1 year of Gracie Grace

I have to start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

After Beckham was born I wanted to be done having children. 5, in my mind, was a lot and I struggled to be a good Mom to that many children. People would ask me if I was done. Out of stubbornness I would say yes, 5 is a good round number. But I never had that feeling like we were done. I didn't think I was one of those lucky people. I didn't want to pray about it either. For a couple of reasons. The first one being that I struggled with prayer at the time. I did have faith in prayer or that my Heavenly Father really listened to me. Secondly, if he did happen to answer my prayer about having another child, I was affraid of what the answer would be. Hello, that should have been another clue that I wasn't done.

In March of 2007 my sister came out for a visit from Virginia. She was currently pregnant and still didn't know she was having twins. While she was out we all took a trip to the Temple. It was a weird session. Despite that, during the middle of the session I heard a distinct voice in my head say, " you need to have another child." I was like "WHOA where did that come, and are you sure you are talking to me." I even looked over my shoulder, and then the other. While in the Celestial room I prayed to know if I really was meant to have another baby. I got my answer in a wave of emotion that started from the tip of my head all the way to my toes. It took Brent quite a while to get into the Celestial room and when he did I ran into his arms and told him that I was told to have another baby. He asked me when? where? I told him, here, now. His second emidiate response was, "I knew we were suppose to have another child." And when were you going to tell me that? Of course I was crying and I had to keep why I was crying from everyone else. I was affraid of taking my sisters thunder, and that of my sister-in-law who just recently found out she was pregnant from a successful invetro. On the way to the car Brent simply stated, "Well, I guess you can plan on getting pregnant."

I was so overwhelmed. I didn't feel like I had the skills, knowledge, or power to take care of one more child. That is a HUGE responsibility. But I knew that if I was obedient to the Lord's command he would bless me. So I went on Faith. I was pregnant in May. I told everyone in July.

The day of Grace's arrival quickly approached. One of my last appointments my doctor told me that I didn't have to be a hero and have this baby natural. I could have a c-section. Which is common after already having one, like I did with my twins. Before this appointment I was adament about giving birth naturaly. But as I thought more about it I was impressed to go ahead with the c. I counseled with Brent and he strongly agreed with me.

And so began the blessings of obedience. My C was scheduled for a Thursday morning at 7am. Brent and I needed to be there at 5am. Bright and Early. I thought I would be a nervous wreck. But I wasn't. I was calm as a calm can be. The epidural went smoothly and so did the surgery. I didn't even know they had begun. When they were ready to pull Grace out the Doctor exclaimed, " Look at the position of her head." Apprently the cord was wrapped around her neck and her head was resting on her shoulder. Who knows what would have happened if I had gone ahead with the natural birth.

My recovery took the full 6 weeks, but it was a good full recovery. Grace was a champ nurser and not once did I get engorged. I was able to nurse her till she was 10 months old, what a tremendous blessing.

Grace, in and of herself has been a blessing for our family. She brings joy, laughter, peace and love into our home. I never thought that having a baby would be so much fun or so enjoyable. I have learned through Grace that there is more to motherhood then just fixing dinner, washing laundry, and scrubbing toilets. Motherhood is filled with warm hugs, quiet nights rocking, calming a broken heart, listening and loving. Yes, I probably already new about all those things, but it took one more child to help me remember.

So Happy Birthday Grace.