micah elizabeth jones

mir·a·cle

Pronunciation: \ˈmir-i-kəl\

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin miraculum, from Latin, a wonder, marvel, from mirari to wonder at

Definition: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs

It's only taken me almost two weeks, but I have finally been able to put into words the story of Micah's arrival in this world. I can't describe the emotional roller coaster I've been on these last 13 days, but I can assure you, I have not been myself, as many people can attest to. :) I won't bore you with all the details....I just typed it into Word, and my last words had just eeked onto page four, so I'll try my best to summarize it for you. (If you're really interested, I can send you the whole deal, but you don't have to pretend....I won't be offended.) I think there were a lot of things about childbirth that I hadn't expected or really thought about in advance, not the least of which is the incredible wave of emotions that seems to come with a front row seat to the miracle of ushering a new life into the world, and the ensuing realization that this beautiful little angel is what has been in there this whole time- little did I know. 

Here is the basic gist of my experience on April 30th, 2010: I woke up at 3am on that Friday morning feeling "funny." I had previously been experiencing a good deal of light cramping, along with the good ol' Braxton Hicks I'd been having since about my 6th month. Since I was already 9 days late, I decided I'd get up and walk around a bit before waking Aaron, in case it was yet another false alarm. Earlier that week I'd been at the midwife's and had her tell me I was 70% effaced and 3cm dilated, and therefore should be delivering at any moment.....and that was four days prior to the day I actually ended up delivering. By 4am I'd decided this was, in fact, different, and woke Aaron. After a shower and a call to alert the hospital that I'd been having contractions every 4-5 minutes for an hour, we prepared to leave when I realized all of the sudden that my water was breaking. That may have been one of the most bizarre feelings I've ever felt. Anyhow, we checked into the hospital around 5:30 and were told I was now at 4cm. Not the progress I'd been hoping for between Tuesday and Friday, but at least some progress. 

Aaron and I had determined a long time ago that we did not want an epidural, or any other pain medications for a variety of reasons. So, heading into the hospital that day, I knew that I needed to be prepared for labor and be able to remain calm. I was doing great....until they came back to check me out at 9 and determined that I was STILL at 4.5cm. That was when the Pitocin drip was started....at 1 microunit per minute. Each hour it was increased by 1 microunit, until 1pm. At that point I was checked and had only progressed 2cm in over four hours, WITH the Pitocin. That was when the possibility of the epidural was first presented, due to the fact that I had been experiencing what I would describe as non-stop contractions for at least four hours, with no rest time in between, and that part of what was preventing progress was that I was not as relaxed as I needed to be. After spending about an hour "thinking about it" and discussing it with Aaron, I finally had to confess that if I was potentially looking at several more hours of labor like this, I wasn't going to make it....and I certainly wasn't going to be able to follow it with enough strength to actually deliver the baby. 

The discussion between the midwife, nurses, Aaron and I took a while...and when I finally was willing to confess that I couldn't keep going at this rate (especially if they were going to increase the Pitocin continuously), we requested that they check my progress one last time before we signed on for an epidural. At 3pm, I was at 7.5cm, and contracting quite heavily....enough that they put off the epidural and decided to check again at 3:30, only to find that I had jumped to 9.5cm in just 30 minutes, and was pretty much ready to begin the process of delivery. (No epidural required- woohoo!) I began pushing at around 3:45, and Micah was born at 4:16pm. The poor thing had her cord wrapped around her neck, which had created a little bit of a flurry at the end and prompted the words "the baby has to come out right now" (as if I needed more motivation), but all in all scored very well and was deemed perfectly healthy, weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz, and measuring 20 inches long. 

I said this in my MUCH longer piece of writing, but I'll say it here as well: the fact that God allows us to temporarily take part in a miracle is, to me, incredible evidence of His love for us. It is the best way I can think of to communicate to us just how much He loves us, and for us to understand the sacrifice he himself made in regards to His own child. I had no idea when I began this process nine months ago how much love I could feel for someone I'd never met, and that something that happened in one day's time could cause me to love my husband even more than I'd thought possible.