Hazel's Story

Perhaps it was her poppa's teasing that I was really hiding a basketball.. Perhaps it's because we had such a perfect Father's Day.. or Perhaps it's because Hazel is our daughter and like her sisters before her she wanted to leave her birth story as one we wouldn't forget.

Last pregnant picture of Me, Hazel, Jake, and a basketball.

In the days leading up to her birth there was a lot of effort to bring Hazel into the world on our part. What seemed like massive amounts of walking, basketball shooting, the pressure was on. We had a scheduled induction of labor to take place on Thursday, June 23rd barring any trouble in the womb. Sunday was a busy day celebrating daddy, but it was oh so sweet! 

In the wee hours of Monday morning I had some contractions between 1 and 2 am. They weren't painful and it didn't seem like labor so I fell asleep. Somewhere in the early 3 o'clock hour Samuel woke me up. He opened the door from his room and yelled out. I went to go check on him and thought to myself, "Is this a sign from the Lord that I'm not supposed to be sleeping?" After all, when the baby would be born, was all I could think about for days. I went to check on Samuel and he was fine; already back in bed. I went back to our room and had a contraction. I also needed to empty my bladder. While I was doing so, the contraction intensified and it occurred to me that contractions should go away with an empty bladder, not intensify. I hesitated for a moment and decided that I should get Jake up that maybe I was in labor. He had told me, that he would rather go and have a false labor experience than an emergency. So, I woke him up and said, "Maybe I'm in labor, but I'm not sure." I put a sweater on and some flip flops, filled up my water bottle and went and sat in the suburban, that was the car of choice and it had my hospital bag in it. Jake came out a few minutes later and we started to the hospital. 

In the car the contractions began to intensify and I was comforted that this is probably the real thing, we're going to have a spontaneous labor, I won't need to be induced! After thinking that; hard labor hit me. I was really breathing through contractions, They were 5 minutes, suddenly 4 minutes, quickly 3 minutes apart. Our total drive time was 25 minutes with a bit of traffic, without traffic probably shorter. As Jake drove, it was dark, the skies were open and rain was falling. I looked through the windshield and any traffic light that was red quickly turned green. I could feel God's hand over us. Jake had recently put on super tough, wide tires, a new intake, and exhaust on the suburban and all systems were a go. I could feel the rumble of the engine under me and with the calm music coming from the local christian radio station I was at ease as possible for being in hard labor. Within about 5 minutes of the hospital the baby's head plunged into the birth canal. With fear and excitement ruling my body I knew the baby would be born soon. I tried to have thoughts of keeping the baby in me. By the time we pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance which is where Labor and Delivery patients enter during off hours I knew the baby would be born in the car. I don't remember if I vocalized this to Jake, I was very focused. He parked under the ER awning and ran in telling the staff his wife was in labor and we needed help. However at 4 am and with a new shift getting ready to come on duty the staff was slow to respond. Jake ran back out to me and I heard him yell, "Get out here STAT!" Too late, it was time to push and a little head was crowning. As the baby came through there was a moment of excitement as I thought to myself, "I'm about to find out if it's a boy or a girl." The following moments of the, "It's a girl!" declaration and the staff showing up are all part of the adrenalin rush. Jake was ushered out of the way and he grabbed the camera and took some pictures.

Girls seeing their sister.

Louisa and Hazel

Libby and Hazel

Classic baby sleeping on poppa picture.

With hair as black as the night and the car she was born in and with eyes as blue as deep ocean waters, our little Hazel is home with us now.

Our hospital stay was difficult. I hemorrhaged and Hazel ended up in the NICU. We are home now and are slowly recovering. We are so thankful and are extremely humbled by God's endless mercies to us. Indeed, His mercies are new every morning.