Perfect Timing

It seems like every time I turn a corner I'm getting a new lesson on letting go of my own plans and timing and (mis)understandings and just handing it over to God, letting him do his job.

I had one of those lessons at the end of my pregnancy.  My doctor had been telling me since my 37 week appointment that Everly would be making her debut early - most likely by the very next week.  While I hoped she didn't come before the end of February for several reasons, the idea of her coming early was both exciting and a huge relief.  This pregnancy was just so much harder on me than my first one.

When each day and week passed with no new baby I had a mix of emotions, but I knew she'd be coming before long.  At 39 weeks I officially went on maternity leave and began willing the girl out, but the same day Lyla woke up with a nasty cough, fever and runny nose.  She coughed so hard that night that she began gagging, which I knew was a bad sign.  I resolved to call the doctor the next morning to take her in.  I thought it was probably just a minor virus, but wanted the peace of mind with a newborn on the way.  The next morning I woke up with a lot of contractions, and I was sure that day was the day we'd meet our Evie girl.  I took Lyla to the doctor first thing and she was diagnosed with RSV, which lead the doctor to ask when I was due.  I told her the following Sunday, and she said I better hope she doesn't come much before that because of how dangerous the virus can be for newborns.

I kid you not I went into that appointment with regular contractions and left with none...and a serious pit in my stomach.  Going from being so excited by the potential of meeting your brand new baby early to hoping and praying she would just stay put, not to mention being worried about your first baby and the risk for developing pneumonia, is a lot to handle for a 9 months pregnant lady.

Lyla and I took the next few days easy, and happily she was on the mend pretty quickly.  But, my girl's close face-to-face snuggles ended up getting me sick too.  Which of course added to my list of worries.

Somehow Evie managed to hang in there until just the day before her due date.  When the hospital pediatrician made her rounds she said that me getting the same virus was actually the very best thing that could have happened since I would be transferring antibodies to Evie, protecting her from any lingering germs at home.

I asked her to repeat that one time to make sure I had heard correctly and sat back, amazed.  Just when I though timing couldn't be worse, it actually couldn't have been more perfect.

Lyla couldn't come to the hospital as a precautionary measure for the other newborns, but that ended up being more perfect than I imagined as well.  Having those first couple of days to really dote on our new addition was so nice.  Staring into those blue eyes and listening to her soft breath, I could have stayed in that hospital room forever.  But eventually we did pack up and head home to our sweet little maniac who was waiting eagerly to meet her baby "Yevie".

Never had my heart felt so full than that moment.  Two sissies meeting for the first time, a new family of four.

There wasn't much that went according to "plan" that last week, but it all worked out even better than I'd ever dreamed. 

- K