Bringing our Mission to the Mission Field

I know the title above sounds crazy, and there were times during our stay in New Orleans that I said to myself (and to Micah) "Ok, soooo not doing this again!"  After all at surface level it does sound completely crazy to bring one mission field (our littles) to another mission field (New Orleans reconstruction).  But then when you think about it again...  It's not crazy, in fact it's commanded in Scripture.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."

No, you won't find anywhere in Scripture that commands us to take our children hundreds of miles away in order to serve others, but we ARE to teach our children to love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, and mights!  And this does mean teaching them to serve others.  According to the Bible this is God's heart.  It is very tempting for parents with little ones to feel like all they are able to do is to just serve their family.  It's easy to think, "We'll focus on serving others outside of our immediate family when life is not so crazy."  Sure there are times in life where it is physically impossible to do anything else but what is right in front of you. The point is that we should always be looking for ways to train our little ones to serve others.  This is best done as they watch their parents in action!  Regretfully our family has not always striven to do this.

Hebrews 13:16 "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."

Galations 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

Many Christian parents find various ways of obeying this teaching, but since becoming parents Micah and I have realized that the average church sponsored "mission trip" is not very inviting to a family with little ones. When Micah and I were single we served on various trips overseas and in the States. This is something that we both have longed to share with our children and it just didn't make sense to wait 15 or so years to do so. To be honest many short term mission trips are not ideal for bringing a preschooler or two (or 4 for that matter) along, and for good reason.  I wouldn't say that EVERY trip ought to have little people in tow, but after a stay in New Orleans, we have found ourselves more and more excited about sharing short term ministry trips with other families like ours.

The Work Begins

Micah and his brother Ben began work on Mr. Joe's roof on the Monday after Thanksgiving.  They were not able to find anyone to help out for the first two days, but by Wednesday they had a local man named Rich helping out full time.  On Thursday another man from the area named Andy was able to provide some on the ground help for that day.  On Friday one of the staff members, Alex, from Crossroads Ministry (a para church resource group) was able to commit to helping out with the rest of the project alongside Micah, Ben, and Rich. Crossroads Ministry and St. Roch Community Church were instrumental in providing the materials, manual laborers, and the tools to complete the job.

Weather was a real concern every now and then.  Before we left Illinois for Louisiana the weather report was calling for rain 4 out of 5 working days.  We asked friends and family to pray for the Lord's favor. By the time the work week was in full swing, the forecast was calling for just 1 day of rain!  As it turned out there was only a very small amount of time (maybe an hour) that was negatively effected by the weather. The rest of the time the area was dry and the temperatures were perfect for winter roofing (60's and 70's the first week and 50's and 60's the following week.)  We praise the Lord for all of the weather related blessings, and are so thankful for our friends who remembered us in prayer!

A Part of the Culture

The kids and I manned the home front.  There were days when it felt impossible to entertain 4 little people without the normal comforts of home, but in reality we were so blessed to be able to stay with Micah's brother Ben in his apartment on the Navy base.  Putting the kids down for naps was much easier there than it would have been had we stayed in a hotel.  Micah's brother Ben was very generous in so many ways and helped in so many ways to make the trip go smoothly!

We were also able to do a bit of site seeing with Uncle Ben.  It was neat to experience the differences in culture with our family.  We visited Great Oak Plantation, got to walk through an old cemetery (one of Micah's favorite things to do), toured the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, walked the French Quarter, and got to sample delicious Louisiana cooking.  Gumbo, jambalaya, cheese grits, wow! So good!

Reciprocal Ministry

As many of you know I am an avid knitter, I pretty much have yarn with me wherever I go.  I decided that since I couldn't be any help with the roofing venture that I would use the two weeks that we would be gone to learn how to read a crochet pattern and to crochet as many baby items as possible to donate to an area pro life ministry.  This gave me many great opportunities to remind the kids what we were doing at Uncle Ben's house.  They knew that daddy and Uncle Ben were fixing Mr. Joe's roof, and that mommy was making blankets and hats for babies.  I reminded them that they could help us do more to serve by being obedient, entertaining their baby brother, helping with chores, etc.  Towards the end of our trip the kids and I covered pretzels with chocolate as a gift to give to Mr. Joe before we left.  The kids also made cards to give to him.      

