3 Thoughts From A Mom of A Newborn

So I had a baby about a week ago. In case you didn’t know, I was pregnant…I suppose I never wrote about that part of life. But suffice it to say, I survived (again), and I’m thrilled to have my little man here to cuddle (rather than lug around in my belly!). Benjamin William Pace was born on January 23rd and he is a well-loved little guy!

Due to the sleep deprivation this season brings, I don’t have many intelligent musings to pass along — But I have had a few thoughts that I might as well write down (even if only for my own benefit). 

First of all …. God is awesome! 

Though I’ve done this baby thing before, I am constantly amazed by God’s design. And if you’ve experienced the birth of a child, you know it to be true — God’s creative power is oh so obvious in the making of a human soul. 

To think, God gives us the ability to grow humans! In the womb, a little human develops all the necessary parts and organs to breathe, see, hear, touch, taste, etc. Just take eating for instance…how amazing it is that the mother’s body produces just the right kind of healthy milky substance that a baby immediately knows how to take in — through an automatic strong sucking reflex! That is amazing! No one needs to teach the baby to eat (or breathe or cry or dirty a diaper for that matter). God intricately designed us to develop inside a mothers body, and then come out fully ready for life on earth. 

When you take a few minutes to stare at a newborn, the idea that millions of years eventually produced a precious baby’s soul seems simply foolish. New life screams of a good and powerful Creator. 

Second… God is so kind!

Without going into details, my labor and delivery did not go as I had hoped. Of my 4 prior children, 3 of them needed forms of induction, and those 3 were not the smoothest deliveries. So I was really hoping to avoid that route — but that is not what happened. Due to concerns about the baby’s heart rate we induced 10 days early. I was not torn up about this, but I was a tad disappointed. 

But at some point I realized, while I don’t know why everything turned out as it did — God was clearly so kind in the process. Most importantly, God answered our prayer for a healthy baby (Which is 100% worth whatever type of delivery). Also, I prayed that my husband would stay COVID free so he could be there for our son’s birth (the hospital wouldn’t allow him in if he had any symptoms). So because we induced early, we ended up at the hospital healthy and COVID-free (right as several of our friends started going down with COVID)! Who knows, if we waited a week to do it “my way” that may have been just enough time for us to get sick. Another prayer kindly answered. 

All of this makes me think about how many times God is tremendously kind and we don’t even know it. In fact, situations may even be disappointing, but it may be God sparing us much worse pain, or he could be providing blessings we don’t even think to give him credit for.

All that to say, may we always remember that we have a good and kind God, even when things aren’t exactly what we expected.

Third….God is always worth trusting! 

As I mentioned, there were some heart-rate concerns the week prior to delivery. It all started when I noticed less movement from the baby than seemed normal, which led to extra monitoring, which led to noticing weird dips in his heart rate. So it was a week of monitoring and paying attention to baby’s movements, and praying…and working hard not to worry. 

But worry is a funny thing. We often feel like it’s situational — meaning, once the situation is fixed we won’t have to deal with worry. But isn’t there always something to worry about? Now that Benjamin is born I can be concerned about whether he’s breathing or choking, I’m making sure his jaundice goes away properly, I’m hoping he doesn’t get COVID.  And there’s probably 100 other things I could choose to worry about. All the way into their adulthood, our children can push us to worry or trust God more. 

And that latter option is really the only good one. While we should make wise choices, the well-being of our children isn’t really in our hands. God is the one who sustains them, keeps them safe, and chooses what they will go through in life. From womb to tomb, they are in God’s (good) hands! We should trust in him.

Praise God for His Goodness

Basic thoughts for today from a tired mama…but may they bring you back to those days when you first held your newborn. May you remember how awesome God is to create precious life and entrust it to you. May you trust in him and his goodness as he directs every aspect of your life and sustains you and your children day by day. God is awesome, kind, and worthy of trust, and our children are sweet reminders of such important truths — Let’s praise God all the more for his goodness today.