the final stages of labor, his heartrate did exactly what it should, baffling the doctors and making us wonder if this all was necessary.

Turns out, their concerns (about potential issues with the umbilical cord) were unwarranted. Noah arrived healthy and there wasn’t any issue with the cord.

But the induction turned out to be a blessing, due to his less-than-ideal position (posterior or sunny-side-up). Had he been any larger, I probably wouldn’t have been able to deliver him vaginally, which was the one request on my birth plan that actually happened. (The rest pretty much went out the window with induction.) As it was, I pushed over two hours and was at the breaking point when the doctor finally used a vacuum to assist with the birth.

Five weeks later, James and I laugh about our birth plan expectations. For example, we had this ideal plan of getting Chick-fil-A drive-thru on our way to the hospital. Instead, James picked up burgers on a whim since my continuous monitoring was taking so long. Had it not been for that burger, I wouldn’t have eaten for over 20 hours.

Was my delivery what I had hoped for? Definitely not. But God was still in control and still good. I’m grateful that the situations in life that take us by surprise are no surprise to Him.

He also provides strength when our strength is gone. The first few weeks of newborn life were not glamorous. Noah ended up in the ER and back in the hospital due to jaundice. The baby blues hit me for two weeks, and I wondered if I would ever stop blubbering. The days were short on sleep and long on struggles. At five weeks postpartum, they sometimes still are.

I won’t romanticize the challenges we’ve had and are bound to still have. Life with a newborn stretches you to the breaking point. Exhaustion is next level. Through it all, I’ve seen that tough experiences often go hand-in-hand with rich blessings.

• Our baby boy is beautiful and healthy. He is the long-awaited answer to our prayers.
• James has been the most supportive husband and most attentive father. People were right when they said I would fall even more in love with him during this process!
• Our family and friends have showed up in the most amazing ways to support and encourage us.

For all those who have celebrated with us in person or online, thank you! Your love and support mean so much. Thanks for being part of the journey here.

~ Kristen