Presenting...Grant Joseph Williams

I finally have a few minutes to post our news. Our precious son (yes, just one--we were very surprised!) was born early last week.
He was born at home into his father's hands on 18 July 2011 at 3:47 a.m. after 6 hours of hard labor (the easy parts having taken up the better portion of the previous 6 weeks :). Steven was indispensable to me during the whole process--I would not have survived without him! Labor was much harder than I expected, due mostly to the baby's size (see below), but with God's help and Steven's support and encouragement, I made it through and was rewarded with an incredibly beautiful son.

 

Vital Statistics
Weight: 10 lb 4.5 oz
Length: 20 3/4 inches
Head circumference: 14.5 inches
Eye color at birth: blue
Hair color at birth: dark
Eye color now: purple-brown and changing
Hair color now: medium blonde and lightening

We are gradually adjusting to the new way of life little Grant brings. Sleep is getting better, and I am learning how to get things done quickly while the baby is sleeping and/or not crying. He has only four modes, it seems: sleeping, crying, awake but not crying (rare), or eating. We try to take full advantage of the sleeping and awake but not crying states! We will be posting more pictures on our picasa web album and will let you know and post a link when that has been done.

Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement, and support. We are greatly blessed by this little life God has entrusted us, and each day is better than the last.

In Your loving arms we lay
This wordless one so new,
The incarnation of our love
We dedicate to You.

Hopeless, yet so full of love
We make our solemn vow, 
Not knowing when the time will come,
Not even knowing how.
And though it seems we try to make
A promise that is true
We really only claim for him
The Promise that is You.

In Your loving arms we lay
This wordless one so new,
The incarnation of our love
We dedicate to You.

The holy sleep which falls so deep,
A blessing from above,
Will now embrace our little one
In simple, trusting love.
We offer You this child
Who's only ours for just a while;
How could we keep him back from You
When You gave Your only child?

(Michael Card, "Wordless Ones")

Still pregnant...

Well, I know I said I would post periodic updates on how the pregnancy was progressing, but no news is good news...right?

About 30 weeks along Steven and I were doing some poking around in my belly and realized there were more body parts than one baby usually gets. We have not had any ultrasounds done, so there was no suspicion up to this point, though maybe there should have been--I felt movement very early (around 13 weeks--highly unusual in a first pregnancy), and was showing a lot earlier than would be expected. But it is my first time, so who knew what was normal for me?
Anyway, this is all to say that we are expecting....TWINS! I am getting much larger than I would like to admit, but it's all for a good cause, right? And they say that nursing brings it all off again pretty quickly.....

So, with that news in mind, we were not surprised when at 36 weeks minus one day I started having strong, regular contractions. This was a Sabbath, so instead of Steven having to skip classes we just skipped church and got everything ready (we're planning on having a homebirth). We didn't really call anyone right off because we wanted to be sure. Well, to shorten a long story, after several hours of regular, strong contractions we went to bed, hoping to get some rest because we were sure the babies would arrive that night, or at the latest early the next morning. Come morning...no babies...no contractions...nothing.

This pretty much sums up what the last three weeks have been like. I've had strong, convincing practice labor every couple of days that just dissipates into nothing after several hours. Last weekend it was really frustrating--contractions 2-4 minutes apart for 7 hours, only to disappear altogether by evening. God is trying to teach me patience.

I am very ready for these precious babies to be born. I can feel their little feet in outline on my belly, and their little bodies pressing against the sides (there's not much room left!). I want so badly to hold those precious bodies in my arms and play with those little feet. But "His ways are higher than [my] ways and His thoughts than [my] thoughts...". I know that He who created these tiny lives within me will bring them out in His own time.

What is God trying to teach you right now?