Our Miracle!!

Well, it's been two weeks since Gideon was born, but I swear it mostly feels like a minute! At the same time, I look at his sweet face and can't imagine my life before him.

So here is how it went down...

Sunday, November 14th - I woke up and knew that I was going to have a baby that day. I told Craig and he laughed since we'd been confessing that for weeks now. However, we went to church and I began having very mild pre-labor contractions (nothing new there - had been experiencing those regularly for over a month!). At the conclusion of service, we always get some Panera bagels and bread to take home and this morning I spied a yummy danish ring and I told Babe to grab it "because I am having this baby today and I need something to feed the midwives!". He thought I was joking, but I meant it!!!

Next, we went to run some errands and I noticed that the contractions were getting closer together, so I decided to start timing them. As we walked around Target and Best Buy, they were coming about every 4.5 minutes and lasting about a minute. This lasted about an hour, so we decided to call Tierney. She suggested that we go home and eat lunch and just keep an eye on them. As we pulled out of the Best Buy parking lot, I accidently dropped Babe's Droid in a cup of water!!! (It was sitting on my lap and it fell in as we turned). Needless to say, Babe was stressed! He sped home, ran inside and began "surgery" on his phone - leaving me feeling terrible and oh yeah - the contractions stopped! So now I am sitting on the couch crying #1 because I was sure that I was going into labor and then the contractions suddenly stopped and #2 because I was sure I had ruined Babe's super expensive phone....Long story short, phone is fine and contractions started up as my stress level went down.

Around 4pm, we decided to go for a walk and get this party started. We walked about 2 miles and by now the contractions were consistently every 4 minutes, lasting a minute. We called Tierney again and she decided to come over and check me. At about 6pm, I was only 2 cm dilated and 40-50% effaced! I was distraught! She went home and told us to just keep an eye on things and call her if anything changed. So we had supper and started to get ready for bed. I had decided to begin my maternity leave on Monday, so I called work and set all that up. I eventually fell asleep on the couch, frustrated that I hadn't gone into labor and that I was STILL pregnant.

Around 11pm, a contraction woke me up. I lay on the couch and had a few more and knew that this was IT!! I was in labor - Thank the Lord! I got up, washed my face, told Craig how I was feeling and called my mom around midnight. At a little after 1 in the morning, we called Tierney again and told her it was time. She got there about 2 and checked me - I hadn't made ANY progress since that afternoon!! I was still 2 cm and 50% effaced....so she and Lori (my other midwife) went home and told us to call when things "really got rolling". They instructed us to get as much rest as possible - to which Babe really took to heart! So, Babe and I get in bed, he falls right to sleep and I labor for the next few hours...at 4am, everything kicked into high gear and I knew there was no going back - Gideon was coming!! Mama got there around 5 and she began timing the contractions - every 3-4 minutes, lasting about 1 to 1.5 minutes. Some time around 8, she suggested to Babe that he call Tierney back because she felt like I was in transition. Tierney was here in minutes. She checked me and announced that I was complete and just then my water broke! Everyone jumped into action at this point - Gideon was coming! And FAST!

I was ready to start pushing around 11. We fully expected Gideon to be born by noon. But by 1, I hadn't made much progress and my cervix was beginning to swell, so into the tub I go. No pushing for an hour they told me! Holy moly - that was intense....for the next 4 hours I pushed and pushed and pushed. We tried every position imaginable but Gideon just wasn't coming. Tierney determined that his head was in a posterior position and that he was stuck in my pelvis. We tried everything to get his little (well not so little as it turned out!) head to turn so that he could descend. Nothing was working. I was totally spent, and so was everyone else! At 6pm, Tierney calmly announced that there was nothing else that she could do and that if Gideon wasn't born in the next 30 minutes, we would have to go to the hospital for a c-section.

When she told me this, I knew that would never happen. I looked her in the eye and calmly said "No. No. No. No." What happened next can only be described as a miracle...I had this unreal sense of peace fill me and I closed my eyes and began to pray. Now, all I remember is praying silently in my head, but according to Mama, Babe and the midwives, I began praying aloud as well. Mama said it was like I was having a conversation with Jesus and that it was like He was in the room and I could see Him. Suddenly, my contractions became extremely forceful and this wave of renewed strength came over me. I began pushing like I hadn't pushed all day. In my mind, I saw Gideon's head and beyond it I saw a circle of light and I knew that I just had to push him toward it. And that is exactly what I began to do. As I was seeing all of this in my mind's eye, Mama, Babe, and the midwives were witnessing my miracle. With no assistance, Gideon's head began to turn - he dropped into the correct position and began to descend (all the while I am still praying aloud, totally unbeknowst to me!). Within minutes, I was crowning and then precious Gideon Andrew was in my arms!!!! What I (and my midwives) had not been able to do in 6 hours, God did in about 15 minutes!!! Praise the Lord.

Gideon Andrew Millward, born 11/15/10 at 6:24pm
9lbs, 4 oz  22.5 in. long


As I sit here, 2 weeks later, most of Gideon's labor and delivery are already a blur. I don't remember the pain. In fact, I didn't recall the pain of the contractions by the next day. While 6 hours of pushing is extreme and my body hasn't quite recovered yet, I don't remember the trauma of it. I only remember the second I saw my son's sweet face and the peace of Jesus that remains with me now. God delivered both of us that day and truly my life will never be the same.


God truly was with us!