A Little Moore Perspective AFTER Korea

First, let me apologize for our lack of posts…moving back to our own house in our own country has been an adventure in an of itself, but for now, I’m going to focus on the most exciting piece: Big Mac’s arrival!

For those that just want the quick stats:

Judah Anderson was born Wednesday April 8th at 2:27 am.  He weighed 8lbs, 5oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Labor only lasted 3 hours and was incredible.

For everyone who wants the full story:

The first time we went to see the doctor in Korea, he told us we were due April 7th.  I had soooo many emotions at that time.  One of which was an overwhelming dread of going through labor and delivery again.  And since we found out so late that we even were pregnant, I felt a little cheated out of some prep time.  Cadence’s birth was extremely intense, and while I was grateful for the fact that the labor for her was almost 5 times shorter than Ezekiel’s (from 44 hours to 9!) the intensity of it left me longing for the “That was awesome!  It will be so cool to do that again!” feeling that I had after Ezekiel’s.  We began praying immediately specifically about that aspect of it, and for my attitude as it approached.

When we got home, there were tons of things to be done, just with moving back in, lots of company, lots of people to see, etc, etc.  But by the time we had gotten here, I was to the point of teetering back and forth between two feelings:  “Ok, I can handle labor and delivery…but then I have a new baby to take care of!” and “Aww, a new teeny-teeny!  I can’t wait!…Oh, but then there’s the whole labor and delivery thing…”  It was lovely being back home and back with my midwives who are so encouraging and supportive.  I cannot speak highly enough about them!  And the final preparations were made for our third home birth.  We had gotten the birth tub from them and I had been busy gathering the things we needed for our birth kit.

April 6th we had an appointment where they told me that Big Mac was feeling rather long and right in position.  Whether or not they had a guess as to when it would be, I’m not sure, but we didn’t discuss that.  I was feeling quite pampered while they gently felt our baby through my belly, something I highly missed in Korea as all the prenatals consisted of there was an ultrasound!

But being on this side of our adventures in Korea, it is so easy to see God’s hand in all of it, even the ultrasounds.  And I am extremely humbled.  I feel like God sending us to Korea was a gigantic gift, so blatant, that it feels like He reached out and handed it to us with a big bow on top.

First He allowed it to be hidden from us that we were pregnant with not one, but TWO negative pregnancy tests, to which Ki Eun laughed and said my life is like a soap opera.  Then when we got there we had more than we could have even asked for as far as my classes, and my school, and my co-teachers, and our city, and our apartment, the list goes on and on.  Being there felt almost like a second honeymoon for David and me.  We were able to spend SO much time together, and so many of the experiences we had were new and like adventures it really did feel like a second honeymoon–well except for the whole part about already having two kids.

Then when we found out we were expecting again, He allowed us to be there, where we WOULD have an ultrasound at every appointment.  And for a person who was having a hard time with this new information, an ultrasound was the perfect way for me to be able to connect with this other little God-given gift growing inside of me.  This is particularly special because it was my first time having an ultrasound as we have used midwives and had home births with both of our other kids.

It was also pretty special to be reminded that I do possess some skills besides cleaning and doing laundry.  I have no problem doing those things and enjoy taking care of my family in that way, but that is why I say it feels like a gift to be reminded of that.  It was so good for me even just to go through the application process and the interviews, even though David did a huge amount of the gruntwork involved.

I was able to form relationships with people that are really special to me, even if I never see them again.

The best part about this gift is the timing in which He gave it.  I was at a place where I didn’t deserve any gift at all.  In fact, if anything, I probably deserved a big spankin and to be sent to bed without any dinner.  And He gave it to me anyway.  Before we left I had had terrible attitudes towards some pretty innocent and undeserving people and was overall pretty bitter about some really ridiculous stuff.  But while we were there, God totally freed me from all of those things, and allowed me to come home totally refreshed.

But the gifts didn’t stop coming when we got home.

On Tuesday, April 7th, our due date, I was feeling pretty blah.  Not really bad, but just not really good and not really wanting to do anything.  I have a standing date with a friend every Tuesday night and all day I debated whether or not to cancel.  But I told myself, “Based on how I’m feeling, I’m pro’lly gonna have this baby tomorrow, and if I don’t go tonight, it’ll be weeks before we go out again!”  I decided to go, but I’m sure I wasn’t very good company as I basically just lazily laid in the chair across from her.  Around 11:30 we were in her driveway as I was dropping her off and getting in a few more minutes of conversation.  I had a contraction that was a little more intense than the others I’d been having for the past several days.  At that point, Amy decided she’d better get out so I could go home and get some rest.

