YHWH breathed. And YHWH gave.

Sunday morning at 6:10am, YHWH certainly gave. The "week that we will never forget" started last Sunday. As I talked about in my last post, Mike and I enjoyed a great babymoon in Austin for two days. What I didn't tell you is what happened Sunday night and continued through the week. I had fairly major contractions on Sunday night after dinner but they went away through the night. Monday was very relaxed by the pool and watching the rain. Then, the same time as the night before the contractions started.

We went to eat and I finally told Mike I was having some...I kept thinking they would go away so I hadn't told him how uncomfortable they were yet. Anways, he asked how many I had within the hour. I had been timing them while we were talking (I don't really remember what he talked about during that time - sorry babe - I was preoccupied) and I told him I had 6 in 40ish minutes. We were instructed to go Labor and Delivery if I had more than 5-6 in an hour - so you can imagine Mike's face and his "WHAT?" when I told him that many. We called the hospital and they said to lay down and come to the hospital if they didn't go away within the hour.

So, I laid down, tried to relax, watched the Final Four game, and continued to have contractions. Finally, 45 minutes later I asked Mike (well, I was fairly panicky so I kindof begged him) to go home. He packed everything for us, we jumped in the car to head home from Austin, and I continued to contract. By the time we got to the hospital they were 3-4 minutes apart and we were officially scared. The L&D staff assessed me and confirmed that I was having "true" contractions instead of Braxton-Hicks contractions (yes, I knew that) and I was dilated to a 2.5 already. What?? But they sent us home and told me to come back if they continued.

11:30pm that same night, L&D called and told me to come back in to recheck my blood pressure because it was a little high. One more time we went in but my blood pressure was ok. Back home we went.

The rest of the week was spent at home with more contractions, three more trips to L&D to get them checked out, a trip to my OB, findings that my body was certainly doing "labor stuff" (I will spare the details), and more contractions. Friday afternoon, I went to get checked one more time by my OB. My body was continuing to be in the latent labor phase but was starting to have other symptoms - blurry vision, borderline high blood pressure, dull headaches, and a state of just not feeling well. Since I usually don't complain or have any complications with pregnancy, my OB was a little concerned. After this visit she said she wouldn't be surprised if I went into labor that night. The parents were called and put on hold and we...waited.

I contracted through the night but it stopped at 5ish. Then, 7ish they started again in force! So I went on ahead to L&D again and left Mike with Bella. My blood pressure was slightly elevated and I was still not feeling "like myself". Thankfully, my OB was the on-call doctor so she was there the whole time. She said in any other patient she wouldn't have really worried about all of this but I typically don't have any complaints. So, she wanted to keep me for observation throughout the day.

During this time, Mike had called a LOT to see what was going on. Poor guy! We don't let Bella watch more than one hour of Elmo or Sesame Street a day but they watched movies and Elmo all morning long. Yes, he was ancy. I was too! We called a friend from church (thank you Karen!) to come watch Bella until Mike's mom could get to Temple. My parents were on there way and Mike and I hung out in the hospital watching movies, reading, napping, and watching more movies.

They took a 12 hour urine sample and checked my blood pressure the whole day. I actually didn't contract all day long so I thought they had gone away. I was kindof dissapointed because I was simply emotionally and physically tired from the long week.

10:30pm - I called the nurse and asked if my final lab results had come in. I told Mike I think we're going home. I didn't sleep because I wanted to sleep in my own bed and figured I was going home.

11:30pm - My OB came in. The nurse came in with a gown. My OB told me my results came back and she could confirm her diagnosis of preeclampsia. "So, let's go have a baby."

11:31pm - Mike sits straight up in bed. I do too.

11:32pm - I asked a stream of questions, stammering through questions. But the urgency in the tone of my OB's voice was "Let's go now".

11:33pm - I put on a gown. 11:35pm - We walk across the hall to the labor room.

12:00am - Pitocin, magnesium sulfate, fluids, and antibiotics are started. Some of those medications were because we were in preterm labor.

12:01am - I had Mike come over and reassure me everything was going to be ok.

12:15am - The anestheologist came in and told me that my platelets had fallen and he needed to do one more test to confirm I could have an epidural.

12:16am - LOTS OF PRAYING.

12:17-1:30am - LOTS AND LOTS OF PRAYING.

1:30amish - My OB came in and said my platelets held ok so I could have the epidural (I was about to cry in woohooossss!). She asked if I wanted it. Uhm, yes, please.

1:40amish - Mr. Awesome (also known as the anesthesoligist) came in.

1:40-4::40am - Tried to sleep but I was definitely distracted by everything. And HOT from the magnesium sulfate.

4:40am - Water broke.

4:40-6:00am - Went from 4 cm dilated to 10...quick!

6:00am - Woke up and thought "What in the world was that?! Uhm, nurse, I think he's ready".

6:00-6:10am - OB came in, lots of commotion with everyone getting ready, NICU team called in, I got extremely nausesous because everything went so quickly, pushed through three contractions...

6:10am - YWHW breathed. YWHW gave. Jonathan Thomas Smith was born.

And, I cried in thankfulness, simply overwhelmed. I cried some more looking at him and looking at Mike while the NICU team assessed him.

6 pounds and 9 ounces. 19.75 inches long. Sqweaks like a mouse. Red hair. And so cute you could eat him up. Jonathan Thomas Smith.

The word of Yahweh is the sound of breathing. Throughout the pregnancy I thought that the first breath a little one takes is Yah-weh. Breathe in. And out. YHWH. The first breath a little one takes and the last one a person will take in this life. I wondered how I would feel when our son was born and took his first breath. That feeling will forever be with me.

Remember when I wrote this: “The letters of the name of God in Hebrew… are infrequently pronounced Yahweh. But in truth they are inutterable….This word {YHWH} is the sound of breathing. The holiest name in the world, the Name of Creator, is the sound of your own breathing.That these letters are unpronounceable is no accident. Just as it is no accident that they are also the root letters of the Hebrew verb ‘to be’… God’s name is name of Being itself.” ~ Rabbi Lawrence Kushner.

At 6:10, Sunday morning (Sabbath morning for our family), our precious little Jonathan breathed in and out.

YHWH.

In and out. YHWH.

And I cried. And breathed.

In and out. YHWH. And I cried and breathed.

Cried again YWHW.

He cried and breathed again. YHWH.

Jonathan's name means YWHW has given. And, yesterday morning, YWHW breathed.

And, yes, YWHW gave.

Introducing our precious son, Jonathan Thomas Smith.