Lucas' Home Birth Story
Birth Stories
God Shows His Faithfulness and Love
We were so excited when we found out we were going to have our first baby. The due date was April 1st. When I told my family, my dad's brother, Uncle Scott, declared with assurance that our baby would be born on his birthday which was March 19th. Both his mother and sister had died on or around his birthday so he decided that he wanted something good to happen on his birthday and the birth of our first child was it. We didn't really know what to say as the chances of that happening were kind of slim. We forgot about Uncle Scott's declaration and busily prepared for our new little one. We found a great midwife and the pregnancy couldn't have been going better.
Around January my dad asked us to pray for Uncle Scott. You see, he was an alcoholic and his alcoholism was getting worse. We started praying for him right then and there, praying that if Jesus wanted to show Uncle Scot how much he loved him, then to have our baby be born on his birthday. Soon we forgot about that prayer as well.
On March 17th we had another midwife appointment. I was so disappointed to find out that the midwife thought the baby was going to be late! Later than April 1st. I was sad as this would effect some plans that we had in April. Thankfully, God had other plans. At 3:00 AM on March 19th I woke up because I literally felt as if someone pushed a button inside of me that started some small contractions. I hadn't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions so I assumed it must have been false labor. I just rested in bed until 5:30 or so when they started getting more intense.
Because I was thinking the baby was coming late, I was not prepared at all with having what we needed for a homebirth handy. Those who know me well, know that I am terrible at describing where things are at. So you can imagine how humorous it was trying to describe where everything was to my husband in the midst of having intense contractions.
I soon discovered that these were not Braxton-Hicks contractions and that things were progressing very fast. In fact, I was not prepared to deal with how intense it was and I was shaking all over and trying to recoil and resist the contractions. I even threw up the food I decided to eat earlier so I would have some strength. I was relieved when hearing my midwife talk me through the contractions seemed to help me rest and relax a little. I also found that it helped me a lot to sit backwards on the toilet while I was laboring because I wasn't worried about making a mess and somehow it was comfortable to me. (I still find that to be the best laboring position to this day.)
Around January my dad asked us to pray for Uncle Scott. You see, he was an alcoholic and his alcoholism was getting worse. We started praying for him right then and there, praying that if Jesus wanted to show Uncle Scot how much he loved him, then to have our baby be born on his birthday. Soon we forgot about that prayer as well.
On March 17th we had another midwife appointment. I was so disappointed to find out that the midwife thought the baby was going to be late! Later than April 1st. I was sad as this would effect some plans that we had in April. Thankfully, God had other plans. At 3:00 AM on March 19th I woke up because I literally felt as if someone pushed a button inside of me that started some small contractions. I hadn't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions so I assumed it must have been false labor. I just rested in bed until 5:30 or so when they started getting more intense.
Because I was thinking the baby was coming late, I was not prepared at all with having what we needed for a homebirth handy. Those who know me well, know that I am terrible at describing where things are at. So you can imagine how humorous it was trying to describe where everything was to my husband in the midst of having intense contractions.
I soon discovered that these were not Braxton-Hicks contractions and that things were progressing very fast. In fact, I was not prepared to deal with how intense it was and I was shaking all over and trying to recoil and resist the contractions. I even threw up the food I decided to eat earlier so I would have some strength. I was relieved when hearing my midwife talk me through the contractions seemed to help me rest and relax a little. I also found that it helped me a lot to sit backwards on the toilet while I was laboring because I wasn't worried about making a mess and somehow it was comfortable to me. (I still find that to be the best laboring position to this day.)
It wasn't long and it was time to push. Sadly, with Lucas this process didn't go as fast as the rest of the birth was. I started pushing around 9:15 AM. His head somehow seemed to be stuck. I also found it unbearable to push and had trouble giving it my all. I started out on the bed. Then I tried squatting on the floor trying to let gravity help. That position was really hard for and didn't seem to be helping. I was so tired as well. It had been two hours since I started pushing.