I waited for her to get inside her house and then waited for some traffic to clear so I could back out of her driveway.  Before I was in the street I had another hard contraction.  I remembered that I had several nights of contractions with Cadence that were just close enough to the point where I would start to time them and then go away.  I decided that if these continued I’d better start timing them.

When I got home, I didn’t see David but I did see a light in the garage where I knew David’s brother John (who lives with us) had been working with some other guys on a truck.  I got ready for bed and after two more contractions tried calling David’s cell phone.  He didn’t answer.  I found it pretty ironic that that had been the only time in the last two weeks that he hadn’t promptly answered my call.  I tried John’s and asked if David was with him.  He handed the phone over and David instantly explained he had dropped his phone while trying to answer it.

Me: How are you doing, Babe?

David: Pretty tired.  I’m ready to head in and go to bed.

Me: Ok. Well I just wanted to let you know that it’s highly likely that I’m in labor right now.

David: Really?  Ok, well I’ll be in in a minute.

By the time David got inside I was pretty sure these contractions weren’t the kind that were going to go away.  After a while I decided I was ready-real labor or not- for John and Leone (David’s sister who lives with us) to go ahead and leave.  I really enjoy being able to have my babies at home.  I would not, however, enjoy an audience other than my husband and my midwives.  And I know that John and Leone would not have enjoyed being here either, so it was mutually agreed upon that when labor started, they would find another home for the time being.

Soon after they left David called the midwives and started filling up the birth tub. I was now positive it was real labor.  After our midwives were with us for 42 of the 44 hours of labor with Ezekiel, we have tried to wait a little longer before calling so that they don’t have to be here until we need them.  With Cadence we waited a little too long and one got there about 10 minutes before I started pushing and the other arrived as Cadence’s head was being born, while their apprentice missed the whole thing.  After calling, David walked back out a minute later asking, “Do you think I should have told them not to rush?”  Considering they live 45 minutes away and we probably woke them up, I felt like yelling “NO! This is it and they need to get here!”, thankfully David told me later that I didn’t yell at him at all.

I kept praying, “God, I know you made my body to do this, I know you made my body to do this.”  I wondered how far in we were already.  Just as I was really ready for the midwives to show up, I felt the urge to push.  David was really encouraging about just doing what needed to be done, regardless of where the midwives were.  It was soon after that Brandi walked in the door.  She waited through another contraction, and checked the baby’s heartrate.  Everything was looking good, and she and David both just encouraged me while I continued letting my body work. There was one point where I could feel a contraction coming and I just prayed, “God, please, I just feel like I need a break!” and the contraction was so mild that I didn’t have to do anything and was able to relax right through it.

Marisol walked in right around the time Judah’s head was crowning.   David was at my side and rubbing my back when they told him, “Um, David, you may wanna come around here, his head’s already out.”  I think he was a little surprised.  A few minutes later, he was lifting our new baby out of the water and putting him up on my chest.  From start to finish, it had only taken 3 hours, and I was really able to feel God’s mercy all throughout.  God is so good!

David woke up Ezekiel and Cadence who came downstairs and were a little shocked to see Brandi and Marisol and then me sitting in the birth tub.  They came over and were in awe just looking at their new brother.  Cadence’s eyes were huge as she looked from me to him and back to me and doing the sign for “baby”.  Ezekiel kept asking, “Mommy, who IS that?” He was pretty thrilled later when he got to hold our new baby’s hand.

As if a new baby isn’t a gift in and of itself, God had given me a really awesome labor and delivery.  Certainly not pain-free, but highly manageable.  Thank you to everyone who was specifically praying for me about that!

Judah means “Let God be praised.”  We were pretty sure that this would be his name long before we left Korea, and it just seems soooo appropriate given everything we have to be thankful for, just in the duration of this new child’s life, starting while he was still (secretly) in the womb.  I am so humbled, because He has already given me His own Son.  If He never gave me anything else, it would still be more than I deserve, and yet He chooses to give me more.  Now He has seen fit to add another son for David and I to have stewardship of.

Yes, Judah is definitely an appropriate name.