Faith's Arrival

For you created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

Your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God!

How vast the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake,

I am still with You.

Psalm 139:13-18

My dearest friends and prayer warriors, thank you again for loving us and praying for us during our journey.  I wanted you to know that our precious and beautiful Faith Marie was born on Sunday, September 26 at 6:30 in the morning.  I desperately wanted to write to you all yesterday, but we had some details to plan for our daughter and, honestly, my body was too weak. So, here I sit at 3:30 in the morning (God's favorite time for us to be quiet together) to share with you the beauty of Faith! I couldn't sleep without letting you know about our little girl, so I apologize if this is a long post.

Shawn had the opportunity Saturday to play golf, so my mom came up for the day.  We spent the day playing with Jackson and making a practice garden stone.  I wanted Faith to have a fun-filled, crafty birthday party.  During this journey, her footprints became very precious to me. Knowing that they would be unique to her-no one else would ever have the same foot or hand print-was a way for me to remember how delicately she was created.  After practicing the garden stone, Mom and I quickly realized how limited our craftiness might be.  Flower arrangements and home decor are one thing, I think we found our limit with the garden stone (not our best piece of work)!  However, we took the time to gather Faith's craft projects, make Jackson's backpack of goodies for the hospital, and pack a couple of items.  We knew the time was getting close and I was, of course, trying to plan for what I could.  Thank you, Father, for giving us time and prompting us to pack these things Saturday. Oh how it helped Shawn and I get out the door faster Saturday night!

My water broke, at about 10:15, about an hour after I went to sleep, Saturday night. After gathering our things rather quickly and working through some confusion with doctors and hospitals, we headed to the hospital.  There are many God moments along our amazing time and I hope to share all of them with you so you know how intricately the Lord worked out every detail.  My doctor and I spoke on Thursday last week and she was working diligently with our insurance for us to deliver at St. Luke's hospital so that Faith could be walked over to Texas Children's hospital here in Houston. My insurance had not yet approved the out of network hospital and had definitely not approved our perinatologist to deliver us.  Needless to say, there was much confusion over which hospital to go to and who should deliver us.  We had 3 choices of hospitals and 3 choices of doctors.  To make a long story short, none of my doctors were on call Saturday night.  We ended up at what I thought was my last choice in hospitals with a doctor we did not know simply because of distance and the urgency to have me seen by a doctor.  I tell you this because the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, put us at the very BEST hospital with the BEST doctor and the very BEST nurses!!  I am so glad I was not in control!!

Shawn, Jackson, and I made it to the hospital about 11:00 Saturday night due to some excellent driving by my sweet husband.  We checked into triage with the intent of transfering us to the medical center if Faith was still alive.  She, of course, was-with a strong heartbeat.  I, however, was too unstable for the transfer.  Thank you, God, for keeping us at Methodist Willowbrook!  I cannot express how beautiful our time was there and how absolutely wonderful and loving the people are!  Our families came in droves during the night from Austin, New Braunfels, Pearland, Friendswood, El Campo and Rosenburg.  Our loving nurse, Robin, that stayed with us all night and for delivery let all 14 of us into the triage area and then set up places for all of us to rest some during the night.  We met with our new doctor to discuss the course of action for the evening.  I wanted all of this planned and worked out before this night, but I am so thankful we relinquished every bit of our journey to the Lord.  He worked out ways for us to enjoy moments I didn't even realize were important. We decided Saturday night that a natural birth would be more beneficial for me, and wouldn't be too traumatic for Faith since she was so small.  We had an ultrasound done while we were there and learned that Faith had turned and was now perfectly breech.  This would actually make it easier for her since her head would come out last.  Things began to move quickly about 5 am.  My contractions became so uncomfortable, that I was unable to enjoy my last moments of being pregnant with her.  I got my epidural about 5:45 am Sunday morning. Faith Marie decided to come moments later!  I am so thankful I didn't get the epidural earlier and even more thankful it didn't take full effect.  I was able to feel everything-what a HUGE gift!!  Faith came before the doctor could make it back to the hospital-she wanted to meet her sweet nurse, Robin.  Robin only had time to put on gloves before helping Faith into this world.  She so gently waited for Faith's time, holding each part of her.  My mom and Shawn were in the room and I can honestly say that Faith came through a time of prayer.  We all prayed for her while she made her way into our arms. She came to us in God's time, and she left us just as quickly.  Faith quickly decided Heaven was a better place to be. Shawn said she didn't take a single breath on this earth.  She was created for a higher place with the angels.  I know tonight, she is singing and praising Jesus. She has met amazing people from the Bible and has seen the glory and beauty of Heaven.

My dear friends, thank you so much for praying for us and walking this journey by our sides.  I cannot express how thankful Shawn and I are for all of you-whether we know your face-to face, we know your hearts.  I know we will meet and know each other fully in Heaven.  You will also see our daughter, Faith Marie, when you get there.  She will thank you for praying for her and for keeping her mommy and daddy lifted during our time of sadness over her loss. 

I will post very soon to tell you all about our little girl....God bless you and your family.  My prayers are for children around the world to be loved a little more and hugged a little tighter tonight.  They are so special and each one a miracle!

LaTisha