Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Let's Swap Prayers!

I gotta start this off with a warning . . .

Please skip to the bottom of this post if you'd like to avoid hearing a silly sob story about my upcoming labor and delivery and some related prayers I'm asking for.

I wouldn't blame ya if you did!

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We're getting so close to the arrival of our newest babe!

38 weeks and + 5 days pregnant as of today.

At this point, I'm just brimming with excitement and joy and a little bit of nervousness but mostly pure eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

If I could humbly ask for prayers, though. It's sorta over something silly, but it's causing me piles of stress, so I'm just gonna throw it out there.

You may recall from John Paul's birth, I'm super pro-natural childbirth for myself. I wrote a ton about it here and here in case you're curious. We ended up having the most amazing, empowering, all-natural birth experience with John Paul and our super pro-natural childbirth doc was a huge part of that. So when we moved to east Tennessee after John Paul was born and found out we were pregnant again, I searched and searched until I found another super pro-natural childbirth doc in the area, to help us on our journey to another awesome natural birth experience.

We love our new doc so much. He's very supportive of my birth preferences and has a low low c-section rate of only 16% (for reference, the national average is 32.2%). We've seen only him through the whole pregnancy and he's totally cool with coming in to deliver our little bean, even if he's not on-call when the main event happens. It doesn't get much better than that.

BUT! (You knew there was a but.) We just found out a few weeks ago that he's going on vacation right after my due date.

*insert sobbing emoji here*

Which means, if I don't deliver by 40 weeks + 2 days, I don't get to deliver with our doc and I'm left at the hands of one of the other random docs in his group (both with a c-section rate of 35%).

These are silly things to worry about, I know. But I already got in a leeeettle bitty disagreement with one of the other docs in his office over something in my birth preferences. Ugh. So this is causing lots of fears and worries at a time when I really need my worries and fears to be nil.

Annnyyyyywayyyyy.

Would you mind praying that I deliver with my doc, some time before 40 weeks + 2 days?

I'm actually doing everything I can to naturally go into labor ASAP.

-- Eating dates. Lots of dates.
-- Drinking red raspberry leaf tea. Lots of red raspberry leaf tea.
-- Borage oil, since my doula recommended it.
-- Stripping membranes next week.
-- Eating all the eggplant. (It totally worked last pregnancy. Or was totally a coincidence.)
-- Walking around our hilly neighborhood.
-- *cover your eyes* . . . doing the deed, if you know what I mean.
-- Getting adjusted at a chiropractor, to get things lined up for labor.
-- Considering acupuncture and moxibustion . . . some sort of therapy which involves burning moxa over certain points on the body. I just learned about it today. Am I hippy enough?
-- Considering drinking huge amounts of castor oil. Eep.

None of these things will put me into labor if baby isn't ready, which is good because the last thing I want is to rush baby along. BUT, if my body is ready and I just need that extra little boost, these'll do it. And if you recall, I had John Paul on my due date, so I'm thinking this babe will be ready right around his/her due date too.

I know I sound like a crazy person. I just love my doc so much, and trust him so so much. So prayers for delivery with him would be much appreciated.And if that's just not God's will, prayers for another amazing, empowering all-natural birth experience with whoever is on-call the night this baby decides to arrive. Many thanks, friends! <3

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Ok, you're officially at the bottom now. We're at the good part . . .

More important than all the above, I'd love to pray for YOU!

During labor, I'll be offering up all my pain and fear and crazy emotions for your intentions. So please leave your intentions in the comments here or shoot me an email at stephschweitz [at] gmail [dot] com. If you have a private intention, just write something like, "prayers for a private intention" and I'll totally cover you too. Please don't be shy! I'll also be praying for the general intentions of all my followers, especially those suffering through infertility, so you're sure to be covered even if you don't comment. But please, comment or email if you're up for it! I'd love to shower you with prayers.

Can't wait to share our newest baby with you! Hopefully soon. ;)


30 comments:

  1. We just can't get our 8yo daughter's chronic illness under control. Prayers for her would be much appreciated.

    Hope you get to see your new little bubs soon! :)

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    1. Prayers coming your way! Thanks for sharing your intention. <3

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  2. Prayers for you and your family, sweet friend!!!! Now and always! Can't wait to meet this little bean!!!

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    1. You are the sweetest! Thank you! I'm adding you to my list of prayers too, even though you didn't ask for any. :P

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  3. You are absolutely entitled to having a preference in your doctor. And I will certainly be praying for you. But just know, that just because the other doctors' C-Section rate is higher than you'd like, that percentage need not include you! Focus on the positive, if you do end up with one of them delivering your baby, you will help their percentage go down!

    Prayers for my son and guidance for the educational decisions we have to make soon would be wonderful!

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    1. This was for sure supposed to sound upbeat and cheerleader-y and not preachy. I for sure had my own doctor preference for my births and prayed about them so I totally get what you're saying, is what I meant by all this. It was meant to be supportive and uber confident that you will have a great birth. :)

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    2. Don't even worry a bit! Your first comment did give me a little boost of happy and pep when I read it. :) I've got this!!! And we'll have our doula too, who will naturally lower the c-section rate as well. <3

      Happy to pray for you! Thanks for sharing your intention. <3

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  4. Praying that baby arrives in time, or if not, that you still get the experience you want.

