Joy: Our third child, Isaiah Jonathan was born on May 5th. He arrived a healthy 7 pounds, 11 ounces. The labor was relatively easy (as far as I could tell). Isaiah came quickly once the heavy labor contractions started which allowed Amanda to deliver without an epidural.
There was a lot of excitement in that room as my first boy was delivered. Instantly, life felt different. We were no longer a family with just daughters. Even speaking the words “my son” landed heavily on me. When I walked back to the waiting room to get our girls, I said, “Abi and Anna, Isaiah came out of Mommy’s tummy! Do you want to see him?” Ecstatic, they ran with me to meet, in person, their new baby brother. They had been very connected to Isaiah before he was born. At home, they were always interacting with Amanda’s tummy. They would talk to Isaiah, pray for him, sing to him, and hug and kiss him. But now he wasn’t in her tummy any more. The realization was fascinating and joy filled.
Soon after, the rest of our family came in to see and celebrate our little Isaiah. There were so many happy noises: laughter, chatter, cooing and giggling. It was so fun to share this joy with our family.
Fear: After the birth, they moved us into another room for recovery. Amanda seemed to feel relieved that Isaiah was out and in our arms. Neither of us had any idea that in the next hour, Amanda’s life would be in jeopardy. There was peace and joy for a moment, but soon we would enter into the scariest moments of my entire life.
A nurse helped Amanda into the bathroom. Then suddenly, I heard her grab her phone and call the desk. “We have a bleeder!” she said franticly. Within seconds Amanda was back on the bed and about 8 other nurses and a doctor came into the room. They started pushing around on her tummy, kneading it like dough. Amanda was hemorrhaging (bleeding internally).
I did not understand what was going on at the time. All I knew was that Amanda was bleeding and they were having to do a lot of very painful things to her to make it stop. Kneeling there beside her bed, as I held her hand, I prayed to myself repeatedly, “God please don’t take my wife! Save her! Please, please, please!” I will spare you the details of the procedure itself. Suffice it to say, it was a very painful, emergency procedure done without any sort of anesthesia. After what felt like hours, they finally got the bleeding stopped. Amanda, had lost a lot of blood, but she was still here.
After the crowd of people left, I held Amanda and thanked God as we cried together. We were grateful she was still here and grateful for our new son.
Discovery: After a couple days in the hospital, we headed home. Amanda was sore, but it seemed like everyone was going to be healthy.
When we got home, the girls LOVED their baby brother. They were so fascinated by him. Abi wanted to feed him a bottle. Anna brought toys. They were discovering and re-discovering what it meant to have a a real baby in our family. They would lay by him, and stare at him for long periods. All those things they did to Amanda’s tummy prior to birth, they now wanted to do with him in their arms.
There were a lot of emotions surrounding the birth of Isaiah, and we’re thankful for them all. God has been gracious to us in granting us such a wonderful family.
I can’t help but think about God’s creative relationship with humans when I think about children. When God finished the work of creating people, he looked at his creation and “behold it was very good.” And when God brought Jesus into the world, there were hosts of angels announcing the good news that his son had arrived.
