Hello friends! Wow, it has been a minute since the last blogpost! Only for the very best reason. :) A precious baby girl one joined our family this spring and we are just in awe of the Lord’s faithfulness. If you’ve been around since the beginning, you might remember that once upon a time we weren’t even sure we’d be able to have any biological babies as we walked through a season of infertility. More on that part of our story here and here and here. To now have three precious babes to care for each day is an absolute honor and a gift we don’t take for granted. God gets the glory in every bit of this story.

The story of our sweet Hattie Louise. Here we go!

Late last summer we found out we were expecting baby #3 days before heading out on vacation. We were in awe, overjoyed, and quite honestly it didn’t feel real yet. We soaked up every bit of the sweetest big family vacation.

From the moment we got home from that trip, one ball began to drop after another. If I’m being honest, it felt like the enemy was working harddddd to steal our joy in this season & it stretched our faith in a whole new way.

We came home to a broken AC, a few weeks later our son had dental surgery and the bills came back seven times what we were quoted. We purchased a bigger vehicle in preparation for three carseats and the “new to us” vehicle started having a slew of issues before we even got home from driving it off the lot. We would find out a month later a loved one received a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, two other family members underwent surgery, we had a dishwasher leak that resulted in ripping up flooring throughout most of the kitchen to dry everything out, our water heater was on its last leg, & Ry got rear ended by a dump truck.

I wish I could say it stopped there, but it didn’t. At 28 weeks I found out I had gestational diabetes this time around, our daughter had an allergic reaction that landed us in the emergency room, and in lieu of all that we’d been hit with in the last 6 months, the bank account wasn’t thriving. ;)

The Lord truly carried us through some of the weariest months we’ve ever walked through. I found a instagram story I had shared in the midst of this that said “we trust the Lord even when (especially when) life feels weary. He has great plans. He’ll provide. He’ll never leave us or forsake us. We can rest in that”

Teary eyed typing that up on the other side 6 months after that was posted. Goodness has the Lord provided with far more than we deserve relationally, financially, and through the birth of our sweet baby girl. He’s been in the details of it all.

Back to the final days leading up to her birth.

After a long induction process with Remi Kate, we prayed and prayed that wouldn’t be the case this time around & that labor would begin and progress on its own. After being monitored for IUGR and gestational diabetes, the odds weren’t in our favor. With many conversations, prayers, seeking wisdom and encouragement from close family and friends, conversations with our doctors, etc. we had set a date of March 27th to induce if baby hadn’t come on their own by then.

March 25th I went in for a checkup and was 1 cm dilated (and had been 10 days prior). I left feeling a little discouraged that over the course of ten days I hadn’t progressed at all. But we knew the Lord was sovereign. He was good whether labor was long or short. He was good whether it came down to an induction or labor began on its own. He was good even if nothing went as we had hoped and prayed for.

Throughout this pregnancy, the Lord refined my heart and taught me that His goodness isn’t dependent on my circumstances.

That night we went out for ice cream together and just soaked up the final few days with the two big kids. :)

The next morning I woke up early to read my bible and just before the first kiddo woke up, I had a contraction. I didn’t think much of it. The kiddos and I had breakfast, played, read books, and dove into our Easter activities for preschool that week. The contractions continued throughout the morning & I thought maybe I should start making note of these time wise just to see. They were anywhere from 15-20ish minutes apart and I knew they could very well subside at any point. I prayed they were helping me make some sort of progress before the morning.

We carried on with our day and keeping up with the kiddos was such a gift to keep my mind from wondering what tomorrow morning would bring when it came time for the induction.

I texted Ry at work to let him know that I’d “had a few contractions” but that he didn’t need to worry. See below for the few contractions. ;)

As the day continued, the contractions hadn’t subsided and were gradually getting closer together. Ry came home from work and as he walked through the front door I was leaning over the island swaying through a contraction and his eyes grew huge as he says “you are much further along than you led me to believe…we need to pack the car” I literally laughed. I told him we weren’t going to the hospital tonight. The induction was set for tomorrow morning and I didn’t want to drive all that way only to still be 1cm and be sent home.

He nervously paced the house for the next hour as we decided what to do. I texted a friend who’s an OB at the hospital and asked her what her thoughts were - she said to give the hospital a call and that it sounded like we’d be heading in. ;) Still in denial, I hopped in the shower and while the hot water felt incredible, the contractions were steady at 5-7 minutes apart at this point. We still had to pack up and get the kiddos off to a friend’s house and the hospital was nearly an hour away, so I told Ry we could probably start packing up. The look of relief on his face. ;)

Around 5:30pm we hugged and kissed the kiddos goodbye and started making the drive to the hospital. Each drive to the hospital always feels so sweet and special. Playing our favorite worship music, dreaming of who this little one might be, the anticipation of adding another sweet little love to the family, reminiscing on the other kiddos births, all of it feels so sentimental.

On the ride there the contractions started to pick up in intensity, and one in particularly I could feel her starting to move down and thought “oh wait maybe this is real” ;) Riley randomly rolled the window down to “distract me” and I burst out laughing quickly followed by “stop I can’t laugh, this hurts” hahaha.

We got to the hospital and checked in. While getting hooked up to the monitors, filling out paperwork, etc. contractions continued and were starting to get a little uncomfortable. The nurse asked if I wanted her to check me and I said yes, nervous that I’d still be 1-2cm.

The next words I heard “Oh my goodness girl, you’re 6-7cm and your water bag is bulging.” I started SOBBING tears of relief. ONLY GOD! Here we were 12 hours out from a scheduled induction and the Lord so kindly answered our prayers to not only let labor begin on it’s own but to be progressing!! I had never had a labor progress on its own without pitocin and was just in shock in the best way. Our sweet nurse also happened to know my sister from nursing school so we facetimed while she was in the room - God is in the details. :)

After about an hour, I had an epidural and then things flew. The next thing I knew we were at 9cm, they broke my water, and it was time to push. While I could feel the pressure and knew it certainly was time, I kept asking “are you sure it’s really time?!” still in shock at how quickly and smoothly it was all happening.

We didn’t find out the gender throughout the entire pregnancy and our doctor said “okay mom and dad, final guesses?!” we stuck with our initial guesses of girl, though by the way I had carried her so low at the end, I was convinced she was a boy. Three pushes later, they laid the most precious tiny baby on my chest and Ry said “It’s a girl! It’s her, It’s hattie!”

We could not stop smiling through happy tears. The Lord had been SO kind and SO good to us. He answered a thousand prayers. Our sweet girl was here, safe and sound. He carried us through some of the weariest months of our lives. Her birth was a dream come true. He gets the glory in every bit of this story.

Meet our Hattie girl.

Big brother and Big Sister came to meet her the following day and were just as smitten as us. :) That night my parents came to visit and I was confused as I saw them carrying in another carseat…and then my precious sister, just 4 weeks postpartum, and one day post surgery getting her wisdom teeth removed, rode all the way up to surprise us with her newest little one. Cue the tears again. ;) The sweetest day.

The Lord is SO faithful friends. We pray you see His goodness on display through her story. :)

xoxo Rachel