Introducing Hadassah Pickrell

Let me sing of the mercies of the Lord! April 27th, 2009 the Lord blessed Rick and I with the most miraculous blessing my heart could ever endure. What a beautiful little girl! I tell you, it wasn't easy. And this baby was brought into the world by way of prayer.
Rick and I went into the hospital at 5:00am, happy and ready for induction. As I had said earlier, the plan was to use Cytotech, which was to be a bit easier on me. Well, apparently Rick and I can't do anything normally. We got all prepped and ready to go, but then the baby's heart rate dropped suddenly. This was a great cause for concern. After consulting with the midwife, Katrina, they decided to forgo the Cytotech and do pitocin. Dang... The problem was, they weren't sure if the baby was having trouble with the stress of labor, of if it was just positional. So then started the ridiculously long process of pitocin.
Because of the pitocin, I had to be under constant monitoring. I was not allowed to move about. I had asked if I could sit on an excercise ball. This felt great to me, but they couldn't get a clear monitor on the baby's heart rate. So it was back to the bed. After 13 hours of waiting around, I didn't go into labor. There just wasn't any gravity pulling the baby down. As time passed I got more and more upset. Katrina called in the OB doctor, Sarah Archer, to consult with her. She said that the baby's head had actually gone back up, and things weren't looking too good. The next option was a C-section. The Dr. Archer said that the likelyhood of me having a vaginal birth was 30%. Why wasn't this going the way I wanted it to? Hadn't I prayed? Wasn't I doing what God wanted me to do? Why had all my prayers for others been answered, but none for myself? I'm sorry to say, but I was starting to get mad at God. I knew this wasn't right, because He was going to give me a live, beautiful baby either way.
It was at this point that Krista started to make a few phone calls. "People need to be praying," she said. Because the heart monitor was so spotty, they put in what's called a scalp probe. It's a sharp, little, electrode that actually screws into the baby's head. Yeah, sounds real nice. Once they had that on baby's head, I asked if I could change positions, because lying in bed felt very counter-productive. They moved me to a rocking chair and started the pitocin again. It was at this point that a lot of mighty prayer warriors starting doing their fighting. Even people who weren't called and had no idea what was going were prompted to pray. And guess what... I started going into labor.
Some time back, I had looked up on youtube.com a video titled, "woman sings while in labor." This was recommended during our child birth class. What they didn't specify was that the woman singing was actually worshipping. She beautifully sang "Psalm 23" during her early labor and didn't even crack as she had a couple of strong contractions. I was so inspired by this video. What a wonderful way to bring a baby into the world! I had made a mix of worship songs for during labor. Now, I didn't sing like this woman, but I did manage to worship during the beginning of labor. I was pretty proud I made it all the way through "Wonderful, Merciful, Savior." Then, as the pitocin REALLY kicked it, I was pretty much knocked breathless.
I'm going to take a moment to brag about my husband. He did an amazing job during this entire process. The contractions were ruthlessly stacked on top of each other, and there was no rest in between them at all. I was so tired, I wanted to give up numerous times. But Rick, my awesome husband, made me maintain eye contact with him and he breathed with me through them all. He continually told me how much he loved me, and how proud he was of me. I didn't swear once, came close, but didn't cuss at all. During the really hard ones, he even told me to squeeze his hand, which is a very dangerous thing. But he kept his cool and really carried me all the way through.
When it finally came time to push, I was exhaughsted, in astronomical pain, and ready for a C-section. I honestly have no idea how I even made it through, except that the saints were praying and fighting on my behalf. The baby did not want to come out. It sounded like a horrible warzone in that room. I'm a little embarrassed at how much noise I was making, but honestly, there was no avoiding it. Her head was so big that it was making things close to impossible. I was just a hair's breath away from that C-section. Katrina was incredibly encouraging, even when things were going bad. The baby's heart rate dropped again several times. At one point it got dangerously low. They started to set everything out for an episiotomy. When I saw that syringe come for a local anestetic, I knew what was coming. And even though I was beyond tired, I knew I had to push, and hard. I was beginning to think this baby was never going to come out, and I even stated so; but then Katrina said loudly, "Okay Tiffany, it's time for you to meet this baby. PUSH!" And then that baby gloriously entered the world and I heard the most beautiful sound in my entire life: my daughter's first cry.
Rick's tears pretty much explain it all. She was beautiful, amazing, wonderful, worth it all. I just had to praise God. We had an audience out in the hall that consisted of grandparents and Auntie Krista. When they heard that little cry, a great cheer went up.
So here I am, sipping my OB cocktail, nursing the wounds of a 4th degree tear (which is the worst kind of tear that can happen), listening to the coos of my beautiful daughter, and contemplating all of these things. No, things didn't go the way I wanted them to. In fact, almost every single thing that I didn't want to happen, happened. But this was God's way. He wanted me to have a testimony that showed the mighty power of God and the incredible importance of prayer. This baby was conceived through prayer, grown healthy through prayer, and now, born through prayer.
Keep praying, even if you think it's a small thing. You never know who you're saving.

Welcome to the world, Haddy Jo!