The Blessing of Birth

This message, my precious friends, is such an extension of the last – boasting in the Lord, and never in man, my hope remains in Him. I first want to express my heart-felt thoughts and encouragement to any woman or couple who have had troubles with a successful pregnancy. I can speak from experience; it is an extremely painful time (Psalm 34:18). If you are a reader who has children and the process came with ease, please give God glory and praise for that amazing blessing (Psalm 118:21).

The Beginning of Our Journey

Here is a little snippet of our journey – My husband and I began trying in October of 2010. Our precious Christopher Timothy was born on August 18, 2012, conceived in February of 2012 (sorry, TMI, but again, necessary information for testimony-sake). We consider ourselves to be so incredibly blessed, even though the journey wasn’t easy at all, we have our Christopher.

Those seventeen months of anticipation were close to the hardest part of mine and David’s marriage. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, it’s a dream you have every single night, and in the midst, the unknown moments are the easy ones because you can keep dreaming, but the moment you realize it didn’t happen – you were not successful, you fall so far down emotionally, it’s hard to even think straight. This was our life, mine and David’s, for seventeen months.

Then, after almost owning stock in so many pregnancy tests because of the “I think this is it moment,” it happened. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I; of course, made David go out and buy another test, as I couldn’t fathom the reality with only one positive test after experiences with so many prior to this one. Again, the + sign was right in my view. David and I wept, we didn’t sleep that night at all, it was like Christmas Eve for a young child, anticipating the gifts under the tree the next morning, but we were anticipating birth, the miraculous blessing of our success FINALLY. The dream we had had for those many months prior had finally come to fruition (Psalm 27:14).

Pregnancy Trials and God’s Provision

Pregnancy for me was, to be completely honest, horrifying. I was so incredibly sick, hospitalized a few times due to severe dehydration and so dizzy I couldn’t even see straight for those first three months. I tried to take the best care of myself possible but ended up having to stay with mom and dad, leaving David in Georgia (where we lived at the time) to work. Mama took such amazing care of me.

Another Romans 8:28 testimonial – what was truly such a difficult time, also had blessings no-less, with wonderful memories and feelings of gratitude for mama’s sacrifice to see to my well-being and Christopher’s too. I don’t think I would have survived if it wasn’t for her care.

An Unexpected Early Arrival

August 2012, I was only six months in as a mama-to-be. On that day, the 18th, miraculously I was in town from Georgia visiting mom and dad. Never experiencing pregnancy before, I awoke in the middle of the night with cramps – well, contractions I found out later to be. They were not terribly painful, so I brushed them off as Christopher just making sure I knew he was in there, being a mover and a shaker.

By morning, those “cramps” were exactly 7 minutes apart. This is when I thought, “oh gracious Jenny, this child is ready to meet the world!” “But wait, I’m still three months from a full-term pregnancy,” I thought. Mama called 911, and off I went in the ambulance with two of the most precious EMT’s I have ever encountered.

I was focusing on acting normal, so those sweet EMT’s were very positive about this just being a false alarm. As we arrived at the local hospital, in probably less than five minutes flat, I said my goodbyes to the EMT’s. It only took about twenty minutes for the doctors, tending to me to realize this baby is coming, and it can’t happen here at the local hospital they said. There were no doctors on staff that could deliver a baby this early on in a pregnancy.

Meanwhile, I laid there dripping with sweat, as the hospital’s air conditioning had broken the night before, in August… in Florida! Before I knew it, I was right back with those same sweet EMT’s, headed to Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Children, Orlando, Florida.

Christopher’s Miraculous Birth

Sweet and precious “little” 2 lb. 9-ounce Christopher Timothy Cote was born that very day at 2:45 pm. What followed was a three month stay for David and me at the Ronald McDonald house across the street from the hospital – which allowed us to be within walking distance to our new baby boy as much as possible.

God’s mighty hand was ALL over this miraculous situation, loved ones. At that time, David worked for a unit on Moody AirForce Base in Georgia. He stayed in constant communication with his supervisors, who so humbly allowed David to stay right there with me and Christopher for the whole duration of our stay.

Dr. Alexander, who delivered Chris, was more than amazing; he was truly our angel. The neonatal nurses on the floor of the hospital Chris was assigned to were also our angels during this time. Our family was our rock, staying with us daily and as needed when we wanted to take a breather and grab dinner at one of the nearby restaurants.

God gave me the energy I needed to rest only every so often as I had to produce enough milk for baby Christopher to thrive and grow – such an amazing example of where we are weak, HE is STRONG! (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Thirteen Years Later

And Christoper did just that, friends. He has grown and thrived for the last thirteen years. We will celebrate our miracle baby tomorrow, Monday, August 18th and we will remember our beautiful and precious CC, our mama, our angel in Heaven, as this date also marks two years since she went Home.

Christopher will be a teenager. He is such a kind child, and one I know CC is watching over and so very proud of (Psalm 91:11).

Happy Birthday to our boy, our son, our miracle Always!

This message is lovingly dedicated to Christopher Cote and Cynthia McRae. God Bless, and Amen.

Enjoy the additional encouragement in song. Click the link to hear the song pertaining to this week’s message of hope: In My Arms by Plumb