Izaac’s Birth Story

For those who haven’t heard this birth story, and for my online journal, here is a recount of Izaac’s birth. 

After having been to the hospital at 34 weeks pregnant with pre-term labor, I was afraid Izaac was going to be born early and potentially spend time in the NICU. I had read all the stories about pre-term births and knew I didn’t want to experience it first hand; I wanted a strong, “pink” baby! One night as I was laying in bed, worrying about how little he would be and wondering if there was something I could do, special vitamins I could take – anything – to somehow make Izaac stronger and healthier sooner, the Lord spoke very clearly to me and said, “Who is making this baby? Who is forming this baby? My hand is upon him! Do not be afraid.” I felt immediate peace and made the decision not to be concerned with Izaac’s health knowing that the hand of the Lord was upon him, creating him, fashioning him, protecting him.
Needless to say, I had no need to worry about Izaac being born early! The morning he was due (December 18th), at around 2 am, I woke up with a strong contraction. I tried to rest but by 4:30 am I had stronger contractions that were closer together and knew this was “it”. The contractions were strong but didn’t hurt enough that I had to get out of bed or even change positions. I decided to wait until they became really painful to wake Paul, so I went out into the living room, ate some toast and sat on the couch (hoping the gravity of sitting would aid in speeding up labor). I wanted to get up and walk around, but the Lord kept saying, “Just rest”, so I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. Before I’d been sitting there 10 minutes, Paul came out of the bedroom looking concerned and asked me if I was okay. When I told him today was going to be Izaac’s birthday, he hugged me and we both smiled excitedly – we had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity for this day to come! It was around 5am and since Paul couldn’t go back to sleep, we got our bags together, Paul called his parents in Florida (who’d had their bags ready and waiting for a week) and I ate some more toast. By 7:00am, Mom was at the house to watch the kids when my contractions began to get further apart… and further apart… and still further apart. By 10:00am, they had stopped completely! Then I heard the voice of the Lord again, saying “Just rest” and “Don’t be afraid, Izaac will be born today.” (I was a nervous wreck inside that maybe I really wasn’t in labor and now Paul’s parents were driving all the way from Florida for no reason; I was unbelievably disaappointed). Finally, Mom said, “Aubrey, if the Lord told you to rest then that’s what you need to do. Go lay down.” So I did. At around 10:00am I laid down and every time I tried to get back up the Lord would say just rest again. Finally, He said, “Rest until 12:00pm. At noon, I want you to go to the hospital.” I said, “Lord, I’ve had maybe ONE contraction in the last half hour – this is not labor! I can’t just go to the hospital because I WISH I was in labor.” But the impression to go to the hospital was so strong that I knew it was the Lord and that I must go – the worst they could do was send me home. At 11:50am I got up (finally! it had felt like when I was a kid and Mom forced me to nap against my will); I told Paul and Mom I needed to leave at noon to go to the hospital. Paul was like “heck yeah, let’s go!”. I said, “well, you know I don’t think I’m really in labor because I have had hardly any contractions; I’m so disappointed”, but Paul said that maybe they would do something at the hospital to help me get going again. So we went to the bank, walked around wal-mart, and picked up a nutritious lunch at Taco Bell before pulling in to the hospital. When we reached Level C, I felt terrible smiling at the receptionist. Shouldn’t I be at least acting like I’m in some sort of pain or distress? So I toned my smile down and looked at the counter while Paul did the talking. How embarrassing it was going to be to be sent home. After getting to our room I was hooked up to the baby’s heart monitor and contraction monitor and the nurse noticed that I was having regular contractions. “I am?” I asked, hope rising. “You sure are,” she said, “can’t you feel those?” I paused. “It feels a little tight,” I said. She smiled, “Did you say this is your third baby? I’m going to go ahead and check you, Mrs. Breedlove.” Expecting her to say I was dilated to 2cm, Paul and I were astonished when she again smiled and said, “Well, you’re dilated to 6 centimeters. We’ll go ahead and get an i.v. started.” After she left the room Paul and I were speechless! And happy! We sat together and talked and smiled and laughed. Nurses brought in the bassinet and delivery instruments and I kept saying, “What is going ON?” It was too crazy. The next time she checked me I was at 8 centimeters!! I wasn’t even in any pain! The doctors and nurses eyed me strangely and said I was way too happy to be at 8 centimeters. My bag of waters had not yet broken so I requested the epidural before it broke (so that I didn’t have to feel the transition stage of labor if indeed I would have). After the epidural was in place the nurse checked me and said that the bag of waters was over my cervix and the baby’s head was to the side, so they didn’t want to break my waters and risk the umbilical chord coming out ahead resulting in an emergency c-section. Immediately, Mom and Paul called friends and family to pray that baby’s head would come down over the cervix. During this time, a friend stopped by and as we were talking, the contraction monitor showed back to back intense contractions when suddenly my water broke. The nurse checked me and I was ten centimeters with his head engaged! Praise the Lord! A few minutes and about five pushes later, Izaac was born! 8 pounds and 13 ounces and he was “pink”! When I saw him, I was too happy to even cry. The Lord’s word was true – HE made Izaac perfectly healthy and beautiful and all I had to do was trust Him. How amazing! A few days later, I remembered a word our dear friend Janice Buckson gave to me about this birth when i was 7 or 8 months pregnant, about God’s grace. Here is part of it, “Expect a beautiful experience giving birth to your 3rd son…God’s hand of pleasure is upon you and there is a great reward for your faithfulness.” Wow, God! Now, every time I think of this birth experience and say a silent “thank You” to the One Who made it happen – and I wasn’t even praying for it. He truly does give good gifts.