I am in awe with the power of faith and its benefits, especially when the Lord communicates that "there will be a beautiful simplicity about your life: a time for everything, and everything in its time." My wife and I had not slept before going into labor and now there we were in the small pre-labor room that includes a personal bathroom, wide awake in anticipation of our JJs arrival.

We were blessed with a wonderful nurse who infused plenty of humor as part of her service. After my wife changed into her hospital gown, nurse F came in an asked us a few questions: the amount of time between contractions, the pain level she was in, when the contractions began, had the mucous plug come out, and had we been in contact recently with anyone who had traveled to China-a standard question now with every single medical visit.  Nurse F brought my wife a pink pitcher of ice chips and also asked us if we had a birth plan.

We had talked about a birth plan, but I had never written it down because I had it memorized, but it is always a good idea to have it written down in case you experience a case of nerves or are in too much pain.  The Baby Center App explains early on about the importance of a partner being an advocate during labor, when your spouse is distracted by the pain, not to mention the "no joke" effect of hormones.  So I shared with nurse F that she would want an epidural as soon as possible, we didn't want any pacifiers because we wanted to breastfeed, we wanted a mirror as part of the delivery (for my learning of course), and JJ would be circumcised. The nurse then recorded that information on the Labor and Delivery Care Board so that it's clear and available for reference.

Nurse F let us know that the doctor would come in as soon as possible to assess her cervix and the anesthesiologist would also be along shortly, and that all she could have are small ice chips.  My wife's pain was increasing with each contraction and she preferred to go through the contractions standing rather than lying in bed.  At this point, I was still recording contractions on the app, and she was already hooked up to all the machines, including the fetal monitor that was tracking the depth of her contractions, with a few devices wrapped around her belly.

I was sitting in the side chair, trying to get drinks of water because the room was a little hot, but before I knew it, she was having another contraction and I had to focus on turning the timer on in the phone and my wife would call me over to do the dance with her, so that she was able to lean on me while she breathed through the pain.  The nurse had recommended for us to catch some rest, but we were wide awake, energized, and ready for next steps.  

By the way, at some point I had a moment to sneak out to snap a picture of the number of our room, which was number 8.  Remember when I said that I now believe everything is connected?  Seeing the number 8 put a little smile on my face because 8, turned sideways, is the symbol of infinity, and infinity is a symbol used to describe the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty God.  To me, that was a sign that God was with us, not to mention that it matches the infinity necklace I bought my wife to celebrate our love, our pregnancy, and is a connection back to specific aspects of my transformational experience (those connections will become more clear later when I discuss that in depth).  Now you're thinking, "I didn't know she was crazy and a conspiracy theorist?" LOL Well, I now embrace and own my quirks, and I take comfort in knowing that God is probably the only one who gets me. :)

After my experiences this past year, I have begun to understand how EVERYTHING is connected.  I have a deep appreciation for the medical field because first of all, I was a neuroscience/physiology major in college and in high school I was part of the medical magnet ROP (Regional Occupations Program), now typically transitioned to CTE (Career and Technical Education).  This was back when I thought the best route for me was to become a medical doctor because it would make my family really happy, and as part of the program, I was fortunate enough to be able to attain a medical assistant certification, including training for a phlebotomy certification, where we learned to draw blood and provide subcutaneous TB shots and intradermal flu shots. So I typically get excited when I go to the doctor or have had surgery because I get to ask the nurses and doctors a million questions to satisfy my scientific application cravings.  I just remembered how I used to subscribe to Scientific American in high school, a true aspiring brainiac...LOL  I even had posters of the endrocine system, nervous system, and a nutritional chart on the walls of my room....haha...Who does that?

I digress.  As we walked toward the emergency room, my wife chose to walk in versus having me push her in a wheelchair and there was no one in sight except for lines of caution tape with walkways divided, tents set-up in a row, and a security officer at the end of the lines who greeted us and directed us to the ER.

He wanted to have a full on conversation about how this is the first time he had seen it desolate like this because the rest of the day it had been jam packed with patients.  I like to honor people when they want to be heard, and I am pretty sure my wife was wondering why I didn't make an exception for when she was in labor.  So I wished him blessings and we walked into the ER where we were immediately asked to stop in our tracks as the clerk rushed over to us with a thermometer to check whether or not we could proceed.  It makes me wonder, what if my wife had had a high temperature?  How would they have proceeded?

Then, we had to stop at a security station where they had to input our names into their system and then to the next security guard who was taking care of the security stickers we were to wear at all times.  Then a male nurse pulled up a wheelchair for my wife and escorted us to the third floor.  Other than the hospital personnel, we ran into no one and no other patients were in sight.  God was clearing our path.

I am grateful for the the gift of Peace that the Lord has instilled in me.  As Sarah Young describes it in her Jesus Calling devotional, "a gift of such immense proportions that you cannot fathom its depth or breadth."  For as long as I could remember, I did not live in peace, instead I internally lived in fear, shame, anger, sadness, anguish, resentment, etc.  It wasn't until I made the choice to live for Christ that I truly understood what it meant to exist in a peaceful state of being.  So when I heard the hospital nurse on speaker phone advise my wife to wait another 2 hours before we drove to the hospital (and we had to call and get permission first) to ensure that the contractions were constant and that her pain was immense, it didn't give me anxiety.  My peaceful self thought, "Yeah right, we are not waiting that long with her contractions being 2-3 minutes apart!" So as I heard my wife's breathing begin to increase and her pain grow stronger, I decided to continue timing the contractions for another 30 minutes to have some concrete data, and then we would start our 45 minute drive to the hospital, in the pouring rain.

One of the aspects I love about my wife is how she surprises me with her growth and wisdom.  I always perceived myself as the more organized one, the more experienced one, the more resourceful one, and it is very humbling when I see these strengths growing in action within her.  A few days before going into labor, my wife had pulled me aside to have me watch the "Slow Dance" video on the Baby Center App, you can view it at minute 2:21 here:
https://www.babycenter.com/2_pregnancy-massage-for-labor-pain_10413818.bc

Honestly, I laughed at the thought of doing this, but we tried it and it was amusing, but I never imagined actually applying it during labor.  So when I saw how hard she was breathing and verbally expressing pain as she paced back and forth in the living room, I asked, "Why don't you come sit down on the couch with me and rest?"  She replied, "I will, I am just trying to walk around to ease the pain."  It was then that I remembered our funny moment of trying it out this technique and I quickly said, "Come here, let's try this." So we swayed, left right, left right, left, right, as I heard her breathe in and out in pain.  When she would breathe out the contraction I would put pressure in her lower back with my fingers as the video suggested.  I am not sure I provided much relief, she will be able to tell you when she starts writing, but I sure remember it as a very tender moment and in my head I was thanking God that he was guiding us through this process.