 We were so blessed by Mr. Joe's Christlike spirit.  The kids and I got to chat with him both Sundays that we were at St. Roch's Community Church.  Micah and Ben were encouraged by his fellowship throughout the days that they worked on his roof.  Mr. Joe also sent back a pie, bread, various treats for the kids, etc during the week.  The last night of our stay in New Orleans we went to the City Park to see all of the Christmas lights with Mr. Joe.  Before piling into our cars Mr. Joe told us that he wanted to take us to "The Morning Call," a restaurant inside the City Park that served Beignets, a doughnut that you can only buy in New Orleans.  We enjoyed sweet fellowship with him, and just as we were leaving he gave us a bag of doughnuts to take home with us.  What a beautiful and humbling experience to be blessed by other brothers and sisters in Christ!

The Work Continues

The roof is finished now, and the baby items were received by Save a Life ministries in Selma, Alabama. We can't wait to see what new project the Lord might have in store for us.  Currently our plan is to use the 2014 ministry trip time that Micah receives from Samaritan Ministries to help with the reconstruction efforts following the November tornadoes that hit Washington, Illinois and Northern Indiana.  We also look forward to researching ways to help other families such as ours minister on short term mission trips around the world. Our plan is to find those who are already in the ministry field and ask them what it is that they or those they know might need that a young family or family with little ones would be able to provide for them.  We will also be looking into finding places for families to stay while serving that would best use the resources of the Body of Christ.

We would appreciate continued prayers and words of encouragement as we seek the Lord's face on this venture that the He has given us a burden for!

 (The finished roofing project!  Photos thanks to Ben Repke.)

The rest of the mission trip pictures can be found here!
https://www.facebook.com/jrepke/media_set?set=a.10151758391291651.1073741836.541021650&type=3

Family Ministry Trip- New Orleans, La 2013

As many of you know our family spent 2 1/2 weeks down in New Orleans, La with the main goal of providing a new roof for a man named Mr. Joe who owns a triplex several blocks from the 9th ward of the city.  As you might remember this was one of the most heavily impacted areas due to Hurricane Katrina. Seven years ago during the aftermath of the hurricane, Mr. Joe had hired someone to redo his roof.  As it turns out the person he hired was not honest and did a poor job installing the roof.  Mr Joe did not discover this until after the man had been paid and left town with the insurance money.  

As of a week ago today the last brand new shingles were laid on Mr. Joe's house in New Orleans.  We saw the Lord work in mighty ways over the past several weeks.  There were times of great discouragement and times of extreme awe as we got to see God's sovereignty in action.  Here is our story...

(Uncle Ben on the far left holding Thomas with the rest of us Repkes)

How We Met Mr. Joe

This past summer Micah and I had a friend who traveled to Germany on a mission trip.  Our friend, Debbie Hostetler, also worked with Micah at Samaritan Ministries.  One day I asked her, "So how have you been able to get the time off for your ministry trip?"  She told me that some of it would have to be without pay, but that Samaritan Ministries gives their employees an extra two weeks of paid time off if they go on a ministry trip. This was the first that I had heard of this, and was very intrigued.  Since Micah had started his own roofing business this past year, it made a lot of sense to see if we could find an area that was in need of some construction volunteers. 

When I shared this grand idea with Micah at first he wasn't completely convinced.  He reminded me that mission trips don't just take extra time, they also take extra money. And on our strict budget that last part sounded out of the question.  

"But how about New Orleans?  Ben (Micah's brother who is stationed in the Navy) has been after us for so long to come visit him down there.  If we stayed with him that would cut out so much of the expenses, since we wouldn't need a hotel."

