Little Miracle

Isla. I just can’t even begin to express how in love with this baby I am. She is our little miracle. I know I wrote in my birth story a little bit about the cord being wrapped around her neck but here I sit 3 months later, and almost in tears, once again thinking about what could have been.

You hear it all the time… babies often have their cord wrapped around their neck at birth. Usually it’s no big deal. Baby’s head appears during pushing, and the doctor just gently and quickly unwraps it before guiding the baby out the rest of the way. There’s no way to detect it in an ultrasound, and there’s generally no complication associated. I’ll never, ever forget the night she was born. I’ll never ever forget the look in my midwife’s eyes when she calmly said to me, “Rachel, your baby’s cord is around her neck. It’s pretty tight, and I won’t be able to get it off until you push her out.” I knew in that moment that we didn’t have time and I pushed with all of my might. Her heart rate never changed and although she was pretty blue in the face and a bit stunned when she first came out, she was completely perfect when she was born. THANK God.

To be honest, my 2 1/2 hour birth was such a traumatizing experience that I felt a little angry God would allow me to go through something like that. I just couldn’t understand it. The more time has passed, andthe more time I’ve had to process everything, and talk to my midwives, and my OB; the more I realize God’s hand in everything.

We’ll never know exactly what happened that night, but it was clear Isla needed to be born at that exact moment. I only turned full term (37 weeks), 32 minutes before she was born. I never had any pre term labor signs either. The fact that she came out so fast, and out of the blue, doesn’t seem like such a “random” occurrence. Our pastor recently spoke about God’s providence. Basically, things aren’t just coincidence. We prayed safety over our sweet baby every night when she was in my tummy. I really believe God’s way of keeping her safe was to have her born right then, exactly how it happened. Otherwise we could have lost her. I can’t even begin to comprehend that.

My midwife basically told me at a later appointment that things don’t look good for a baby with a cord that tight, so late in utero…with 3 weeks left to go. I also recently had an annual appointment with my OB (the doc who I had care with for my pregnancy with Rowan), and when I told her about everything, she said it was really not normal for things to go THAT fast. She said she also believed something was wrong and that thankfully “nature” knew what to do. Well, I don’t believe it was nature…but know that it was God.

SO thankful for a heavently Father that cares so much for our little ones. I am so thankful for  both of my little miracles each and every day.