Perfect Timing

Jen and Rowan two days after
he was born with our midwife Kate

Rowan is a week away from turning three months old! At times it feels much longer than that...but other times, it seems like just yesterday that he was born.

Before too much times passes, I wanted to share the story of his birth, and how God was in control of everything.

Rowan was born on an unusually warm, sunny day in mid-October. He was a week early, but not a moment too soon.

You see, Silas had been transitioning to full-day kindergarten for the last two months, and we had purposefully taken it slow so that he would not get overwhelmed and act out. It had been going well, and the week Rowan was born was Silas' first week going the full day. He was able to complete the whole week, which was a huge blessing! For one thing, it meant that I no longer had to pick him up from school because he would get busing home. And more importantly, it meant that he would not associate staying longer at school with Rowan's birth (and possibly be jealous or resentful).

God had it all timed perfectly! We had prayed for months, not knowing how things would turn out, but trying to have faith to let God handle everything.

Speaking of faith, having a home birth requires quite a bit of that as well! The pregnancy went smoothly, and we trusted our mid-wife. But you never know what could happen during labor...

Thankfully, God allowed Rowan's birth to go even better than we could have imagined. Having a child in your own home is a wonderful experience! It was so much more peaceful, serene (even with the pain), and exciting than it had been the previous two times. Our two midwives were great, giving us space when we needed it but intervening when it was appropriate.

Perhaps you remember that Allie came so fast that she was delivered by the paramedics? Well, we were worried the same thing would happen again this time. I'd been having periods of regular contractions for weeks before my due date with Rowan, which is what had happened with Allie. My midwife and I were concerned that she may not make it in time. So when I called her yet again to say that I was having regular contractions, she said that if it didn't progress this time, she would come the next day and "get things going." So that Friday, she arrived at 9:00am with her assistant and gave me an herbal tea to drink (a tincture, I think) and instructed me to take a brisk walk outside.

The brisk walk entailed pushing Allie in the stroller down the steep hill of our street to the Perkiomen trail, walking a bit on the trail, and then pushing her back up the hill, by myself. Boy, did that ever start the contractions! I labored for a while downstairs and Nate and Allie played, and the midwives chatted and laughed with us. After two and a half hours, they broke my water to speed things along (as if that was necessary!). Well, it worked, and Rowan came an hour later!

Even though I was nervous about the whole thing, I truly felt a peace about the labor, and was so thankful that it was happening in a controlled way this time. Everyone was there who needed to be-––Nate, the two midwives, and Allie (who watched a video while I pushed, but Nate brought her upstairs to see Rowan shortly after he came). My mom made it just in time to see him minutes after he was born. And when Silas got home from school, he had a fantastic surprise waiting for him-–a baby brother! It all worked out perfectly...not because of anything we did, but because of God's perfect timing!