Taking a step back to look at May 18th and 19th, the labor and birth of Gideon.

We make our way back to the midwife, after 24 hours of Sarah having to collect urine for her 3rd test to check her protein level. 2 weeks prior we were placed in the hospital, released and then sent home on bed rest. Sarah has never had protein levels high before so we both just knew we were having to go through the motions with this test to be sent home again. Her blood pressure at home stayed around 130/85. Not bad at all, really. Each time we went to the Midwife’s office it ran high. I had even scheduled a t-time to play golf the next day and we had left Libby with Kayla (young lady living with us), knowing we would be home shortly. As usual her BP jumped. They come and tell us we are going to the hospital to monitor Sarah until her urine test comes back. We are extremely frustrated!!!! They sent us home with the test the day before and my thoughts when we got home were that we should pack our bags. Why not right? For whatever reason we did not. A few hours later they came back and for the first time, the protein level was high. So…induction here we come.

Disappointing, yes. Shocked, yes. As I sat there with my beautiful wife, I looked into her eyes and could see the shock. Yes she was excited to see Gideon but I think some fear set in and most definitely some anger. Who at? The nurses or midwife, some maybe. God, more than likely. But this did not last long. Why, because we expressed it to Him. I have had a lot of disappointment and many many times to get angry with Him. Before I would let it simmer inside me and build up. I have learned through experience to get it out! I get “the list” from Sarah of things she needed ME to pack for her. Ya laugh a bit here…First of all because yes, Sarah had a list….Sarah never makes list, but thank You Lord, she did this time….Now laugh at the picture of me trying to pack without a list….Ya, I even get a good chuckle out of that one. I am angry and honestly ready to refuse the induction, probably because of fear placed in me from the nurses and midwife for reasons of being early he may spend a good amount of time in NICU and so on. I wanted this to be special and for Gideon to be with us. The chance of not waiting 3 days so my son would not have to be place in the NICU for a few hours was a huge to me. I called both mom’s and let them know what was going on. Now, I was on my way to pack! Hungry and mad! Here I was alone in a car with God. I got to release this anger to Him. He is so good to me, I cannot say this enough. Just like I do not like Libby to hold in the anger that is stealing her joy, He wants me to release this on Him and talk it out with Him. When He says He wants my burdens (Ps 68:19), He is not joking. God has helped teach me to deal with anger rightly and keep the enemy from stealing my joy. That is exactly what I did in the next 10 minutes on my drive home. I get home with this excitement and pure joy. My son will be arriving soon! This thought or mindset would not leave me either….and my joy would be with me as well.

Packing went well (I only forgot a few things). Dado and Nana (my grandparents) call and tell me they may come (and do and they eventually get there before Gideon arrives). Libby is set to go with Megan, who is with Sarah at the hospital, while I pack and get Libby. We have all our amazing family and friends notified to pray.

I return and Sarah is dilated to a 3 with the cervix still thick (no induction, yet). 6 pm they begin the induction with Cervidil. We have the worship going. Peace and His presence have completely filled the room. The nurses loved coming in, each one saying how peaceful it is in our room.

