Samuel David Mintmire
 

In looking back over the last year, I feel like I was at a ‘’crossroads’’ with the Lord.  Do I trust Him at His word, or do I trust what I can see with my eyes and what I can actually ‘wrap my head around?’  I begin our birth story this way because the Lord told me I was going to have Samuel before I had him.  Now, this may not sound remarkable to some, but remarkable to me…it certainly was.  You see, I had several miscarriages before Samuel.  I had been told several times I may not have children-- ever.  Then came Abby, our beautiful and perfect 11 year old.  Ethan took a little while longer but proved to be worth every minute of the wait. 

I was in choir practice one Saturday preparing for an Easter program at our church.  This woman named Lisa, who I hardly knew touched my shoulder and said to me, ‘’The Lord has appointed a blessing to your womb…..believe it.’’  Ok I’m thinking to myself….she doesn’t know me….she certainly didn’t know that I’d just had another miscarriage and desperately wanted another baby.  And the journey began.  A friendship formed and I began to seek God…..did HE tell her to speak over me?  Yes He did.  I began to pray my heart out…when would this blessing come? I was pregnant by Easter, but miscarried again.  Why would God promise me a child and then take another one? When Kathy went with me to an ultrasound (when she couldn’t find a heartbeat)…God really moved and all of us knew it.  Roy (the ultrasound tech) said that my uterus was perfect.  This was strange because I’d always been told that my uterus was part of the problem as to why I was miscarrying. I knew then that God had healed me and was preparing me for my blessing.  In agreement with God my husband and my friend encouraged me, taught me to seek God, and held my hand all along the way.  I prayed Hannah’s prayer in I Samuel and promised God that if he gave me another child, I too would give him to the Lord all the days of his life.  Lisa prayed constantly over my womb and the child that would come….she prayed the spirit of Daniel over this baby that I wasn’t even carrying yet….and guess what… my blessing did come…..we found out we were pregnant at the end of July 2007.  I knew early on in the pregnancy that God was calling me to something big…just how big I never could’ve guessed.  This same woman who had told me of my blessing and had now become my close friend and I learned that she had given birth to all four of her boys at home.  She encouraged me to pray over having a home birth with a midwife.  I quietly agreed thinking to myself….’she must have lost her sweet mind…I could never do that…she doesn’t know what a ninny I am about pain….I was ready for epidurals at 2cm!!’  ‘Bless her silly little heart’, I thought…’a homebirth is not going to happen for me.’  And then God laughed.  God laughed at me very much the same way I laugh at my children when they tell me they’re NOT going to do something.  My husband and I began to pray over this midwife thing and homebirth started to feel more like a ‘’calling’’ than it did a ‘’sentencing.’’  I would say that by the beginning of the third month we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we should use Kathy and birth at home.  I was certain of our calling because at that point, I was afraid to even go to a hospital for this pregnancy.  Disobeying God was more frightening to me than anything else….no doctor could bring comfort to me if I was disobedient to God and my calling.  I would have this baby at home and God would deliver it- and in the process…He would deliver me.

So, I’m moving right along in my pregnancy and the preterm labor starts up.  Kathy sends me to the hospital where I had a less than wonderful experience in the ER and that’s when I knew.  That’s when I knew that God really did want me to birth at home with Kathy.  I was actually terrified to be at the hospital-- Terrified that I wouldn’t be able to be obedient to my calling to birth at home.  They stopped my labor and sent me home.  Then it started again about a month later and Kathy sent me to Vanderbilt….I didn’t enjoy that stay either….I really want to do this at home, I thought.  I began to wonder what God was telling me…why would He tell us to do this at home and then let me go into early labor?  I mean, after all, I had just found out I had beta strep….now I really needed to birth in a hospital, right?  I mean, that’s what everybody else thought.  Well, God had a lot to teach me…and the lessons began. 

Labor started around 10:00a.m. Saturday, April 12.  I called Kathy and then my support team.  When Kathy got there, she decided we were in labor and we began to get ready.  Little did I know we would labor til Monday morning and stall out at 7cm. But I have to say, it really was the most incredible three days I’d ever known.  I had friends singing worship songs over me, praying over me, reading Scripture over me….loving me.  I heard Kathy praying over me during contractions.  It really was an incredible thing.  But when I had labored for three days with no baby…I was getting a bit irritable.  What now?!  Do I abandon everything I knew God had told me about this birth and take matters into my own hands?  Believe me, it crossed my mind.  Thank God for a godly husband and a midwife that knew my heart.   

