Married for over eight years, Payton’s parents always dreamed of having a child. In the five years preceding her birth there was a constant longing that God would bless them with a child. After medical interventions turned unsuccessful, they were just about to try more advanced procedures when God intervened and brought hope into their lives with a pregnancy. Upon hearing their amazing journey to pregnancy, I was so excited and honored to share in the birth of their first child.
In the weeks leading up to Payton’s due date it was pretty clear that she would make her arrival into this world a little earlier than expected. At her 37 week appointment baby was so low that her doctor told Payton’s mom to expect her within the next couple weeks. Another week went by and I was on high alert waiting for “the call.” Every night as I laid down to sleep I made sure my phone was on loud ringer. A week went by and another exciting update… “80% effaced and at 2cm dilated.” I knew it was coming soon so I had my camera battery constantly charged up and my bag ready to go. At 1:34am on September 22nd, I received the text that is so fun to receive “My water just broke and we are about to head to the hospital!” With my husband working shift work, I always have a sitter on hand in case I should be called in case he is working. Fortunately for us, he was on his way home from work just as I received the update! I shoved down some cereal and anxiously waited for the next update. An hour later, they were checked in and the contractions were 4 minutes apart. With the baby hanging out so low for the past couple weeks, I knew that with the baby was going to make a speedy appearance and I decided to make my way over to the hospital.
Upon arriving to their room, there was a crazy hustle going on with 2 nurses helping mom to get comfortable as they stared at the heart rate monitor. A third nurse was trying to ultrasound moms belly. Poor mom had just experienced several pretty rough contractions in a row and babies heart rate was dropping and gave both the nursing staff and the family a scare. Fortunately, with a little adjusting, they were able to make the baby more comfortable and her heart rate was back to normal. Prior to getting to the hospital I knew that it was a goal of moms to experience a natural birth without an epidural. Never having experienced natural childbirth myself (my daughter was born via c-section) I cannot even imagine the pain that she was going through. I can say though that there were times during her labor that were extremely hard to be a bystander at. The miracle of birth is an amazing one, but seeing a woman in such discomfort is not easy to watch.
Fortunately Payton was ready to go and with a couple slow and steady hours of deep breathing and comforting by her husband, mom was ready to bring her baby girl into this world. We all knew it was time when mom insisted “I HAVE to push…” and push she did for only 35 minutes (very short for a first time mom.) What was most amazing to me was the strength and endurance that both mom and dad showed through the labor. Many times it would have been easy for dad to say “just get the epidural” instead of trying to ease his wife’s pain naturally. Instead, he stayed strong to what she wanted, held her hand , encouraged her to breath and said “you can do this.” Between the two of them, their faith and love got them through it together to bring a beautiful 8 pound baby girl into this world and fulfill their dream of a child.
If you would like to view Payton’s birth video you can do so here.
