It's a girl!!!!!

Last night I had the incredible privilege of helping my good friend, Amy give birth to her second baby girl!!! Her husband, Rick, is an orthopedic resident who is currently doing a six month rotation in St. Louis. With a six hour drive between them, the plan was for Rick to start speeding this way as soon as Amy went into labor. Amy asked me if I would be willing to stay with her until Rick arrived to take over. Of course I was thrilled and so honored!!! I actually expected that she would be induced and never need me at all. I was hoping to be involved, but induction would have allowed Rick to be there for everything.

Yesterday I got "the call" from Amy as I was getting ready to leave the house to take Han to urgent care (for bad ear pain... turns out it was very infected and her ear drum was "bulging"). Amy was having some weird tightening and wasn't sure if she was in labor. She was headed to the hospital to be checked. I got to her room just in time to hear the doctor say, "You're dilated to an eight! And your bag is bulging." (I guess "bulging" was the word of the day!) We were shocked and doubtful that dear Rick was going to make it in time. The nurses and doctors were doing everything they could to not progress things, which is basically nothing short of tying Amy's legs together, because birth is inevitable. Seeing that Rick would probably miss the excitement, we called another good friend, Jolyn, and asked her if she would come video from the north end! Within only a couple of hours Amy was needing to push. We called Rick one last time on the off chance that he had miraculously gotten within a few minutes of the hospital. He was still a long way off and baby was coming anyway. In three pushes Amy delivered the little sweetie. Amy was a rock. I was so impressed and proud of her. And doesn't she look amazing in the picture?!!

It was truly a gift to be a part of the miracle of this birth! What an honor!

Amazing how two blog posts back to back can be so different.... one with the sadness of loss and the next with the celebration of a precious new one. How sweet and compassionate of the Lord to give us moments to soar. He doesn't make us only live in the valley!