So, I’m sitting on my bed, crying my eyes out because labor has stalled.  I’m angry at God, angry at Kathy, and angry at my husband.  I was even angry at myself for starting to question God’s will.  I wanted to do a home birth, but by this point, I was just ready to see my baby.  Kathy assured me that the baby wasn’t in any danger, the heart tones were great, my water had not broken, and all was well.  My baby didn’t have a clue what all the fuss on the outside was about.  She told me we could go to the hospital where they would most definitely break my water, fuss at me for trying a home birth, and do a c-section if I hadn’t delivered within 2 hours. She was willing to let me do whatever I wanted, and while none of this necessarily appealed to me, I didn’t care….I wanted to see my baby.  But instead of acting on that, I prayed that God would give my husband clarity on what we should do and that He would tell Kathy what we should do. Since I knew they were seeking God first, I would submit to what they told me and trust that God had spoken. I wasn’t clear enough to decide anything after 3 days of labor.  Kathy decided to go check some other clients and then she would come back and check on me later.  She called us and told us, ‘’go read I Kings 18 and then call me back and tell me what you got out of it….I know what God told me, I want to see if He tells you the same thing.’’  I love that about Kathy….her main focus was to obey God as my midwife.  Kathy knew that I had been called of God to birth at home…we’d had many conversations about it.  So, in looking back, I’m thankful that she gently reminded me of my calling instead of shipping me off to the hospital unnecessarily.  So, my husband and I read I Kings and here’s what God said to us…..’’vs. 36b  O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.  Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that You, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’’  Wow…I suddenly remembered….I was called to this for HIS glory.  This wasn’t about me…it was about Him.  There you have it.  Let’s do this thing, Lord.  And seven long days later….He did do it.  My husband and I prayed that God would start labor and we prayed over whether we would try any natural methods of jump-starting labor again.  We decided that if God didn’t want labor to start…no matter what we did…it wouldn’t start.  So, I tried to drink another lovely castor oil smoothie….or was it motor oil?  Tastes the same I’m sure….anyway.  Nothing.  I noticed nothing.  Until around 10:00p.m.  My contractions were at a whole other level by 10:00.  But after stalling out….I wasn’t so sure this was the real deal either.  So, I called Lisa (my friend and doula) and had decided that at least she could get to me in time deliver my baby in the event that Kathy couldn’t get there in time.  I had overheard her and Kathy having that conversation when I stalled out at 7cm.  So, I knew Kathy thought it might go quick when I finally did go back into labor.  Lisa arrives at I don’t know what time…at this point…I’m in some sort of alternate universe with the Lord.  I say this jokingly, but it’s true.  I think that’s how God shows mercy to laboring mothers…they sort of enter a ‘zone’.  I knew that Lisa would be able to tell us if we were actually in labor and needed to call Kathy or not.  Lisa and my husband helped me into the birthing pool to try to ease contractions but that just annoyed me.  I remember hearing Lisa tell my husband…”David, you’d better get Kathy over here quickly or I’ll be delivering this baby myself.”  So, he called Kathy.  Most everything after that is a bit of a blur.  I remember being on the bed again when Kathy checked me to see how dilated I was.  I was saying to the Lord, ‘’I know I’m going to have to push this baby out….but I’m telling you- I cannot move.  You’re going to have to deliver this baby, Lord.  I cannot do it.”  Kathy got me back into the pool and that’s when the Lord took over.  I remember somehow getting onto my knees.  I could hear Kathy and David praying….Lisa was praising God with every contraction.  I remember telling Kathy….’’I’m not pushing!  I’m not pushing!”  ‘’Ok’’, she said. The next thing I know she’s saying, ‘’He’s under the veil!  He’s under the veil!”  I heard crying and people praising God.  ‘’What is the veil?” I’m thinking? Samuel was born with the amniotic sack still in tact-the veil. That’s what the veil is….being born protected by the sac.  Not just one layer though.  He had two layers protecting his head.  My God protected my baby from beta strep.  All those antibiotics…didn’t matter anymore.  God didn’t need our help.  The next thing I know Kathy is telling me to pick up my baby.  It was amazing!  I didn’t do a thing!  God delivered my baby.  Samuel was perfect and sweet and wonderful.  I couldn’t believe it happened so fast.  I only labored for about 6 hours that time.  It was incredible! 

So, there it is.  I was called to birth at home and God had mercy on me and completely delivered me.  He delivered me from needing to be in control all the time.  He delivered me from fear.  He delivered me from myself.  I wish that every woman could know the joy that comes from just letting God take over and do through us what He created us to accomplish.  And I wish every woman could experience the peace that God- through Kathy brings to a birth.  She really is an amazing midwife and she does her calling well.  Praise God for my sweet and perfect Samuel David Mintmire. 

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