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Written by Sharon Hockenbury
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Page 3 of 10
Now came the dilemma. We had a boy, a girl, a boy that had a birth defect, shouldn't we stop now? My husband and I talked among ourselves. It puzzled us that even though we had used birth control that we conceived. Why did we even bother using it? This is when we decided to ask God about planning our family. Novel thought!! I began a word search in the Bible. I looked up every reference I could find on womb, child, children, birth, etc. I came up with over 30 scriptures saying that God was the opener and closer of the womb and that children were a blessing. We loved God and wanted to walk in His was. This seemed like a drastic step to take! I mean, actually let God plan our family. We knew no one else that did this, however, I was vaguely familiar with the idea because of my Catholic up bringing. We took the plunge into a birth control free relationship. Things got good!! A few months after this study, a friend gave me a copy of the book, "The Way Home". After reading it, I told my husband that we were not crazy after all, there were others that thought this way.
Our fourth child was born 3 years from the birth of our third. The longest span of time between children so far. The Lord does have a sense of humor. By this time I was beginning to know SOMETHING about having babies but still had a lot more to learn. After reading "The Way Home", I read Mary Pride's next book, "All The Way Home". She talked about homebirth and VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean ). This got my wheels churning. The Lord and I were talking. "Lord, if I am going to leave having children up to You, do you think we could talk about not having any more Cesareans? Would you direct my steps, if this is your will?" He heard my prayer, I mean He always does, but he led me to a Doctor that was willing to give me a "trial of labor". It had never been done in the hospital I would birth in, a VBAC after 3 sections, but he was willing, and I was thankful. I read every book I could get my hands on about VBAC, including, “Silent Knife“, which would prove to give a vital connection in the future. But, more on that later. I went into this birth, excited and confident that we could have a naturally birth. After 17 hours, which included some drugs at the end, 3 hours of pushing and a painful episiotomy, we had our little boy, 7#4oz. I was elated and so thankful that the Lord had once again blessed us! We nursed with some difficulty, as with previous babies. I got blood blisters and kicked holes in the floor when he
latched on, but we persevered for over 2 years.
By this time, I was not quite an expert, but I was getting brave when it came to "having babies". When we conceived our next child, I began to research the possibility of a homebirth. I was partially inspired by the fact that my husband had launched into self employment and we had NO insurance. A homebirth with midwife would be something we could pay for. I found a licensed midwife who would do a VBAC at home. She felt like she had some leverage because she was involved in a national study on VBAC. This proved to be important, as the Doctor who delivered my third child in the hospital called my midwife and threatened to "turn her into the authorities" if she did my birth at home. Being involved in the study was our protection, so to speak. I know it was the Lord!!
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