My midwife then told us that if something didn't happen with the next contraction that she was going to have to intervene somehow. We were not excited about that. She had only done 3 episiotomies in her 700 or so births so this was not something common for her. Did I mention my midwife is a Christian? She said that before we did anything else we were going to cry out to God first that He would bring this baby out. And that is what we did. And He answered. The baby came out! Praise the Lord! We were rejoicing so much that we forgot to ask if it was a boy or a girl! Five minutes after the baby was born, we were still rejoicing and celebrating when the phone rang. It was my dad, calling to jokingly see if I had started having any contractions since it was Uncle Scott's birthday. He was so surprised, as were we, that Jesus answered that prayer! And the story does not end there.
When Nicky and I were engaged, I had asked him what names he liked for children. He said it didn't matter because God was going to name our children. (Those who know my husband can just imagine him saying something like that.) :) When we found out we were pregnant we began praying for a name. I had picked out several on a list and asked Nicky if he felt like God was speaking to him about any of them. He was surprised that He felt God's presence with the name Lucas, which was also the name on the list that stood out to me the most, even though I never had really liked the name. I did like the meaning though: "Bringer of Light." So we had our boys name. When it came time to name him, the name Scott also came into Nicky's mind. Not purposefully meaning to name him after Uncle Scott he decided the name would be Lucas Scott Farmer. Later, when we gold Uncle Scott we found out that he was originally going to be called Scott Lucas, but they changed it at the last minute, though they still called him Lukey around the house. Truly this was a miracle and Jesus was obviously showing his great love to my Uncle Scott.
Uncle Scott passed away about a half a year later. Nicky was able to share this story with everyone at the funeral. God loves us so much and He goes out of His way to try to reach us with his love.
We are so thankful for our little son Lucas. We had a little yearly calendar that year that had scripture verses on it. The verse for March 19th was "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." Jeremiah 3:15 We don't know all that the Lord has in store for Him yet but we pray earnestly that he truly will be a "Bringer of Light."
My midwife then told us that if something didn't happen with the next contraction that she was going to have to intervene somehow. We were not excited about that. She had only done 3 episiotomies in her 700 or so births so this was not something common for her. Did I mention my midwife is a Christian? She said that before we did anything else we were going to cry out to God first that He would bring this baby out. And that is what we did. And He answered. The baby came out! Praise the Lord! We were rejoicing so much that we forgot to ask if it was a boy or a girl! Five minutes after the baby was born, we were still rejoicing and celebrating when the phone rang. It was my dad, calling to jokingly see if I had started having any contractions since it was Uncle Scott's birthday. He was so surprised, as were we, that Jesus answered that prayer! And the story does not end there.
When Nicky and I were engaged, I had asked him what names he liked for children. He said it didn't matter because God was going to name our children. (Those who know my husband can just imagine him saying something like that.) :) When we found out we were pregnant we began praying for a name. I had picked out several on a list and asked Nicky if he felt like God was speaking to him about any of them. He was surprised that He felt God's presence with the name Lucas, which was also the name on the list that stood out to me the most, even though I never had really liked the name. I did like the meaning though: "Bringer of Light." So we had our boys name. When it came time to name him, the name Scott also came into Nicky's mind. Not purposefully meaning to name him after Uncle Scott he decided the name would be Lucas Scott Farmer. Later, when we gold Uncle Scott we found out that he was originally going to be called Scott Lucas, but they changed it at the last minute, though they still called him Lukey around the house. Truly this was a miracle and Jesus was obviously showing his great love to my Uncle Scott.
Uncle Scott passed away about a half a year later. Nicky was able to share this story with everyone at the funeral. God loves us so much and He goes out of His way to try to reach us with his love.
We are so thankful for our little son Lucas. We had a little yearly calendar that year that had scripture verses on it. The verse for March 19th was "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." Jeremiah 3:15 We don't know all that the Lord has in store for Him yet but we pray earnestly that he truly will be a "Bringer of Light."