My Nephew - Raleigh Blake was born TODAY!!

My sister is 4 days away from her due date (as of yesterday) and she was MORE than ready to bring this baby into the world!!! She had an appointment with the midwife, Rachel at 6:00PM at her house. Rachel was telling Shannon that she would not strip her membranes because it was painful and caused painful labor, so she would rather let her body go into labor on it's own!! My sister, in all pregnant hormones, began to cry!! Rachel felt bad because the last thing she would want to do is make a pregnant mommy upset!!! So she decided to check her cervix and see how far she had dilated. Shannon said that Rachel's face said she was either NOT dilated at all or VERY dilated!! The latter was the case!! Shannon was 6 almost 7CM dilated!! Rachel couldn't believe it!! Then Shannon got up to get dressed and . . . her water broke!!! She thought she was peeing all over Rachel's floor . . . but she was officially laboring!! Rachel thought she may not have time to make the hour long trek home, where she planned to have the baby, but Shannon really insisted that they hurry home. She wanted to have him at home (not at Rachel's house)!!! She they made the trek and got home about 7ish. I meet her there! We all hurried to do the preparations to make the birth go smoothly!! Shannon wasn't really having a lot of contractions though!!

Then all Shannon's girlfriends showed up!! Lots of 'em!! Let me try to paint the picture accurately!! Shannon's house is VERY small!! The midwife and her 2 assistants showed up and that made 6 adults (sis, her hubby & me, midwife + 2 helpers) in the house. Then 5 more ladies!! The excitement and energy filled the room!! There were 11 adults in the house!!

Shannon wasn't really having a lot of contractions and things seemed to slow way down!!! So she kept going for walks. She walked about 6-8 times with different people. Finally she began hard contractions that were about 1-2 min apart at 1:30AM!!! Those that weren't walking with her were crashed on the floor!! So . . . after hard painful contraction began . . . we had a baby at 2:36AM!!

He had a full head of hair and was gorgeous upon arrival!! He weighed in at 9lbs and 4oz and 21 1/4 inches long! he is a big guy!! He is surrounded with love and seems to be happy and content pretty much all of the time!!

I have to say, that birth is miraculous!! I have birthed three children of my own and I have baby #4 in the oven, so I have been there!! There are so many things that must go into the making of a human life that only a Sovereign Creator could put all the pieces together as He does. I cry every time I think about it!! I personally think that a natural birth environment (at home with friends and family) makes it even more amazing!! I often think about Eve. How did she know how to move the baby out of the birth canal or how to feed her infant?? When her daughters began to have children, I bet she was the "midwife" with all the answers!! It's just all so fascinating to me!

I pray that Baby Raleigh Blake stays healthy and safe in the hands of his loving parents! The Lord has a purpose for his life and I pray that He would lead Blake in the path of righteous for His name's sake!! Amen!