Around 4 in the morning contractions begin. Sarah and I both were able to get 4 to 5 hours of sleep. This would prove vital, as well as Sarah being able to eat breakfast that morning, for the events to come. Around 10 am the contractions were strong and regular. Sarah, who is absolutely amazing, was full of joy and determination. I honestly am seeing a new side of her right here. I know she is determined and strong, but she has now crossed into a new level. Noon rolls around and I am thinking Gideon could arrive within a few hours. I get lunch brought to me by Libby and Megan, Chic-Fil-A. I eat while Libby and Megan take over comforting Sarah during her contractions. We wanted Libby to be with us as much as possible. They could only stay for a few hours because Megan had to go to work (she leads the Immersed internship at IHOP) for a bit and Libby had to go with her. This is where I personally get a lot out emotionally. Libby comes to me crying, looks into my eyes, and says,”dad I miss you! Can I stay with you?” I had to leave the room. I pick her up and we have a great cry session for a good 5-10 minutes. I tell her it will only be a little while and giver her hope that Gideon could soon be here. I tell her it will probably be more than 2 hours but not much more, and she will be back in 2 hours. She leaves full of excitement to get to meet her little brother. Sarah labors hard for a little bit before the contractions almost stop completely. They would start-up again in a few hours and at 3 I am thinking Gideon will come by 5. I kept praying please God, lets not do like we did with Libby and go over 24 hours since they induced. Honestly, I could do nothing but pray really. I encouraged as much as I could and as directed by Holy Spirit. Not long into this batch of contractions and come to a stop again. Now frustration has set in some. It is so funny how the enemy keeps trying to get us down. We created our own little glory zone for His presence to rest in the hospital room. That hospital room was anointed and Holy Spirit was manifested in many ways throughout the few days we were there. Sarah was becoming fatigued. She had not eaten since early morning and she had been laboring a lot throughout the day. The midwife comes in, “lets start Pitocin” she says. I know it has been a long day and I wonder if Sarah is thinking of taking any pain drugs yet. I keep this to myself, but I am honestly almost wiped out, so I know she has to be tired. For the contractions to come like that and then stop, was tiring. The monitors for Sarah or Gideon never worked right to begin with, so the strength of the contractions were unknown to all but Sarah. I must say, I knew they were not little ones. I could see it in her beautiful eyes. I know her better than most anybody on earth. We have been joined as one. There was a few things I continued to see though and it never wavered one bit….determination and joy! Seeing this gave me renewed strength. Pitocin was started around 6 p.m. at a low dose. She got going quick! Only a few hours until they took it off completely with contractions going strong. Dado and Nana get there around 7 pm and come and say “hi” to us. Then Sarah’s midwife, Crystal comes in, and helps. She suggests a new position because Gideon is stuck in her pelvis! Well now we know why the contractions kept stopping! He was stuck in her pelvis. Somewhere in here is where we began to hear Sarah say, “I cant do this.” A great friend, Rod, told me that is when it would be baby time. We get in the new position a little after 8 pm. Just before 9 pm they check her, she is at 8 cm with her cervix still only 60% thinned. Sarah needs to go to the bathroom, potty break! She has a lot of lower back pain so we position her straddling the toilet and push on her lower back to ease the pressure. She works hard not to push at this point. Crystal says, “My rule is no baby will be born in the toilet, let’s get back to the bed!” She turns to get things ready and I, right with her jump in to assist with her back pain. We run to the bed and honestly, how we got there we don’t really remember. She was tied up to an I.V. and all we can remember is, it was blur. Crystal asks for her not to push (they were not set up yet because her cervix was not thinned). Sarah does great with the first one to not push, but the next came quick! She says, “I can’t not push!” Crystal then gives her the ok….One push…..I look and the head is almost out! 2nd push…head is out! Sarah is now saying, “I cant do this, it hurts too bad!” Yet the worst is over! I then look her in the eyes and say, “Baby, his head is out! He is here!” With shock in her whole person, she says, “really?” Crystal says, “one more push, then reach down and grab your boy!” BAM!!!! He is now in out and she is reaching down to grab our son.

There is now a shift in spiritual presence in the room! I don’t know who else felt this, but I did! I felt the shift like never before! I ask, “Holy Spirit, what is that!” I knew immediately, angels were crowded in that room to the max! A time of rejoicing over Gideon, yes, but the full experience added to it even more. Not only did we do this with no medication, but we had so many opportunities to quit and take an easier or quicker route, but did not!!!! We persevered and the Heavens were rejoicing with us at 9:14 pm on May 19th. I love the presence of God! I have felt Him in many tangible ways, but never like this before. I have sensed angels around before, but never like this! A sweet taste of victory, in Jesus!

