So, Diane was nine days late being born, and Daniel was eight days early! That was such a big surprise to us, but we were very thankful, since he was almost nine pounds when he was born! How much would he have weighed if he had been born on November 1, 1998? Oh my!
We decided to go a completely different route with a doctor and a hospital with Daniel's delivery, maybe because of our experience at The Doctor's Hospital. We ended up not really liking the doctor we had deliver Daniel, but St Francis Hospital in Tulsa, OK was wonderful! The difference was night and day from our experience at The Doctor's Hospital, praise the Lord! However, here is one humorous story that occurred soon after we got to the hospital.
My water had broken, and they checked us right into a delivery room. Shortly after arriving, a nurse came in and said she wanted to hook me up to an IV. Now, I hadn't had an IV with Diane, and I really didn't want one with Daniel since I was having a natural birth. But, she insisted it was a good idea since my water had broken. I can't remember all the details as to why (probably it was because they were hoping I would get an epidural), but I decided to just go ahead and let her put in the IV. I raised my left arm up towards her, and she started poking in the needle. At this same time, she was talking to someone else who worked at the hospital at the door of our room. I was watching her put in the IV, and was shocked to my blood squirting against the white hospital wall, right near the ceiling.
"Excuse me," I said to the nurse. She didn't hear me and she didn't respond. "Excuse me," I said, a bit louder. Again, no response. I just laid there, watching my blood squirt that wall, and feeling a bit sick. "Excuse me!" I said, quite loud and bold.
"What?" she said.
I pointed at the blood squirting all over the wall, and she quickly stopped what she was doing. Once she got in the IV, someone had to come wipe up that mess! Yuck! It was a surreal moment; it didn't seem like it had really happened, but it had.
But, other than that, our experience at St Francis Hospital was perfect! Everyone was so kind and helpful, and Daniel's birth, though hard, went really well and quick. He was so big when he was born, he looked like a Sumu wrestler! He had big eyes, but they looked like little squinty eyes after he was born, because his cheeks were so chubby and plump. As soon as he was born, they laid him, crying, on my chest and the second they laid him on me he stopped crying. Such a sweet moment! He was precious, just precious!
We had decided against me nursing. After all that had occurred with Diane, we had become big fans of bottle-feeding. I particularly liked that I could see exactly how much milk the baby drank, and I knew that the baby was getting enough milk. Yep, we both had become huge bottle-feeding fans! This was an unpopular decision with the hospital staff, and come to find out, with one of my friends who came to visit us at the hospital.
Jeremy had stepped out for a few minutes, and I was alone in the hospital room with our sweet baby Daniel. My friend walked in and we chatted for a few minutes, and then she popped the question. "Are you nursing?" to which I replied, "No, we're bottle feeding."
"What?!?" she questioned.
I briefly explained some of our reasoning as to why we were bottle feeding, but she responded and said, "Well, you have to at least nurse him the first few days so he'll get the colostrum. You have to at least do that."
Now, I know all about the benefits of colostrum, but we had decided against nursing at all. It's what we felt peace about, and it was what we were doing. And, I said this to her.
"But you HAVE to nurse him. You just have to!"
"No, as a matter of fact, I don't. He's our baby, and we've decided to bottle feed him, and that is what we are doing." And, the conversation ended abruptly and awkardly.
For goodness sakes! You can be a wonderful, nurturing mother, and not nurse your baby! We had a lot of problems with nursing the first time around, and we made our decision. That story always reminds me not to judge other people and the decisions they make, because I really don't know how the Lord is leading them, and what has occurred in their life to get them to the point where they are. Lots of times, we really don't know at all what people have been through, and so I try to be really careful about not judging people, even if their decision seems wrong to me. Because, I really don't know what's best for them in their situation. And, even if they are wrong, it's not always my place to tell them! Actually, I think it's usually not!
I also have been able to minister to a lot of women who have had problems with nursing, and assure them that they can still be a good mom even if they don't nurse their baby. There is a lot of pressure to nurse, especially in Christian circles, and it almost comes across that you can't be a good mother and not nurse your baby. Nursing is wonderful in a lot of situations, but it is not for everyone. Some moms really just can't handle it, for a variety of different reasons, and the best thing for them is to bottle feed, and not have all that stress. And, some moms enjoy nursing so much, and it's the greatest thing for them and their babies. But, people just have to be careful not to minister condemnation to a mama who loves their baby so much, but has decided not to nurse. My answer in ALL situations...just minister the love of God. That's what new mommies need, love, not judgement! OK, so now you've heard my soapbox, which I rarely ever talk about, but hey, this is my blog, so I guess I can talk about it here, huh? :)
Also, we were thrilled to take Daniel home to our new house! His bedroom was already painted yellow from the previous owners, and it looked so cute with his blue bedding set! I could hardly wait to get home from the hospital myself, since I had only really spent one night in our new house, besides that night when my water broke, but that didn't really count!
One of those first nights home I remember waking up in the middle of the night to feed Daniel. I had just finished feeding him his bottle, and had laid him back down in his bassinet. I was sitting in our beautiful, big new living room, and just feeling so thankful for our home. I started thanking God for giving us such a nice home. I started thanking Him for allowing us to live there, and blessing us with our precious children. I was just filled with awe, and gratefulness to God. I was walking around that living room, just praying and talking with the Lord. As I was thanking Him, I told Him that I would be content to live in that house the rest of my life, that it would suit me just fine, that I liked it that well. Thankfulness overflowed from my heart, but then I changed my train of thought and told Him that as much as I liked that house, I would leave it in a heartbeat if He wanted us to ever move. I told Him, "In my mind, I live in a box, and I am always opened to do Your will, to move where You want us to move, to go where You want us to be. Yes, this house is beautiful and nice, but I'll leave it in a second if you want me to, Lord. In a second. It really means nothing to me. What matters to me is You and Your will."
When I said, "I live in a box" what I meant by that was that I would pack up and move anywhere, anytime, at the Lord's direction. I will never hold onto things, because they are just that, things. They are wonderful to have, and they are a blessing, but on the other hand, really not worth much in comparison with doing God's will and His plan. Actually, not worth anything in comparison to that. I guess I just needed to reaffirm with Him and myself that even though we had indeed bought a house, something you may remember we had never planned to do, we would leave it in an instant for Him. And, I still feel that way today. I like the house the Lord has blessed us with here in Branson, but I could and would leave it all if the Lord wanted us to do it! And, I'd be thrilled to do it, too!
Little did I know that night in late October when I prayed that to the Lord that we would only be living in that house a few short months (Yes, months!) before the Lord actually would have us move somewhere else! Oh my, living for the Lord is a grand adventure indeed! But, more about that in my next blog, God-willing! :) Have a blessed day, my friends!
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