Changed Forever

For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. 1 Samuel 1:27

Many people have asked about the day Micah was born so I thought I would share about the day that my life changed forever! Don't worry, some of the details will be left out! :)

On the morning of April 9, 2011, Michael and I participated in a blitz with our church, CrossPointe, to pass out flyers about our upcoming Easter services. I was 37 weeks on this day and miserable!! Everyone that saw me at the blitz couldn't believe I was even there! No, I didn't actually get out of the car and walk from door to door passing out flyers. I stayed in the car and followed the crew that was in our car. I drove back and forth between the neighborhood we were blitzing and the church to get more flyers, drinks, and of course.....to use the bathroom. During the blitz, I had not really felt Micah move at all so I went to Ellianos to get my favorite drink, a Tuscany Toffee Latte Freezer, thinking that maybe I just needed a little caffeine and sugar.

After the blitz, I still hadn't really felt Micah move so we went home so I could lay down on my side because he always moved a lot when I was laying in that position. After an hour of still no movement, I texted my midwife because we were concerned. She sent me to the hospital to be monitored. This was about 3:30 in the afternoon. On the way to the hospital, I texted a good friend, Christine, that just so happens to be a labor and delivery nurse and told her to be praying for us. At this time, we didn't tell anyone else we were going to the hospital because we didn't want to alarm anyone until we knew what was going on.

Once we got to the hospital and were hooked up to the monitors, we saw that everything was fine. My midwife, Teresa, came up to the hospital to check on us. I had just had a doctor appointment 2 days beforehand on that Thursday and I was already 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced so she had told me that I probably wouldn't make it to my due date since that was still 3 weeks away. In fact, she told me that she figured we would have Micah that weekend. Well, here we were on Saturday, exactly 3 weeks early, and Teresa checked me and I was 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. At this point, she informed us that I wasn't leaving the hospital but that she was going to brake my water and get me started on pitocin.

I was a little shocked because when we headed to the hospital that day, I wasn't really expecting to be staying! Praise the Lord that I'm so OCD about making sure things are done because we already had everything ready for his arrival (nursery was ready and car seat was installed). Before leaving the house to go to the hospital, Michael threw our hospital bag in the car because he had a feeling we would be staying.

It was now about 5:30. We made a few calls to family and sent out a mass text to close friends to let them know what was going on. My parents had bags packed and ready and headed to Valdosta, thankfully they only live about and hour and a half from us.

Once they put us in a delivery room and started the pitocin, we knew that it was just a waiting game. My friend, Christine, came up to be my labor and delivery nurse even though she wasn't scheduled to work that day. It was so reassuring knowing that my L&D nurse and my midwife were people that I knew and trusted and that they were believers as well. Thank you Lord for Christine and Teresa! We knew we were in good hands.

While waiting, some friends came up to the hospital to visit and my parents made it up to see us before the chaos started!

Around 6:30 the contractions started kicking in hard and close together. I had an epidural about 7:15 or so but by 7:45, I felt that the epidural wasn't working on my right side, just my left. At this time, Teresa had left to go eat, thinking that Micah wouldn't arrive until much later. Well, by 8:00 my L&D nurse realized that Micah would be there much earlier than expected!! Christine let us know that it was time and she calmly told us that things were going to get a little hectic as they prepared the room for the delivery. Of course, they called Teresa to come back and she got back just in time. By 8:30 I was pushing and at 8:50 my sweet Micah made his grand appearance. Everything happened so fast that Michael had to quickly find the camera so we could capture those first few moments of Micah's precious life! I didn't even have time to cry because it went by so fast. I'm very thankful that I wasn't in labor for hours though!!

Holding that sweet boy for the first time did bring tears to my eyes. He's such a blessing and an answer to prayer! Michael and I are so blessed and very thankful for Teresa and Christine for taking such great care of us and our little blessing! Oh, what a day!

Micah's Story: Our God is Faithful

Micah's story actually starts long before his date of birth on April 9th, 2011.

Michael and I got married on March 8, 2003 and from the start we knew that we would have a hard time having children, but we also felt that God had told us we would have children one day and He is ALWAYS faithful! A year after getting married, we moved to North Carolina so that Michael could go to Southeastern Seminary. We continued praying for children and after 4 years of marriage and praying, and still no children, we decided to go to a doctor to see what the problem was. The doctor put us on fertility medication for several months but that didn't work. I have to admit that at this time I was consumed with getting pregnant. This was not a healthy thing for me, or anyone, and I knew I had to give my desire of getting pregnant to the Lord. I knew I needed to truly trust Him and His timing instead of being so set on making it happen in my own timing.

A few months later (June 2007), we found out I was expecting (without the help of fertility medication). Because we had prayed for 4 years for this child, the LAST thing on our mind was the possibility that I could have a miscarriage. But, that's exactly what happened a few weeks later (August 2007). The next few weeks after the miscarriage were rough on me physically. I ended up having to have 2 D&Cs two weeks apart and ended up on bedrest right after the second D&C because I had an upper respiratory infection and bronchitis. But, spiritually, Michael and I were at peace. We truly felt God's presence in the midst of the pain from losing our child. Yes, it hurt and was probably one of the hardest things we've experienced so far, but we still knew that God had promised that one day we would have children and He always keeps His promises!

The very next year, (June 2008) we moved back to Valdosta, Ga for Michael to be the Youth Pastor at CrossPointe Church. We spent the next three years focused on diving into the ministry, building a house, renovating an old Winn Dixie so that CrossPointe could have a new building, and just enjoying the journey that God had us own. But, we still kept praying and trusting that God would give us a child.

This past July (2010), I went to see another doctor. Being 30 at the time, we felt that it was time to see another doctor to see if we could find out why we were still struggling to have children. After almost 8 years of praying for a child and visits to several doctors, we finally found out that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. My doctor put me on medication (which happened to be the same medication that my old doctor had put me on) and wanted to wait a month to see if it would have any affect on me. Even though we were still praying for a child, we didn't give much thought to the medication because it hadn't worked in the past.

During this time, (August 15th to be exact, which was the day that Michael was officially no longer the Youth Pastor but now the Executive Pastor at CrossPointe, and exactly 3 years since the miscarriage) we were approached by someone about adoption. We had prayed about adoption many times and we have always felt that this is something God is leading us towards one day. But, as soon as this opportunity opened up, God closed that door because the couple decided to keep the baby instead of giving it up for adoption.

That Wednesday, I had to go in to have blood drawn to see if the medication was working and on that Friday, August 20th, I got a call from the nurse at my doctor's office. I let it go to voicemail because I was at work, but I called back during my planning period that morning. The nurse proceeded to tell me that the medication had worked and then she paused briefly before saying I was pregnant. I was completely shocked and couldn't stop shaking. I told Michael over lunch that day but we didn't want to tell anyone else until we had an ultrasound to make sure everything was fine, which it was. We still waited until I was 12 weeks before sharing our exciting news with everyone (although we had told family and close friends by this point so that they could be praying for us).

I was pretty nervous at the beginning of the pregnancy because of the previous miscarriage, but quickly had to give those fears over to the Lord and sit back and just enjoy the pregnancy. I wasn't sick at all during those nine months, just extremely exhausted. The pregnancy flew by way too quickly and on April 9, 2011 (exactly three weeks before my due date), Micah Ethan was finally here......an answer to prayer and proof that our God is faithful!!