Plan B

Have you ever had a plan or an idea of how you wanted a situation or circumstance to go? You prepare yourself, educate yourself, and even wait patiently for it. But somewhere along the way something happens, a change out of your control that manipulates the situation, and instead you're on to Plan B.

This is what happened on April 19th, 2012 when I began to leak fluid when I was pregnant. My husband Peter drove me to High River Hospital where they did some tests and found out I had a tear in my amniotic sac. I was taken by ambulance to Foothills Hospital and started on steroids and antibiotics. I was told I could no longer deliver in High River Hospital and that my pregnancy was now high risk. Being only 32 weeks pregnant I was faced with a huge change and many fears. I was in the hospital for one week where I lost weight, was sick and had numerous scares where our babies heart rate would drop and we would be rushed upstairs to Labour and Delivery thinking we would need an emergency C-section.

In the early hours of April 30th, 2012 the rest of my water broke and I began having regular contractions. Not knowing how my labour and delivery would go I had to trust in God. He was ultimately in control and I would just have to take one contraction at a time. At 9:44am I finally gave birth to our beautiful baby boy: Isaac Michael Doner. Weighing 4lbs and 13ozs. I couldn't have been happier in that moment. It truly was the second best day of my life. (Marrying my husband being the first).

I write this blog and it's been almost three months since that day. I've had time to reflect on my experience and how things turned out. Isaac was in hospital for three weeks, we moved twice in one month and are now finally settled into our new place. I'm getting used to being a mom and the changes that come with having a baby. I'm still learning how to juggle everything including how I spend my time, making sure I'm resting and keeping healthy. But mostly I look back and see how Plan B, which I originally thought was upsetting and hard turned out to be the best thing for me in many ways.

I realize that the week I was in hospital brought my husband and I closer than we've ever been, it brought us together in a way that we probably needed before beginning our journey of parenting. It caused both of us to rely solely on Jesus, trusting in him no matter what. It reminded us to surrender and that God was always in control, we never really had that. And in the end I was blessed enough to be able to achieve an all natural birth, like I had originally wanted. The three weeks Isaac was in the NICU were very trying and difficult, but again I came out strong and God, like he promises, always provided me the strength I needed.

To finish off this blog entry, I want to remind anyone who is reading this, even though it may be few, that sometimes when our Plan A, no matter what that is, doesn't work..God's got a Plan B that truly is better for us. His word promises that All things work for the good of those who love him. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that our ideas and plans aren't always God's. We need to surrender to him, trust him, knowing that he is always faithful, and in the end we will come out blessed.