The story of my first pregnancy.

Last night while driving home I was reflecting on my first pregnancy and birth.  I though I would share the story with you.  My eldest is really a walking miracle, everyday when I look at her I am reminded of the power of prayer, how special she is and how if it were not for God she would not be with us or she would need special care.  Here is the short verson of my story there were many other instances when it was evident that God had his hand on us.  I often think she must have such an amazing journey with God ahead of her because of what we went through to get her here.

I should also clarify that I knew from early on that our child was meant to be within a week of finding out we were pregnant I felt that this baby was going to be a girl and I also had a name for her.  I believe this helped with my faith that God would come through for us and that we were to fight for her both in the natural and in the spiritual.


My husband and I were very excited when we found out we were expecting.  It was what we called a blessing by surprise the pregnancy came a year earlier than I had planned.  (yes me planning again, looking back we can see Gods hand in this.  If we had waited another year to have a child we would have had a mortgage, I would have just had a promotion with my job.  When we felt the Lord telling us to move back to my husbands home town it would have been so much harder.) 

The first 11 weeks of the pregnancy went well, I was not sick at all, at 12 weeks while at work I had a massive loss of blood.  Luckily my doctor was about 2 blocks from my work so I drove straight there.  She phoned my husband and we headed to emergency being told things did not look good at all and not to expect to much.  I don't think I had ever prayed so hard as I did going to emergency.  When I got to emergency I was rushed into a little room and soon passed a huge mass.  Things did not look good but I kept praying and believing that my baby would be okay.  After I passed the mass I had to go and have a scan, and to everyone surprise a healthy in their words "viable fetus"  was visible. 

Soon after that I transferred from private care to public as I was told if anything went wrong they would send me to the public hospital.  I ended up with one of Australia's leading experts on high risk pregnancy as my doctor and he assigned his top intern to be my doctor.  The care I got from them, I would never had gotten if I had stayed in the private system.  I was diagnosed as having subchorionic hematomas.  Tearing and bleeding of the placenta. 

Things went okay for the next few months I still had bleeding every now and then at about 26 weeks my blood work started giving concerning results and my blood pressure was high.  So from 30 weeks I was in and out of hospital with high blood pressure and wacky blood work.  I had scans every week from 26 weeks and then every day or every second day depending if I was in hospital or not from 32 weeks.  Every time I got admitted I also ended up with a room all by myself which was amazing.  During this time I really withdrew into myself as I only had Glen to talk to so it was me, my husband and God.  So all I had was God and my husband to lean on and to talk to about my fears during those long days sitting in a hospital bed.  As I said I was in and out of hospital they could not work out what was wrong I had high blood pressure but did not have preeclampsia.  I had funny liver function tests but my liver seemed to be fine from the scans I had.  However the placenta was a worry and seemed to be deteriorating.

At 37 weeks my doctor decided to send me home again, as he left the room to get the paper work I quickly said a prayer as something just did not feel right.  Within a minute of me praying he returned and said he would give me one more scan and if everything was okay then I could go home and I would have to come back the next day for another scan.   I went for a scan and as I was heading back to my room my doctor met me in the corridor and said he was going to induce me asap as my placenta was failing fast.  If I had gone home she would most probably have died.  So I got induced that day.

The labour was long and hard.  One of the things I really wanted most was a natural birth.  I had prayed about this and the Lord knew the desire of my heart.  After a few hours of being in labour my child was getting distressed, very week and there were no free surgery rooms.  They started scrubbing and preparing a room and calling in a team to deliver my child by c section.  At this point my husband went and sent a text to family and asked for prayer.  Within half an hour of the request she was born naturally and had an great agpar reading.  She was very small and weak but other than that she looked perfect.  We were told there was a chance that she could have developmental delays or other issues due to the placenta not working, lack of oxygen and nutrients.  She has shown no sigh of those things other than a tendency to get ear infections due to the tubes not being properly closed and strength problems which is common in children born before 38 weeks. 

Other issues arose at the birth I was hemorrhaging and the placenta was breaking up but through prayer again it all worked out perfectly no need for surgery, I was able to go back to the ward with my baby and went home 2 days after that.  Which was a miracle as she had jaundice that went away very fast and I had lost a lot of blood and they thought I would be in for at least 5 days.   When we chose her second name we found one that means God is gracious.

God is really amazing trust in him and rely on him in your hard times he will be there for you.  I have found time and time again that God is the only one to rely on, people let you down, and are often not there when you need them, but God will always be there.  No matter what you are going through, hand your worries and concerns to him and you will find a peace no person can give you.  

Here are some of the bible verses that got me through this time.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

... the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)
No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:39 (NIV)

... but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

What to do.

