Today is a Sabbath – seventeen months and seven days after the birth of our 5th born child and 2nd born son.
And I’m finally sitting down to write his birth story.
Since it’s been so long (and because I have a very bad case of “mommy memory / placenta brain”), I’m sure there are a lot of parts that’ll be left out. But I’m praying Yah brings the most important pieces to my mind as I write…
The Sibling Reveal:
Here’s a video we recorded of our other four kids finding out they were going to have another sibling. (Watch to the end for their extremely anti-climactic reaction 😂…)
The Gender Reveal:
We found out he was a boy during Sukkot in October 2022. We left our campsite as a family to go to the 3D ultrasound clinic. I remember half expecting to be told we were having another girl, even though I felt in my gut that he was a boy.
When the ultrasound revealed his sex, Jereme had a momentary expression of disbelief (“It’s a boy?”)
Followed by an exclamation of pleasant surprise by us all (“It’s a boy!”)
Our first born son, Kale, had been praying for a baby brother for a long time. His prayers had finally been answered!
The Days and Weeks Leading Up to His Birth:
Interestingly, their birth stories share a lot of similar characteristics:
- They both came very quickly (within a few hours of me realizing I was in labor).
- I was in denial about being in labor for most of the day.
- They were both born out of water. With Kale, I was in my bedroom on a birthing stool. With Kai, I labored in the bathtub, but I stood up when I pushed him out, so I didn’t have the gentle pressure of the water to lessen the stretching sensations I felt as he was crowning.
- And they were both born in the month of March.
I remember having what’s known as prodromal labor for weeks. There were several days where I could feel somewhat intense contractions and thought it might be time. But as soon as I rehydrated, took a warm bath, or went to bed, they ultimately subsided.
It was exciting and frustrating all at the same time.
Several days before his birthday, I did the Miles Circuit to try and relieve sensations of lightning crotch. It helped with the pain, and it also worked like a charm to move him into the perfect position, which I believe kickstarted my labor.
Kai’s Birthday
The morning of March 3, we went to our new house, which was under construction at the time, for a pre-drywall inspection. I remember having to stop every 10 minutes as we were walking the property to breathe through what felt like mildly intense contractions.
But I remained in denial that “today was the day.”
“It’s just more Braxton Hicks”, I told myself, as I chugged more water.
When we got home (around lunch time), I decided to take a warm bath to see if it would slow things down.
It didn’t. So I texted my midwife and said, “Hey I’m not positive, but I think today could be the day… He’s been ‘crying wolf’ for like 3 weeks but I keep having pressure waves that are low and seem more intense than normal.”
I had 2 loaves of jalapeño cheddar sourdough bread that had been proofing in the fridge since the night before. I took them out to bake and realized we were out of parchment paper, so I sent Jereme to the store to get some.
When he returned home, I couldn’t deny it anymore. Something was definitely happening.
At 4pm, I texted my best friend who lives in Florida and also told her I thought today might be our baby’s birthday. Shortly after that, I had a pretty intense contraction and decided to retreat upstairs to my bedroom to labor in peace. Jereme was left with instructions for baking the sourdough loaves (which we very much enjoyed after he was born!)
The hours that followed are a bit of a blur…
I had prepared myself mentally with the Hypnobabies tracks that I had used during our previous birth in the weeks leading up to this day, and I began listening to them once I realized it was time.
My midwife arrived soon after and listened to his heartbeat periodically as I labored in different positions – on my bed, on my stability ball, on the toilet, and finally in the bathtub. My father-in-law came over as well to watch our other kids and help my husband so he and my mom could both be present with me for the birth.
I remember struggling to remain in a state of hypnosis as the tracks played out loud on a bluetooth speaker in my bathroom, but all in all, it was still a relatively peaceful home birth. I breathed deeply through each wave and didn’t feel much discomfort until he had fully descended through the birth canal and it came time to push.
At that point, I stood up. The bathtub was hard and my body ached from sitting in the lukewarm water for so long. I wanted to move, but I had a hard time getting into a comfortable position.
I dreaded the powerful stretching sensation that most refer to as the “ring of fire” but I wanted so badly for him to be out that I pushed harder than I probably needed to and his head came out.
I felt a very strange sensation as I waited for the final contraction to push out his body and frantically said to my midwife “what are you doing?!” I thought she must have been moving or adjusting his position in some way, but it turns out, Kai was just turning his head and looking around, as if to say:
“Where am I? What is this place?” 😂
A couple minutes and one final push later, he was out! He was born at 6:45 pm – less than 3 hours after I had texted my friend to let her know I thought I “might” be in labor … lol.
What’s in a name? A picture of God’s faithfulness…
Hezekyah was a surprise. We were actually trying not to get pregnant when he was conceived, because Jereme was supposed to be the best man in his friend’s wedding in Texas the month he was due. When we found out we’d likely be having a baby just days before the wedding, we knew we wouldn’t be able to travel.
Kale had prayed for a brother for years, and Yah answered that prayer at a time when we least expected it!
Kale had also been born before we came to the knowledge of Torah, and he hadn’t been circumcised. After coming to Torah, I struggled with the decision of whether or not to circumcise him. As natural health advocates, we try hard to avoid the medical system. I didn’t want to have him circumcised in a hospital, but we were hard pressed to find a mohel who could perform the procedure on an older child.
As usual, God was faithful to provide!
Both boys were circumcised on the 8th day in the comfort of our home by a retired surgical nurse and fellow covenant keeper.
Kai’s conception, birth, and circumcision are a beautiful testimony of God’s faithfulness to his people – which is also perfectly captured by his name:
Hezekyah was actually the name we had chosen since before Haddie was born. (We kept Haddie’s gender a surprise until birth and had picked out two names in case she ended up being a boy.) It means “God strengthens” and is the name of one of a few righteous kings of Judah in the Bible.
David is Jereme’s middle name (and the first name of two of his uncles). It’s also the name of the righteous king of Israel and Judah, from whose lineage and house our faithful Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), descended.
Over the last decade, my faith has been full of ups and downs. I’ve experienced highs and lows when it comes to trusting in His promises. In the low moments, He strengthens my faith by reminding me of His faithfulness – by bringing past memories of His provision to the forefront of my mind and continuing to provide even more abundantly.
Even in periods of intense blessing, I’ve had a few dark moments of doubt, where I’ve wondered if things would someday take a turn for the worse. Sometimes, I imagine my life suddenly becoming a series of tragedies like the ones Job experienced.
But then He reminds me that He has never let me down. I hear a voice in my head, and it echoes something like this:
“Hey … remember that time, when you prayed for that very specific thing, and I answered that prayer in ways that were over and above what you had even imagined for yourself?”
He has always come through for me, and I know He always will.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21
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