A story of Selah's journey into the world - six months ago.
Our dear friend Malia drove me to the hospital
at 11:30 pm on Jan. 31st. Just like with Jeremiah, I was
also going to be induced for labour. Daniel stayed home for the night with our boy. We didn't want him to have two nights away from us, and we
knew the induction would take a while. We drove to the hospital and it
was surreal. All seemed so familiar, but also so different. So much of our journey to the hospital and
check in was just like with Jeremiah.
Having Malia there was the biggest blessing. She helped me
with all the paperwork and all the heart work, too. We were in the same
LDR (Labour and Delivery Room) as with Jeremiah. Within minutes after midnight I was in my
hospital gown, on the bed that would turn into the delivery bed,
monitors were on my belly, an IV was already going, and the sound of our
baby girl's heartbeat filled the room and my heart. The LDR had an
extra bed, so Malia stayed with me until Daniel arrived in the morning.
We both slept or at least tried to sleep :). By 7:00 am some
contractions were already starting and that was pretty exciting to me.
Daniel arrived just after 8:00 am. And my doctor checked in with me
around that time, too. She was pleased with the progression already. I
was already dilated, and that was good news to my heart.
Regular contractions continued, though not very strong. By 10
am, my doctor tried to break my water to speed up the induction, but she couldn't at that point. She decided to wait a couple
hours. She could feel my baby's head in the right place. By her next
check at noon, our baby's head moved a little higher up, so she didn't
want to break my water with the baby's higher position. I was told to walk around and do some swaying
exercises to encourage our baby to come further down again. She was in
the right position, and just needed to get her head a little lower
again. So I swayed and prayed. :)
Time was moving very slowly. Daniel and I talked a lot. We
tried to rest. We even Skyped with family - Daniel's brother and wife,
and that was a highlight of our labour time. We got to show them the LDR
and they saw the monitors and heard our girl's heartbeat. A friend came
for a surprise visit at just the right time as we needed a little distraction. We got texts
and messages from family and friends. Our friend Naomi who was watching Jeremiah during the
day gave us updates of their time together. I loved hearing updates of his trip to the zoo with her. "He really likes the pandas." "He's playing with the water pump."
The afternoon continued to go long and it seemed like we were
pretty much on our own in the LDR. My blood pressure and temperature were checked
each hour, and I had some nice chats with some of the nurses. I even
had a little English corner with some of the student nurses. :) Contractions continued and were getting stronger.
At
5:00 pm my doctor did another check and this time she could no longer
feel our baby's head. With that we knew that she wasn't dropping again
as we had hoped. Then our doctor said we needed to do an ultrasound to see the baby's position. This is was tough for Daniel and I to hear, but we knew it was important to
confirm. Within minutes the ultra sound machine was in the LDR. The picture on the screen
confirmed that
our baby had completely moved her position within my womb. With our girl's new transverse position, and the point in labour we were at, my doctor confirmed what we thought - we needed a C-section. My induction medication was stopped, and with that, so did labour.
The
anesthesiologist was called and we had about an hour to prep. before the
surgery. It was a time of tears, encouragement and prayer. Daniel was
such a cheerleader that we could do this. We chose some scripture to
hold on to and keep in our hearts for the next hour especially. The time
went quickly and before I knew it, I was walking to the surgery room that would
also be the delivery room for our sweet girl. I got the spinal tap, and
was actually tied down to the bed.
Classical music was playing, nurses were bustling about, the
anesthesiologist was checking on me every few minutes. Then Daniel could
join me by my side, and there he was - my man through it all. My doctor
checked to make sure that I was indeed numb, and then the surgery began.
She let us know what she was doing. I remember her telling me that I was
indeed beautiful on the inside, too. What a sweet doctor lady. :)
Daniel
and I talked, shared sweet memories, prayed, quoted verses and it felt
like we were in our own little world as our daughter was being brought
into the world. I could see Daniel's eyes shifting ever so slightly to
glimpse at what was going on behind the little curtain by my head. I
felt God blessed us with such a force field of peace through all that
was going on. We could still hear the surgical
team, but not much of it swayed us. Phrases like, "There is a knot in
the cord", "She's not coming out!", "Vacuum!", "Blood, we are loosing a
lot of blood!" that were pretty dramatic. At one point the music stopped (literally) and another doctor was
called in. Through the furry of activity and uncertainty, we suddenly heard the most
amazing sound in the world -our daughter. Her cries. With that all that was
happening around us faded and the evidence of our daughter's life consumed us. Things
around us settled again. Daniel was asked to go to our girl at that time
and watch as she was being checked. It took me a while to be able to
turn my head to the other side of the room, and so I just let her beautiful
cries and sounds echo in my heart again and again. Then I could turn my
head and I saw her. She was on the warming table with limbs moving and
lungs working and she was amazing! I shouted aloud, "I love her! I love
her! I love her" That's all I could keep saying as tears flowed down my
face. It was absolute love at first sight.
After a few minutes Daniel was at my side again and our
daughter was brought to us and placed upon my chest. She looked at me
and then started nursing. It was the most beautiful moment. I marveled.
We marveled. We thanked the Lord. We had some of the most special moments when sudden extreme nausea gripped over me and our
baby girl was back in the nurse's hands. She was then passed to her daddy
who held her beside me while I was throwing up rather violently the next few minutes.
I'll never forget that picture of Daniel with his daughter for the first time.
Everything seemed to happen so quickly from that point on. My
doctor confirmed that I was all stitched up explained a few more things
that had happened during the surgery. Then Daniel joined the team as
they took our girl to the nursery. I now needed to have 30 minutes of
recovery time in the surgical room. Suddenly the room was quiet. I think
someone still came to check on me, but I don't even fully remember. I
do remember those 30 minutes of praising the Lord in thanks and taking
it all in. It was definitely a time to pause and reflect on all God's
goodness -Selah.
Our doctor explained to us that it was a real miracle
that Selah shifted her position during labour to warrant a C-section.
Our little girl had a knot in her umbilical cord. Had she been
delivered naturally that knot could have tightened and complicated her
birth. Selah must have made that knot in the womb some time before 20
weeks in utero with some pretty fancy gymnast moves. :) She showed us the knot in the chord, and we also took a picture of it. It was pretty big, but not big enough for an ultrasound to reveal. This was only
the second knot in a umbilical cord that my doctor had ever seen. And so the name for our little girl was confirmed on our hearts
again - Selah - to pause and reflect on God's goodness.
After my recovery time ended I was wheeled into our room
and Selah was brought to me to nurse. She was all cleaned up at this point, and the most beautiful thing! I had to lie flat for the next 10
hours, so Selah was in the nursery for the night, but brought to our room to nurse. I
was so thankful for the nursing staff and their help. I was so drugged
and tired and slept and slept. I spent a week in the hospital after Selah's birth. I stayed a little longer then planned since Selah also had to stay under the jaundice lights, so I could nurse her and see her every three hours. Daniel and Jeremiah visited daily along with other dear friends. I cherished that time.
God has blessed us with another beautiful daughter with her own unique story and journey into this world. We chose the pronunciation of Selah as See-La. Her middle name is Mei which is Mandarin, but pronounced the same as the month of May and the name Mae. It has several meanings - beautiful, rose, plum, and little sister. All of them speak to our hearts. We also like that the letters "M" and "I" are in Mei and honour our moms Martha and Irma. Selah has two incredible women as her grandmama and oma.
And so Selah's story on this side of the world began, and in six months alone there has been joy beyond joy with our Mei Mei :)
Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:8