Don't you just love school holidays :) no morning rush.  This morning my daughter wanted pancakes, we made the pancake mixture, I went off to be sick again (at the moment this is a common occurrence in our household) the my husband came home from work and cooked them for me:)

What a great way to start the day :) (I mean the pancakes, not being sick)

So what do you do when you have had 14 and a half weeks of the worst morning (all day) sickness, no social interaction other than school pick up.  You teach yourself to crochet, make a list of projects you would like to finish.  Well actually I only have done that in the last week.  To be totally honest, the last 14 weeks have been very challenging, lonely and frustrating for me, but also a time where the Lord had to teach me a few things. 

For those of you who do not know me, I am not one to sit down and do nothing I am always on the go, doing this and that.  I actually find it very hard to just sit and watch tv or blob.  I feel that I must be doing something that I am being lazy if I just sit.  (This is something I am working on and having a very lade back husband has helped me allot)  So you can imagine how hard it has been for me not to be able to do anything, had trouble cooking, cleaning, just getting through the day was a challenge.  I was nauseous all the time, had head spins, sooo tired and the smell or though of food made me ill.  Even the smell toast or peanut butter had me running.  The Lord showed me 2 things the first was am I a Mary or Martha.  Here is the little article I wrote for our church ladies newsletter.  (Now when I wrote this I did not know I was pregnant I had actually been suffering from morning sickness)

Luke 10 : 38 - 42

Mary Or Martha 

This past week I have been sick with the flu and then twisted my ankle. I had so many plans for the first week of the school holidays, outings, cleaning, you name it, it was on my list. Then I got sick and hurt myself and all my plans went out the window.

I was reading the bible and read the story of Mary and Martha. The story stirred something in me and made me evaluate and think about my life, (especially the last few years since being married and a mum) my priorities. I pondered on the Western life in general.

I am very Martha like, and I saw myself in a new light. Running to and fro, taking care of everything, doing and cleaning and always on the go, when the most important thing is to just be still and listen to His voice and have a worshipful spirit.

Then I came across this quote on a friend’s facebook page.

“ Slow us down, dear Lord. We’ve been like Martha, worried and distracted, instead of Mary, who spent time at Your feet, enjoying and adoring You. Please change our hearts..”

Learning to spend time at the Lord’s feet like Mary is a hard thing to do. It is easy to get distracted by life, the children, the fly on the wall, that ball of fluff on the floor.

Many times I am so busy doing things that I miss out on what he has for me and miss out on a relationship with him. Our culture is one that is on the go all the time and it is hard to find the time.

Don't get me wrong we need Martha but sometimes Martha can get lost with the doing, coming and going. My prayer for all of us is that we learn to fit a bit of Mary's nature into our lives everyday.

Quote:

It's exciting to live in complete oneness with the will of God. It is never dull or static because it is not a one-time, once-for-all commitment. It is something we have to work at constantly, moment by moment.--Evelyn Christenson

So that was the first lesson then after about 10 weeks of being sick and having had prayer for the morning sickness I was asking God why, why, why.  By this point was was totally frustrated, then he showed me that he had allowed me to this sick, he did not heal me as it was the only way he could get me to sit and listen.  (I must not have learnt the lesson that he showed me about Mary and Martha).  It was during this time that I was shown what he wanted me to do, just sit in his presence and pray and intercede for member and situations in my family.  I was being called to pray.  It was a time that I really needed to pray about a situation and the outcome was better than I could have imagined.

The last few weeks the morning sickness is not as bad and I have a few hours during the day when I am okay.  So I decided to learn how to crochet, something I have always wanted to learn.  I started with "The art of crochet" subscription every 2 weeks I will learn a new stitch and at the end of it I will have made a lovely throw. 

Other projects I am planning to do as I get better are:

 I painted all our furniture in our room white but I still have not found the right knobs for the draws. 

 This desk I got for my eldest from ebay for $15 needs some tlc, a new coat of paint and some new draw knobs.

 Thinking of painting this tallboy white to go with the girls room.  Needs new knobs and am thinking of removing the panels in the cupboard and replacing them with mesh or over them in some pretty material, or paint a picture on them.

 Oh my what was I thinking 9 years ago when I painted this change table yellow.  In my defence I though it was a lighter colour.  This need a new coat of paint and some tlc.

And my lovely table I picked up over a year ago.  I started sanding it needs to be totally sanded and repainted.  There are 3 coats of paint on it and it was finished with this terrible poo brown colour :(

And get my sewing machine fixed.

So that should keep me out of trouble for a few weeks.  Will post as I finish each project.