When we found out we were expecting our 7th child, we didn't tell a lot of people. Too many people in this world are quick to judge and do not truly value human life. Think about it, if God creates life and He is in control of everything, how can we question Him or His timing? As Christians, we all stand against abortion. We believe in the sanctity of human life, but how many of us have been quick to judge or say something about larger families? Should those families be made to feel bad by others just because God blesses them with a new baby? Sadly, that happens and happens way too often in the pro-life community. Anyway, when we found out we were expecting Caleb, we did question God and His timing, but we knew that He has a plan for everything, and if He believed it was time for the Sersaws to have another child, then so be it (we secretly hoped he would be a girl though).
When we found out that Caleb was definitely a boy and would not be a girl, we told the kids. We were concerned about Lilly as she has been praying and praying for God to give her a baby sister. She handled the news rather well, and still to this day prays for a baby sister or for an opportunity to adopt a sister. All of course went well throughout the pregnancy except for some increased pain issues that were mainly attributed to my hip (two surgeries on left hip and there is an incorrectable deformity in the ball and socket joint). I just had to be more careful and realize that hopefully once Caleb was born all would go back to normal.
When I went to the doctor at almost 39 weeks, I was discouraged to find out I was only 1 cm dilated. I have always had our babies early and usually dilated to at least 2 cm by 36 weeks. The doctor said he was a little concerned that I was not appearing to be anywhere close to ready, but he wanted to give it another week and see what happened. He did do something that he said may help it a little. All I got out of it was more pain. Oh well.
On Friday, August 21st, the pain from my doctor appointment on the 19th still had not subsided. I also noticed that the normal braxton hicks contractions that I have from about seven months on were definitely getting stronger and started to wonder if maybe we would have a repeat of Joshua's birth -- labor on Friday and birth on Saturday. I contacted my mom to find out her plans for the day, and then said I didn't really think anything would happen. Mistake on my part. By 10:00 Friday evening, I was starting to have more pain -- nothing regular as usual. By midnight, I was counting to take my mind off the pain and figured if I were to go in, I could convince labor and delivery to let me stay. Plus, I love getting the epidural before anything is too bad. It really helps me with my hip and makes everything very easy. We tried to call my parents, but no one answered the phone. We continually tried all night long to no avail. I kept on saying I would just hold out, but we both knew that I probably should go in. According to my doctor, they didn't want me to go in until the contractions were five minutes apart and a minute long. I was not going to follow those rules though because I wanted an epidural earlier than that. We eventually got the kids up sometime after 4 on Saturday morning, August 22nd, and drove over to my parent's house and knocked on the door and rang the doorbell until they answered. We gave them the kids and headed to the hospital. By this point, I thought maybe the contractions were splitting or something. They were still 10 to 12 minutes apart, with pain lasting about 30 to 45 seconds but would come, go away, come back in 2 minutes, and then not come back again for another 10 minutes or so.
We got to the hospital and walked into Labor and Delivery. I was able to tell the nurse everything, and she told me to do all the standard changing, using the bathroom, etc. Well, I went to use the bathroom, had a contraction, and then the water broke. Now, I knew from experience that when the doctor breaks my water, I deliver within 30 minutes or less. I believe that I started to panic at this point as I still had no IV, no bloodwork, and no epidural. It may not matter to some, but when you have a hip problem, that epidural is a lifesaver when it comes to pain. We told the nurse that we thought my water broke, and she said she would check. I was only at 5 cm. This was probably around 5:45 to 6:00 in the morning. After that point though, every contraction was extremely painful and rather often. I am not sure which was worse -- the pain in my hips or the actual contractions. They got the IV in and ran the bloodwork, but when they checked me again, I moved from a 6 to an 8 in one contraction. The nurse said she may need to prepare for a nurse delivery. Luckily my doctor was nearby, and he was able to get to the room. I think I realized that I really wasn't going to get that epidural or anything, and I sort of panicked, but the doctor and staff, as well as Brian, were great at helping me through it all and Caleb was born at 6:27 in the morning. He was small but healthy. He did have a little bit of a problem transitioning, just like Joshua, but other than that he was perfectly fine at 5 pounds, 12 ounces, and 18 1/2 inches long. He has the darkest hair of all of our kids. He is so small right now that he swims in all of his clothes, but he is a sweet baby.
We are very thankful to God in all of this. He was in control of it all from day one. I could have easily had Caleb in the car, or somewhere else, but God let us get to the hospital in time. Who knows. Maybe he allowed him to be small on purpose -- to make it easier on me. Now we are in the recovery phase. I am having some severe issues with pain associated with my hips, but the doctors say we just have to give it time to see if it clears up on its own, or if we have perhaps had some damage done. We will just cross each bridge as we come to it. God always carries us through. We would not trade Caleb in for any other child, and our family loves him dearly. God has truly blessed us with seven wonderful, healthy children, and we look forward to all that He has in store for us in the years to come.
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