May 2012
On January 18th, I left my doctor’s office discouraged. I was more than a week overdue, and our daughter showed no inclination of leaving the comfortable warmth of my belly. But I wanted to go into labor naturally, so I took another long walk with my mom (our daily routine since she had gotten to Bolivia two weeks before), and braced for more waiting.
But I didn’t have to wait long. That evening while Mache was praying with me before going to bed, I grabbed his arm as an intent contraction startled me. We stopped praying and started timing contractions. An few hours later we woke up my mom, called my doctor, and headed to the clinic.
I had been desperately hoping for a natural birth, but by the time we checked into the clinic and made it to my room I was almost fully dilated and the reluctant baby showed no signs of descending into the birth canal. My doctor recommended a C-section, and an hour later Mache was holding Ariana beside me while a medical team stitched me up. From first contraction to birth lasted less than 8 hours.
Since then, life has changed completely. My mom was incredible during my recovery, cooking, cleaning, and rocking Ariana while I took naps. After she left Mache and I slowly settled into this new life and routine. Mache is a devoted, tender dad, and a more supportive husband than ever.
The rest of my maternity leave I spent getting Ariana registered as a US citizen and reading up on baby facts (I’m terrified by how LITTLE I knew about kids before this! I now sincerely support standardized testing for potential parents =)).
I’m now back to work, and every day thanking God for a flexible ministry that lets me work parttime from home and bring my sweet daughter to work when I can, as well a mother-in-law who lives across the street and is wildly enthusiastic about baby-sitting. And so the grand adventure continues.
Love,
Cara (and Mache and Ariana)