Micah agreed that that might be a good idea and encouraged me to look for churches in the area that would have some connections.  I sent out an email to several conservative/ reformed churches in the New Orleans area, but didn't hear back from any of them.  It was a couple of weeks before I tried again.  I thought that maybe my first email had looked like spam since it had multiple recipients, so this time I sent emails out to various churches separately AND I not only looked for reformed/ conservative churches, but also those that highlighted  rebuilding ministries on their websites.  I received an email back from Redeemer Presbyterian, a large PCA church in New Orleans.  They told me that they didn't have any projects going on that they could use Micah's skills for, but that their sister church St. Roch's Community Church would most likely be able to use Micah's help.  After contacting the sister church it wasn't long before we received a message back from Ben McLeish, part of the deacon ministry.  He told us that the offer to help could be an answer to prayer. He shared with us about Mr. Joe, a brother in Christ that has attended St. Roch's church for the past several years.  We learned that they had recently discovered that he would need a new roof.  Estimates were coming in around $10,000.  Because Mr. Joe is on a fixed income there was not nearly enough money to hire someone to do his roof.  

In the weeks leading up to our journey to New Orleans, we asked friends and family to be praying for the resources to travel down and also that the church in New Orleans would be able to raise the funds for the materials.  We contacted the Peoria Rescue Ministries to find out if they had received any excess donations that we could use to raise the funds for the project.  They were very helpful on multiple occasions, providing us with some of the excess food that was left over after caring for the needy of our own area.  We held several fundraising events at Samaritan Ministries where the employees donated in exchange for yogurt bars, cookies, fast food sandwiches, etc.  We also had friends helping out by making brownies, babysitting our children, donating larger monetary contributions, etc, all to meet the needs of other brothers and sisters in Christ.  Our church family at Providence Presbyterian church was helpful in sharing our ministry with the church members, providing funds, and praying for us before and during our work down south.

A week before it was time to leave, Micah heard from Ben McLeish that the church down there did have the funds to pay for the materials and that they could provide some helpers to work alongside Micah.  This was excellent news!  Adding to the great news was the fact that the Lord had provided just enough money to make the trip down south!

When we arrived in New Orleans we found out that Micah's brother Ben (not to be confused with the other Ben) who we were staying with had been able to get more than a week's worth of vacation time off and was planning to help Micah for the duration of the roofing project!  We had known that he would be helping the first few days, but had not realized that he'd be able to use that much vacation time.   Micah's brother Ben had also shared with us that several weeks back he had started attending St. Roch's Community Church. Since arriving in New Orleans over a year ago he had not found a church to call home yet.  He had attended for the past several Sundays and told us that he really appreciated this body of believers.  This made Micah and I even more excited to visit the church that first Sunday. 

The Lord's Provision

Looking back on how the Lord orchestrated this trip, His glory is completely apparent.  We praise God for Samaritan Ministries and the servant hearts of so many of the employees and members there.  Over half of our travel expenses were raised through donations that came in from the fundraisers that we held there.  It is also obvious that we would not have been able to make the trip at all had it not been for the extra 2 weeks of paid time off that Micah received as a full time employee at SMI.  

It's also neat to realize that if it hadn't been for our friend Debbie's trip to Germany, we might not have thought about being a part of a ministry trip at all this year.

And then if it hadn't been for other brothers and sisters in Christ coming along side us and giving of their time, resources, and prayers, then the trip would not have happened.

Stay Tuned for Part 2! 

Bible Memory

During my high school years I competed at the International Student Convention for School of Tomorrow students.  I always used to describe this competition as a mini Olympics for home school/ christian school students.  There were events ranging from archery to ping pong, spelling to poetry writing, female quartets to one act plays.  One of the events I entered every year was Bible Memory.  I worked hard months at a time on the list of verses I might be tested on 150 in all if my memory serves me.  Three of those years I placed in the top 6.

But then today, I had a thought.  I'm not sure that I've actually committed to memory ANY other scripture verses since that time.  Sure I've done a lot of Bible reading, and many of the verses that I memorized stick with me to this day, but I have not been diligent to "hide God's Word in my heart" since that time.  I am ashamed.

Today I decided to obey God in this matter.  I plan to memorize at least one new verse every day along with my Bible reading.  I understand that I could plan to memorize just one a week, one a month, or maybe I could even do 5 a day if I tried really hard.  So in planning to memorize one a day I'm not saying this is what everyone else ought to do or what I necessarily have to do to obey God on this matter.  It's just my plan, that's it.  It does make a lot of sense to me though.  If my plan is to daily read the Bible then I plan to daily memorize it as well.

SO verses of the day:  Proverbs 23:13-14 "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."

