We had a friend come and stay with us when Myra was 13 months old. He brought his 2 year old daughter along and Myra made a friend. It was so precious to see the little girls play together. I was suddenly filled with a longing to have another baby, a sibling for Myra.
Very soon… I was expecting again! This time we were able to have a midwife in Campbelle River. This saved us an hour drive each visit. We loved our midwife from the start. She was shorter than I am (and I’m 5’3”), had 7 children and was a real character. Every visit was like getting together with an old friend. 
At one point I was measuring very big and we began to suspect twins. I had an ultra-sound and was a little disappointed to find out that there was only one baby in there!
I found myself worrying more in this pregnancy. My last labour had been fast and it was likely that this one would be even faster. Also, Myra had come 2 weeks early. So during the last month we felt that I could go into labour at any moment,and that we wouldn’t have much time to get to Campbelle River.
I had visions of having my baby in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, or on the coast guard boat. God reminded me that Jesus had been born in a stable and that had been God’s perfect will. I could trust God and find rest from my fears.
We decided that we didn’t want to deliver in the hospital, but we couldn’t have a home birth as we lived on a tiny island, 2 ferries away from the nearest hospital or midwife. We started looking for a place to stay and deliver our baby. This turned out to be very, very hard. There were several cabins available in the area, but nobody wanted a baby delivered in one of their rental cabins.
Worry crept in again as there seemed to be nowhere for us to go. I felt like God was saying to me again, “Trust Me.”
When we had almost completely run out of time to find a place to stay, God provided. We found a lovely little motel on the ocean. It was only minutes from our midwife and it was affordable too. A sweet Chinese couple were running the motel. I told them that we would be staying for 1- 3 weeks, until we had our baby. I told them that we would like to have our midwife there to deliver our baby. “Yes, yes!” they said with big smiles.
I didn’t think that they understood me, so I said it again in several different ways. “Yes, yes! Yes, yes!” was their only response. I still don’t think they understood me, but what could I do?
We had a wonderful stay there. We walked along the ocean every day. Myra threw rocks into the water and watched the birds soar above us.
The day before my due date we had to make some decisions. We had been there for 2 weeks and we had to decide whether to rent the suite for another week or not. We could save a lot of money by renting weekly, but if were only going to be there for another couple of days then we didn’t want to pay for a whole week.
We decided to try and bring on labour again and if I went into labour that night then we would just pay for 2 days, otherwise, we would pay for another week. Our funds were getting dangerously low and Kevin was thinking of trying to get some work doing window-washing, or any other odd jobs he could find while we were there.
There was a long set of stairs near the motel, so I marched up and down the stairs for about 20 min. This brought on VERY strong contractions like it had in my first pregnancy, and like before, they went away after I stopped walking.
That evening we put Myra to bed and I started to fill the bath. Suddenly, the lights went off. Within minutes one of the owners of the motel knocked on our door and gave us candles and matches. The power was off in the area, but it would be back on in an hour or so.
I have beautiful memories of that evening. I relaxed in the bath with the warm light from the candles filling the room while Kevin played guitar in the living room. I wanted to enjoy that time. I felt that these would be the last few hours of my pregnancy. I was very much looking forward to seeing our baby, but I was also sad at the thought of this pregnancy coming to an end; that precious time while we were one.
In the night I awoke to contractions. I quietly got out of bed. I had a longing to write a letter to my baby before the birth. I got out some paper and a pen and poured out my love to my little one that I would see so soon. 
The contractions were coming faster and harder, so I woke up Kevin and phoned our midwife. She kept me on the phone for a couple of minutes and asked if me if I had had any contractions while we were talking. I told her that I had and she told me that if I was able to talk normally through the contractions that I wasn’t very far along. She arrived about 15 min later and we began setting up everything for the birth.
I had a stronger contraction and leaned against the wall. “That’s the first contraction that I’ve noticed,”
our midwife commented. I was in the washroom for the next contraction. I felt that powerful need to push. Maureen was talking with Kevin. “Sorry to interrupt,” I said, “but I have to push.”
Maureen was very shocked. She checked my cervix and sure enough I was fully dilated. “Just lie on your side and don’t laugh, sneeze, cough or push.” In B.C. midwives are required to have a medical assistant at a home birth in case both the mother and baby needed medical assistance. She phoned the other midwife that she works with. “Be here in 10 min or less or I’m calling the ambulance! Don’t even brush your hair!” she told the other midwife. And she did arrive in 10 minutes! In one push, our second daughter Melanie was born!
My mother and my sister were in the living room with Myra. At 23 months she didn’t fully understand what was happening. When she heard Melanie’s first cry, her eyes grew round like saucers. Where did the baby come from?!
Mom brought Myra in to meet her sister. It was truly amazing how God worked everything out so beautifully!
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