When we were expecting our first baby, my husband and I went to Lamaze class, read the What to Expect book, and did our best to prepare for the birth of our first child.  But when it actually took place, it was God's grace alone that delivered our healthy little girl.

 

My baby was in the breech position, and described by my doctor as comfortably sitting in the "lawnchair" of my pelvis.  Since my mom had successfully delivered her first baby vaginally despite the breech position, I discussed that possibility with my doctor. He agreed to try, provided that I didn't go too far over my due date and the baby wasn't too large.  We set the date for induction for a Friday morning, but my little one had other plans.

 

On Tuesday night after hosting home group, we had cleaned up and gone to bed when, after a couple hours of sleep, I went to the bathroom for my first potty break of the night.  While on the toilet, I realized that my water had broken.  I looked up at the clock and it was only 2:30 a.m., and I recalled what the Lamaze instructor said, that if you woke up in the middle of the night in labor, it was best to just try to go back to sleep if your contractions weren't regular, because it would probably be a long time -- and both my husband and I would need all the sleep we could get.  I was having no contractions at all, and my husband was sleeping so soundly,  I just put a bunch of towels on the bed and drifted back to sleep.  Big mistake.

 

I truly don't remember ever hearing or reading that if your water breaks you should go to the hospital right away, so I just woke up my husband at about 7:30 am and took a shower, waiting to call the Doctor's office until they opened at 9:00 for further instructions.  When I told the nurse that my water had broken six hours earlier she yelled "Get to the hospital right now!!"  So, naturally, I  . . .waited to make sure I had everything I needed, took my time, drove through for some fast food for my Darling Husband, and we made our way to the hospital.  Still no contractions.  Not a single one.

 

We arrived about 11:00 am, got checked in, got to the room, dressed in the lovely, backless gown and waited for the doctor.  I was really gearing up for a long ordeal, having heard my mom's two-day labor story. (Is it still considered a "successful" breech birth if my mom still feels her stitches on rainy days--50 years later??)

 

The doctor came in and gave me an ultrasound to check the position of the baby while yelling at me for waiting so long ... when his face went white and he said "Oh! The baby is sitting on the cord!  We've got to get her out right now before it prolapses!"  In minutes the doctor and nurses were literally running around prepping me for an emergency c-section.  They asked me how bad my contractions were and I kept telling them that I wasn't having ANY contractions, even though my water had completely broken and I was, to put it politely, gushing.

 

They ran me down to surgery while the second surgeon and my husband donned the surgical gowns, and my baby was out within 10 minutes from the ultrasound.  Madison Hope O'Dea entered the world at 6lbs 10 oz, and 20 inches long when you could stretch her tiny legs out of the "frog" position she'd developed by being breech for so long.

 

What they weren't telling me was that even one single contraction would have completely cut off the oxygen to the baby's brain and started brain damage.  It is a  miracle--a divine intervention--that I had no contractions at all, after 10 hours of having my water broken, and I can confirm by subsequent pregnancies that minutes after my water broke with my second baby my contractions were hard and 3 minutes apart.

 

God, in His grace, spared my daughter from brain damage, and she has grown up to be an inquisitive, intelligent, lovely young lady with a passion for reading, music, and worship.  And just for good measure--she qualified for the High Ability program every year she's been tested and has never failed to make the Honor Roll.  She's a miracle of God's grace.

 

God is good.  In our weakness, He is strong.