The forthcoming birth story was submitted to me by Courtney, one of this blog’s readers, with her permission to share it. It is of her second child, Ruth, a darling little girl.
Every birth is a unique and special experience. I would even go so far as to say that it is a spiritual experience. It doesn’t matter whether the baby is born at home or at the hospital, natural or through cesarean–it is always a life-changing, supernatural event. That may sound dramatic, but just think about it: this is the grand entrance of a unique and unrepeatable human being into the story of this world; this very valuable person has never existed before and was hand-made by God (Psalm 139) to fulfill a distinct life-purpose.
Isn’t that amazing?
I think that we tend to become numb to the amazingness of it all because it happens so often. And yet, amazing it remains. Every, single time.
~Jessica
Here’s Ruth’s birth story:
By Courtney
In the middle of the night Thursday night/Friday morning I started having actual contractions. I told Brian [Courtney’s husband] I would be okay with him running classes via Zoom while labor progressed [he’s a teacher]. I nested in bed with Sean [her toddler], who nursed occasionally.
About lunchtime I called out: “Sweetie, call Kellie, my water just broke!” She arrived surprisingly quickly, checking on me. I was ALREADY 8 cm. Brian held me as I sat over the edge of the bad, rocking through contractions. Sean still wanted to nurse a few times before falling asleep.
Finally as the day flipped I was ready to meet my new baby. I put my hands down, and was SO excited to catch my baby. I pulled her into my chest, moved the cord to see I had a girl.
Ruth Ann was born 12/11/20, and she weighed 8 lbs 2 oz. At the time of her birth, her older brother, Sean, was 18 months old.
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I love Ruth’s birth story! I would like to thank Courtney for being willing to share it. Please feel free to send her your encouraging remarks, below.
Also, if any of you would like to share your own birth stories, you can do so by going to this page I prepared for that purpose. We would love to hear from you!
Thank you Jessica for publishing the birth story! :). Just a quick note to readers: she was born 12/11/20, 8 lbs 2 oz
Incidentally, Sean was 18 months old at the the time
Courtney, I just added the additonal things you mentioned (in both comments) to the post.
It was my pleasure to publish your story. Thank you for sharing it!
~Jessica
Beautiful story xx
What a wonderful heartening story. So calm, relaxed and natural. God bless you both.
Sounds so simple and straightforward💗 And nursing while in labour…wow!
I’m intrigued that you have one Bible name and one not. How do you choose your names?😁
Hi Tea, funny you ask. I unfortunately have no good explanation for that. I agree we will be sticking with Biblical names going forward.
The name Ruth comes from the book of the Bible named Ruth, which is about the godly woman, Ruth. The name Ann is a shortened version of Anna, the woman who was a prophetess and held the baby Jesus when his parents brought him into the temple (Luke 2:36-38).
So, Courtney, it would appear that you actually did choose biblical names, after all!
~Jessica
She was referring to Sean being non-Biblical. We picked Ruth BECAUSE of its Biblical roots. Ann is just a nice middle name that goes well with it.
Okay, my mistake, ha, ha! Sorry about the misunderstanding. I like Sean, too. 🙂
~Jessica
A variety of names is nice! I enjoy names so this is a topic of interest to me. That’s all. None of our children have Biblical first names but for their second names they have either a Bible name or a family name💗
I’ve noticed that people will sometimes have a theme, such as names that all start with the same letter, or names that all end with a similar sound, or naming girls according to the different virtues, or naming girls according to different flowers, etc.
I think it’s intriguing, and I almost wish we would have decided on a theme before we started naming our children . . . but, then again, I’m happy with their names the way they are. We chose names that we liked, which sounded nice, and that had meanings which were special to us. Interestingly enough, I believe that God must have been guiding us to choose their names, though we didn’t always know it, even though we didn’t choose all biblical names. One of our girls, for example, we named Ginger, without even knowing that she would end up being our only child (so far) with blonde hair (close to the color of the root, ginger). Is there any great meaning in that? I don’t know, but I do think that God used it as an opportunity to remind us that He knows what our pre-born children will look like, since He designed them. I could give you more examples, but I’ll stop at that one. 🙂
~Jessica
I agree. All my kids have Biblical names. We prayed about each one and each one has a name representing something I needed in my life when they were born. N’s middle name is Faith. At the time I was struggling with my faith. I was having a lot of anxiety about her birth. Every day in her pregnancy, when I would open my Bible, either the chapter I was in or a verse I happened to see while turning pages would offer a message of comfort and hope. My fourth child E’s middle name is Joy. I was having more anxiety and depression issues in her pregnancy due to an injury from a chiropractor. I needed joy. She was born and is like a bundle of pure joy, and has been since the day she was born. Well, all of them have, but she’s especially enthusiastic. If you’ve ever read “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm”, she’s like Rebecca. 🙂 My fifth baby is named Uriah. He doesn’t have the happiest story in the Bible but the name means “light of Jehovah” and all through his pregnancy and ever since, I have felt the need to focus on the light of Jesus.
If we hadn’t gone with Bible names I probably would have chosen nature names. I love Willow, Juniper, Aurora, Rose, Marigold, Autumn, Stella, Meadow, etc. 🙂
Jessica K, I loved the way you chose the names for your children! It sounds very much like how we named several of our childlren. I also like the nature names you might have chosen if you had decided to go that route! 🙂
~Jessica R
Name themes are delightful! I have friends who’s daughter’s middle names are Hope, Faith, Dawn, Jewel, Pearl, Joy, Grace (do I have that straight??) Also sometimes Delight gets used.
Tea, How pretty! All those names are beautiful.
~Jessica
Quick little postscript: talking to our pastor today, and he’s coming to our home to baptize Ruth on Easter Sunday. (We’re LCMS)
Thank you for sharing that, Courtney! Though we don’t baptize our children, I certainly do believe in the importance of dedicating ourselves, as parents, to their godly upbringing. What a special moment for your family!
~Jessica
Nursing can help get things going in labor! My labor with my third baby started to slow down after 4 hours. I nursed my boy who was just over a year old at the time and the contractions picked back up! She was born about 3 1/2 hours later. 🙂
That’s great to hear! How long did you end up tandeming? We’re currently at 3 months and counting.
My son Z was born March 2014 (in fact his birthday was yesterday!). My daughter N (whose labor I started back up by nursing) was born in April 2015, so they’re a little less than 13 months apart. I nursed them both until Summer 2016. I was pregnant with my fourth baby (so 3 in under 3 years!) and my entire family had had a BAD stomach flu for a week before I got it, and by then I was so depleted from vomiting and taking care of everyone else for the previous week that I had to wean because I was afraid I would lose the baby. I didn’t, she’s a big, beautiful, happy, healthy 4-year-old now! Anyway, I weaned Z first (late July 2016) and kept nursing N at night time and naptime but had no milk left so she weaned in early September 2016. So… 15 months of tandem nursing. 🙂
Happy belated birthday to your LO. :). Great job nursing!
In case anyone wondered: Sean was born at home while we lived in Texas.