Hi Friends!

It’s been awhile – with good reason! So much has happened since this year began. January was spent preparing for our little one… who safely arrived at the end of the month! February has flown by as we adjust to our life with a baby.

Meet Daniel Isaiah…

Daniel Isaiah joined our family in late January weighing 6 pounds 2 ounces and measuring 20.1 inches long. We are one month into parenthood and we are so in love with our little man!

Daniel is doing incredibly well in spite of his congenital heart defect. We know that Lord is watching over our little boy, and we have seen SO many answered prayers throughout his birth and his first few weeks of life! Even though we may never know why Daniel was born with CHD, we know that God has a special plan for his life. ♥

A Brief Birth Story…

Towards the end of my pregnancy, one of the doctors reviewing Daniel’s ultrasounds became very concerned about his size (he was measuring below the 10th percentile) and there were some concerns regarding my placenta. With his heart condition on top of the other issues going on, I was encouraged to go in early for an induction. At first, this was very disheartening for me because all along I had wanted to avoid an induction with the goal of having as natural of a birth as possible.

My husband and our church family (and many friends and family) were praying for us – we really needed wisdom to make the right decision for our baby. We were able to buy some extra time, but in the end, we had peace about going in a week and half early for an induction. Even though it wasn’t what we had wanted, we had peace that the timing was right. We did not want to take any chances knowing our baby had a special heart condition to begin with.

We went to the hospital for the induction in the late evening. I got prepped and they sent me to bed. It was one of the worst night’s of sleep I had ever gotten. There were disturbances all night long and I was so relieved when morning finally came!

To make a long story short, shortly after breakfast that morning I began having regular contractions (on my own) and when one of the midwives came in to give me the next step of the induction process… my water broke! This turned out to be a huge blessing and answer to prayer. From that point forward my body was able to take over and I never needed pitocin or any other method of induction. Daniel was born less than 12 hours later at 9:43pm. I was able to have a couple minutes with my baby before they whisked him away to be stabilized by the NICU team.

We praise the Lord that Daniel only needed to be in the hospital for four days (due to his congenital heart defect) and is very stable on his own. His heart is busy growing and changing so we are being followed closely by a cardiologist. As he grows, we will know if/when he needs certain heart procedures to help correct the issue. The waiting game certainly makes me nervous, but I know the Lord is watching over us and our little one. ♥

My Motherhood Experience…

Motherhood is truly wonderful… but it has come with it’s own set of challenges for me. There are aspects of motherhood that are much harder than I ever anticipated, while others are much easier.

In some ways, caring for a newborn has brought me out of my comfort zone. I’ve cared for several babies in the past but never cared for such a tiny newborn. The fact that he’s ours’ and 100% our responsibility definitely adds some weight to the experience! However, I do think Daniel is an easy baby and we are adjusting pretty well.

The days seem to fly by (I can’t believe it’s almost March!) and the nights can feel very long. There is a verse that hangs in Daniel’s nursery and I think of it often – especially when I am sleep-deprived and busy caring for my little one:

“The Joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

When I’m tired, sleep deprived, and out of strength… the joy of the Lord IS my strength! In Him I can rest, rejoice, and find renewed strength for the day (or night!).

This gift of motherhood is a privilege. I am so grateful God chose us to love and care for this little boy! ♥

Final Thoughts…

I hope you enjoyed meeting our little Daniel Isaiah and hearing a little about his birth story. We think he’s the cutest baby around (we are just a little biased!) and can’t believe how fast he is growing!

Before I go, I want to mention that I am putting together a list of all my favorite items that I’ve used during pregnancy, birth, and life with a baby! My goal is to put it all together into a blog post sometime soon, but in case I never get around to that… you can visit my list here on Amazon.

It’s really hard to know what you will and won’t use when you are preparing for a baby. These are the things I have been using regularly and/or have found helpful. I hope this will be helpful to those of you preparing for a baby too!

(P.S. The lovely photos in this post were taken by Katie Kollmeyer Photography)

Until Next Time,