Following the lead of others: Thankful Thursday

I"m thankful to have found out that I have had an impact on a young woman at our church.  What a blessing to know that God will use you in another person's life just by living your life.  What an honor to be used by Him at all.

Thirty Years Ago Today

Today is a big day. Today my second daughter turns thirty. When I had Dawn thirty years ago I had no idea what the Lord had in mind. Before I go there I want to review and reflect on her birth story. The day before Dawn was born I became concerned because every time I coughed, laughter or sneezed I would "wet myself". I was mortified that this was happening. I finally said something to my mom the next day. She told me we should go to the doctor and get it checked. Now at this time of my life I was living with my mom and dad up in a leeettle town called Challis. It is in Idaho. Dawn's father was in boot camp. The doctor was out fishing so the physician's assistant, who also went to our church, was there and checked the leakage with litmus paper and it was not what I thought it was, it was amniotic fluid. So I was going to have a baby that day. It was January, obviously, there was snow on the ground. We went to the pastor's house so we could make plans for Autumn to be cared for and how we were going to go to Salmon, the town where the hospital was... about 60 miles from Challis. I remember Pastor Chuck being so tender and caring. He made me sit in their recliner so I could rest for the work I had ahead of me :) This was all sort of silly to me since I didn't feel like I was going to have a baby, no contractions or anything else. There was also talk of how we needed to be careful driving because of the ice/snow on the roads and the windingness (is that a word) of the road. I don't remember the drive much, but I do think Chuck followed us to the hospital to be sure we got there safely. We got there safely. Within a short amount of time I was in a room and hooked up to an IV with pitocin started. My contractions started about 1:00pm. The hospital I had was sort of behind the times and were not really familiar with "natural childbirth". As my labor progressed the nurse, she was pretty old, came in with two little box things and talked about an enema and a shave. Well, I hadn't had either with Autumn so there was no way I was having it with this baby. After a bit of back and forth she realized I was not going to let her do either procedure and she left the room. I would be interested to see what she wrote in my chart :) I was determined to have a drug free labor, except of course for the pitocin. After several hours I was very tired and tired of being in labor. My mom was with me the whole time but Dad would come in periodically to check on me. When I was at my low point, it seemed the labor was slowing. My contractions became farther apart and didn't last as long. I was very frustrated. Dad came in and I told him I just couldn't go on. He told me that he believed the Lord was giving me a break before transition and the birth of the baby. I thought he was nuts. Well, about twenty minutes later the labor kicked up a lot. The nurse had the doctor come in and check me... I was at 5-6 cm.... he said I would be another 2-3 hours. I remember distinctly looking at him and telling him I couldn't do that. He said "well, I'm going to go grab some dinner. I'll check on you when I get back." Well, he left and the next thing I know, I HAD to push. The nurse was there and I told her I had to push. She turned around and told me,"I have to go get the delivery room ready so just pant and hold it." Mom said, "you have to pant" I remember her being right over me and helping me concentrate on panting....It was a strange experience. I sort of pushed at the end of each pant... crazy. Well, I honestly don't know exactly what happened but I do remember telling my mom, "I think the baby is here, what is it." She peeked down on the bed and she said, "yes, I think it is a girl."(I had been convinced I was having a boy, no ultra-sound for proof though) We just sort of stood there not really knowing what to do. Pretty soon the nurse came back in and was in a dither because "the baby was born out of the sterile environment of the delivery room." Oh, also, Dad had run out to get the doctor as he was getting into his car to go eat dinner. I honestly don't remember a lot of what happened the next few minutes, except I remember watching blood going up my IV and wondering if it was okay. The doctor came in and was really angry. He made comments about how he was going to have to spend a long time sewing me up since I was probably horribly torn. Well, God took care of me.... not a tear, not. one. Dad took a couple pics of Dawn as they whisked her off to the nursery, through the unsterile halls of the hospital, I might add.

So, here we are thirty years later.... really? really thirty years? Could it possibly have been that long? I didn't know it but that day the Lord allowed me to have a precious little girl who has grown into a wonderful, amazing, godly woman. She is my daughter, sister in Christ, mentor and one of my best friends. She is a fantastic wife, mother and servant of her Lord. I'm so grateful to the Lord for knitting that baby together in my womb, allowing her to grow into the woman she is, for choosing her before the foundation of the world and letting us have a close relationship even though we live far apart.

I love you so much! I pray you have the happiest of birthdays. Remember you are celebrating thirty years of God's grace, there is nothing better to celebrate!

In Case You Didn't Know...

I have started another blog. It is with Dawn and is about home-management. We plan on blogging about all things dealing with the home, cooking, cleaning, organizing, child-rearing. We don't claim to be experts by any stretch of the imagination but we know what our experiences tell us. I hope you will join me over here I will keep blogging here, who knows maybe I will start blogging here more? :D