    Please pray for my 18 month old daughter who was born with a CHD and tracheomalagia that she will stay healthy and out of the hospital and get a chance to catch up developmentally.

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    1. Thank you so much for your prayers, friend! And thank you for sharing your intentions with me. I'll be sure to pray for your sweet daughter. <3

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  5. Prayers for you, hubs and the sweet little one. I can only imagine that have the right doc there makes a huge difference. Prayers for him, too.

    I would greatly appreciate prayers for a private intention.


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    1. Thank you so much for your prayers! I will absolutely offer up prayers for your private intention!!

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  6. Praying for you! I had to switch docs halfway through Cora's pregnancy due to moving and that was stressful enough...it would be really hard not to have had my doc at her delivery! :) If you can pray for some dear friends of mine, that would be fantastic. Can't wait to "meet" your little one!

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    1. Right?! Trying not to be high maintenance here, but if I can't be high maintenance about birth, what can I be high maintenance about?! Sorry you had a stressful doc switch situation. Whew. I'm getting hot flashes just thinking about it.

      Happy to send up prayers for your friends!

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  7. Trusting your doctor and being comfortable with him/her is so important, so this doesn't sound nuts at all. Prayers that you are able to deliver with your doctor!

    If you could please pray for peace and guidance for us, it would be much appreciated.

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    1. Thank you so much, Stephanie! I really appreciate the prayers . . . and validation that I'm not *that* crazy. :)

      So happy to pray for you guys! Thanks for sharing your intentions. <3

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  8. So many prayers for you and your stress over this upcoming delivery and also that no matter what happens that both you and baby will be safe and healthy through it all!

    Prayers for my husband and also on decisions about where our children should go to school.

    Thanks!

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    1. Amen! Safety and health are the top two priorities, for sure. :) Thank you so much for your prayers!

      I look forward to offering up prayers for you and your family! Thanks for sharing your intentions. <3

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  9. I have a few intentions: 1) For our friends M and V that they would be able to adopt their foster son Cj this year. 2) For my in-laws that they continue to find physical, emotional and spiritual healing with one another. That their love would continue to grow after almost 49 years of marriage! 3) For our foster to adopt journey, that we continue to find peace in God's timing in growing our family. Pray for our foster child whoever they are whenever they come into our lives. We are hoping that it is soon ;) 4) AND because we want it all please pray we are able to have bio children as well. We are making great progress with our NaPro Dr. so we are hoping that God would answer that prayer, soon of course ;) Thank you!!!

    I will be keeping you in prayer for a safe and healthy delivery that is also timely :) Yay, so excited for y'all!

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    1. I'm so glad you shared these intentions! I look forward to praying for you and your friends and your in-laws. :) And thank you for the prayers!! :)

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  10. Prayed for a safe delivery with your preferred doctor! I'd love prayers for growing our family if it's God's will. Thank you!!!! <3

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    1. Honored to pray for you intention! <3 And thank you for your prayers. :)

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  11. Prayers for you! (if I'm not too late!) We'd appreciate prayers to adopt soon :)

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    1. Definitely not too late. Baby is still comfy on the inside I suppose. :) Very honored to pray for you guys! <3

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  12. If it's not too late, I'd greatly appreciate prayers that my husband and I would overcome infertility and conceive. We've been trying since May 2015 and struggled with many of the same issues you've written about (endometriosis, chronic endometritis, luteal phase defect, follicle monitoring and trigger shotting, and more). My NaPro doc is a 2 hours away, and I haven't felt at peace with my visits with him lately. I'm looking to switch to another NaPro doc who is a 3 hour drive away, but it will likely be a few months before she has an opening to see me. Every month feels like a precious opportunity that just never comes to fruition. Sorry for the sob story here, but it feels so hopeless and some days I'm almost too weary to continue praying...so if someone else is offering to pray on our behalf, I am so very grateful. Thank you, and prayers for a safe, healthy delivery with the doctor you feel comfortable with!

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    1. Not too late! :) Thank you for sharing your story with me! Not a sob story at all! I remember the feeling of so many of these emotions you're experiencing. I hope and pray you are blessed with a growing family soon! I'm honored to pray for you. <3

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  13. Excited for you! Please pray for the adoption of our daughter that it will finalize. We are past one year of waiting. Thanks a million! Hoping for an on time or slightly early pregnancy for you!

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  14. Hey! I came to see how close you were to having that baby, and well, here we are! Would you please pray for my husband to find work ASAP? He's been unemployed since June and I'm sure you can imagine what that does for a man and his desire to provide for his family...He loves being at home with Bennett, but he needs the adult socialization too. Something...anything...that is a good fit for us. THANK YOU!! Can't wait to see pictures!

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    1. Whoa, sorry. I guess my husband is logged in...this is Lauren (@Geaux_Lauren) over at Here We Geaux.

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  15. Well, thanks to FB, I know that as of 3 days ago I'm not too late to the party! I will definitely be happy to pray for your intentions. It can be tough to find someone and build that level of trust with them, so definitely praying that you get to deliver with your doc, but also praying that you will be at peace and have the experience that you are looking for, whoever is in attendance. As for me, my prayer intentions are same as ever! ;)

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