A birth story- Introducing Zeke Benaiah

"Unto us a son is given! Eden & I so blessed to greet a healthy Zeke Benaiah ("God will strengthen" who "God has made") at 10.52am this Sunday morning 5th June NZ time. 
Coming 3wks before due date Zeke was 3.45kg/7lb9oz. Love to all our family & friends, we are all well - thanks for your prayers :)" ~AJD


Zeke Benaiah has found a cozy place inside our home and deeply implanted his little self on our hearts. God had his hand on this precious babies birth and answered many prayers. I had selfishly put in a request for Zeke to be under eight pounds. God brought him three weeks early to manage that one. We were also praying that we would be able to have Zeke at the Birth Center, two days earlier and we would have had to have him at the hospital. 


Pain is a sad result of the fall but God uses even pain to teach us of his love and goodness. I'm so thankful for a strong and loving husband to labor along with and for a precious beautiful boy as a result. My love for both was heightened greatly through the experience. 


On Saturday night Andrew and I retired for a reasonably early night after a competitive couple rounds of golf(cards). At 3am I awoke to my waters breaking. Feelings of surprise, excitement, and fear collided inside me as the reality of the days event stretched before me. Andrew sat up, I leaned against him and he prayed. Andrew had been lying awake for a while and decided to get up for some prayer and his bible reading. I laid my head back on the pillow and tried to get some more rest before contractions started. It was no use. I prepared scrabbled eggs and toast for Andrew's and my early morning breakfast. Andrew added our stash of chocolate covered almonds and chocolate covered raisins to the feast. After eating Andrew started putting a bag of things together, loading the car seat into the car, and doing up the dishes. I started forming a mental list of the things I had planned to get done before Zeke's arrival. I suddenly felt the urge to dust the living-room. Andrew looked my way with a 'what in the world' sort of smile as I stood on a chair brushing away cob-webs from our wooden ceiling. Settling down on the bed we opened to read from our currant novel 'The Girl From Johnny Cake Hill.' 


At 5am I started to time contractions at 5minutes apart, they quickly increased in intensity and got closer together. Andrew paused from his reading to put pressure on my back or to mark down the time. Eventually he gave up reading altogether, contractions one after another at 2-3 minutes apart. We waited until 6am and then called Karen our midwife. She said she'd meet us at River Ridge Birth Center in Hamilton. 


Once at the Birth Center Karen told us that I was two centimeters dilated. She said it could be a while and suggested we go back home where we'd be most comfortable. A little discouraged we started back home, contractions had lessened a little but were still coming every couple minutes. I felt exhausted at the thought of going on like this for hours. I tried to rest but couldn't get comfortable between contractions. Andrew filled up a hot water pack, massaged my pressure points, and offered me sips of water. I tried getting in the shower. With only a fairly small capacity water heater in our flat, Andrew turned the tap off between contractions to make it last. I liked Andrew's suggestion of using our wonderful neighbor Janine's bathtub but I hated the thought of Andrew leaving me even for a moment to go and ask her. 

Eventually we made our way over there, the water felt wonderful. I wanted to keep quiet for the sake of Janine's children whom she had taken to the other side of the house. I always thought I'd be a graceful and quiet laborer only letting out pleasant sounds as someone gently dabbed my forehead with a cool cloth. Instead my throat gave way to the sounds that surged within me and the bellows didn't fit inside my fantasy. I tried to remember Jenny's advice on helpful sounds to make, instruction from our antenatal classes, and things I'd read on working with the contractions instead of fighting them. 


All of a sudden the pain switched from my stomach to my back and I felt the need to push. More than anything I wanted to be in safe hands at the birthing center. Janine came in with a phone in her hands and Andrew went for the number. During a contraction Janine checked and could see the tip of Zeke's head, thankfully I didn't know this at the time. Andrew played midwife coaching me into clothes and the car. I couldn't sit down so I lay down sideways in the back seat. 

I could feel God giving me strength for this last stretch. I spoke truth aloud in between contractions to keep fear from controlling my mind: "You know what I can take....You wouldn't give me any more than I can handle...Your giving me strength...It will be okay..." Andrew drove the 25 minute drive to the birth center with his hand behind the drivers seat for me to hold or squeeze. What a relief when we got there, I stepped out of the car in time for a strong pushing contraction. I held unto Andrew and five midwives rushed out with a wheel chair to help us in. Karen asked if I wanted to be checked or go straight to the bath. Straight into the bath, Andrew beside me, Karen coaching, three contractions and Zeke was out. Karen lifted his perfect little self unto my chest. Tears filled my eyes and throat as I looked down at my son, I looked up to find Andrew's eyes mirroring my own. We had done it and he was perfect! Thank you Lord!  

It was exciting and special to call and share Zeke's arrival with all of our wonderful family. I got to talk to Heidi working for the summer in Tennessee. After I shared Zeke's name and his birth story with her, she let out one of those 'Wow! God is so amazing!' sort of exclamations and told me that at the exact time of Zeke's birth she was sitting with a family who had two boys Zeke and Zeb. Their mother was sharing with Heidi the story of Zeke's birth and how miraculously God brought them these two boys. She and her husband were twenty-one years apart in age and Heidi said she fell in love with this family and there sweet story of God's goodness. It's so special to me that God gave Heidi this little window into Zeke's birth through a family so similar to our budding Dickson clan.