Carina Joy from the view of her daddy
At about 3:30am Steph woke me up letting me know that we should leave for the hospital soon. She let me know that my parents have been called and will be over shortly to watch Toby as we head off to the hospital. I jumped out of bed and at 3:45 my dad arrived and we were off. I asked Steph how much time I had? She said go fast. I inquired if it was obey all, some or none of the traffic laws? She let me know that some of the laws were OK. As we took off on HWY 5 she told me to slow down as I was stressing her out. On our way to the hospital, Steph was having contractions every 4-5 minutes. So that conversation in the car wasn't overly stimulating.
We arrived to the hospital around 4am. I pulled into the ambulance only drop off (heck to me at the time I was an ambulance). I walked Steph into ER and she checked herself in while I literally ran out to the car and decided to legally park it. By the time I got back in they already had Steph upstairs, admitted and in the hospital bed. They did all that while I parked the car within 2 minutes.
Steph was having contractions every 4 minutes or so the whole time we were at the hospital and was making significant progress towards delivering, so it was funny to watch the nurses ask her questions about health, birth plan, pain meds etc. Then there were questions that I could help answer (or they thought I should be able to answer). They would ask me the question, I would then look at Steph and ask her and then she would just give an exhausted look of why did I bring you along again? Of course it probably didn't help that they would ask the questions during her contraction.
At about 4:45am the midwife Jaime arrived and started asking Steph questions about how she was feeling and then checked her out. A little after 5:15 Steph let them know that she was getting close to pushing. They began to get prepped and at 5:24 Steph began to push and at 5:31 Carina Joy Schwarz was born. Carina was 6 pounds 10 ounces & 17 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful, but just a peanut of a thing.
Within 10 minutes of being born she was already eating and bonding with her mother. Carina stayed awake for almost 2 full hours after she was born. She finally feel asleep in mommy's arms after we switched rooms.
Back while we were still in the birthing room, I was able to hold her for a little bit and speak into her life. I let her know that she was created for a purpose and that purpose is to be a blessing to many lives. I also let her know that her name Carina means "Beloved" and that God said "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers". I also let her know how excited her brother is to see her. I'm excited to watch how Tobiah and Carina bond and how our family will be enriched by adding her giggles, smiles and charisma.
As major events happen in my life, I've always taken time to reflect and think about how good God has been in my life and this is no exception. I believe God's Word is true and I stand on His promises that he will always meet our needs and that he will do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or think. As I look back on the past 31 years, God has kept his promises and I trust in him to know that he still has a plan and the best is yet to come.
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