So why was the presence of the Lord SO strong at that moment?

I have been asking Him for weeks this very question.

What did I hear? “You will find Me in the lowest place.” As I sat in the Global Prayer Room here in Kansas City, I was thrown off a bit. My first thought was He gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud. I was able to see where we, as a family unit, had humbled ourselves and have been brought low over this. Finally having another child! Some will understand, because you have been to the point of desperation for healing or breakthrough in a certain area. I cannot try to tell you how many times Sarah and I have gone to the altar call for healing. Or how many times we have heard a word of knowledge about not being able to get pregnant, so we would stand, and contend, again. It got to the point, Lord please do not give them a word of knowledge like this…..but it usually happened when we said this. The amount of time we spent with God asking for this ONE thing, a baby, more than filled the hospital we were in, the city, or even the state if you turned prayer into oil. Each tear we cried over this, has been stored up. Every second of each persons time contending in prayer with us has been accounted for and came to fruition at that point. As I continued to listen to Him, the worship leader began a chorus…”In the lowest place is where I find You!” I am at the point of tears. Of all the people in their, He is bringing into the light this one thing….the birth of Gideon. So I knew then it was not a small thing. As I got the point of being able to listen again from feeling the overwhelming love You long to pour out on me, I hear you say, “Jamin, you turned to me, Your loving Dad, and depended fully upon Me!” I put my trust in You. I then just sat there and let Him love on me for a good amount of time.

Now here I am with another question. If I was able to trust Him in that area, can I learn to trust in every area of my life? I love how Holy Spirit, like Jesus did as He walked this earth, answers my questions with more questions. This life is very short, but means so much in terms of our eternal life. Each moment is a new opportunity to grown with Him.

To finish the day of Gideon’s birth:
A few moments after Gideon was placed at Sarah’s chest we hear our midwife, “OH MY, that is third time this week!” I think nothing of it, but it did not take Sarah long to respond. “What is wrong? Is my baby ok?” And with a huge smile Crystal responds, “He is great. He had a true knot in his cord. It was loose.” She shows it to me. I am unsure how true it is but I hear in the background, “glad he came early.” I knew exactly at that point what they meant. The less room in the womb and the stronger he would have gotten in there, the higher the chance the knot could have tightened. I am blown away at the goodness of God. He constantly knows what is best for me. At times I may not agree or even express my doubts. One thing will not change though. I will believe God. Not just “in” Him, but believe Him. I am learning, like Abraham and so many others with great faith in His Word did, to talk with Him about my doubts of His promise over my life. This is the communication that makes my life fruitful. My desire is to bear GOOD fruit. Fruits of righteousness! I thank You, Abba, for the many promises You have spoken over me!

Libby was at the hospital and were in the waiting area with Dado and Nana. Megan was able to take pictures and stayed with us in the room. Shortly after Gideon made his arrival I found Megan and asked if she would go get Libby. She had waited so patiently for so long. She was more than excited to meet her baby brother. Libby could very well become a Midwife one day. She was not grossed out or upset with any of the bloody images and even asked to see the placenta. Crystal stretched it out for her and explained it in detail. My daughter amazes me! She watches Gideon get bathed and dressed. Gideon eats for the first time and then Libby comes to me, “Dad, let’s go home!” She was ready to take her brother home! I will say Sarah was doing awesome and looked like she had just a regular day. We were going to move rooms as well so with all the packing up, I can see maybe where she got this feeling we were going home. It is childlike for sure and brought us a good laugh!

Praise you Abba! Thank you for my family and all you have entrusted to me. You have blessed me richly. It reminds me of one of the Little House on the Prairie segments where the Ingles have run out of money and they all pitch in to work and help pay off a debt at the Olsens Mercantile. Mr. Olsen at the end tells Pa, “You are the richest man in all of Walnut Grove, because of your family!” I feel like Pa (Charles Ingles), in being the richest man in Kansas City! Thank you God!