Thomas- A Much Awaited Story

   

#4

(Thomas at 2 months)

     Although we were aware that 3 kiddos under 2 would be a lot of work, we had a few surprises in store.  We decided that 22-24 months would be a bit more ideal this time around for our next baby. In May and June of 2012 we had wedding after wedding after wedding...literally.  First it was my brother John-Paul and his new wife Alita who were married at the end of May.  Micah's brother Andrew and his wife Alexandra were married June 3rd, and then Micah's cousin Connie and her husband Steven were married middle of June, just a couple weeks later.  Elizabeth was asked to be the flower girl in Andrew's wedding, I was asked to run the guestbook at my brother's wedding, and we made a second trip out of town for Connie's wedding later that month.  Micah and I decided that it would be most ideal for me NOT to be pregnant during that time, but we knew it was up to the Lord.
     There were a couple of months where we wondered if the Lord would bless us with another baby as quickly as he did the first two times, but sure enough by the beginning of August 2012 the pregnancy test confirmed that sure enough, Repke baby #4 was on his way!
     This time I decided that I would hide the pregnancy test in my purse and tell Micah when he came home from work that there was a surprise in my purse for him.  It was quite comical to watch him handle everything in my purse a multiple times before he finally said, "Is this a pregnancy test?"
     "Yes!" I laughed.  Even though this was the 3rd time around we were just about as giddy as we had been with the two previous big announcements!

Spreading the News

(The whole family photographed together for the first time, at least Thomas was "looking")

     Although we understand other couples' reasoning, Micah and I have never been much for waiting a  lengthy amount of time to announce a pregnancy.  We agree that it is best when you can, to share the big news as soon as possible so that the Body of Christ can be praying for you and the baby.  With the first two pregnancies we waited to announce until after the first prenatal.  This time we announced the news to family and friends within the first few days.  We'll just say that it was maybe because were were "pros" by this point- haha!

     I called my mom on a Saturday morning to let my parents know they were expecting their 6th grand baby.  Mom told me that they were garage saling and that she was waiting in the car for my dad.  I went ahead and hit her with "it."

     "Guess what!  We're pregnant!"

     Silence...

     "Mom, did you hear me?"  I asked.

     "Oh yeah, I'm just scrapping myself off the pavement here!  Len, Jo's pregnant!"  Mom called to my dad as he was shopping.

     Later I told my brother.  His response?  "You guys are crazy..."  Thankfully his sweet wife of just a few months came on the line not too long later making up for her dear hubby and said, "I know JP said you were crazy, but I'm sure he'll say that every time he hears that you're pregnant.  Congratulations!"

     Micah told his family one night while we were at the Repke farm.  He had Martin walk around to each of the family members putting his hand on their head.  He told him to say, "Bless Aunt Ann," "Bless Aunt Liesl," "Bless Grandma," etc.  When Martin got to me Micah told him to say, "And God bless mommy and all other pregnant mommies."  Grandpa Repke was napping when we made the announcement.  When he came out we made him guess which one of his daughter in laws was pregnant.  If my memory serves me right he did guess correctly (within just a couple short months both of his Illinois daughter in laws were pregnant!)

     

Getting Bigger and Bigger

(The whole family with Thomas at 38 weeks gestation)

     At my first prenatal we found out that again it was one baby that we would be expecting April 10, 2013.  We talked to the doctor about our desire to VBAC.  We were well aware of the risks of having a natural birth after a cesarean, but we also knew that the risks of multiple surgeries were just as scary if not scarier.  We talked about how it would be best to begin doing everything that we could to get natural labor started as early as 34 weeks.  It was obvious that since I had never contracted, dilated, or softened with either of my previous pregnancies that I would need to make specific efforts to avoid another CSection.  I felt like we had a good plan of action, but I couldn't help but think that with each of our pregnancies we thought we had the needed information to have a natural birth.  It made me wonder if there was again something that we didn't know that would prevent a successful VBAC.  I knew I had to trust the Lord, but sometimes (most of the time) that's easier said than done.  We decided that the baby's in utero would be Squirt.  We wanted him to "squirt" on out!

     Along with the dull nausea (rarely throwing up, but just feeling gross most of the time) in my first trimester, I was a lot more moody with this pregnancy than my previous ones.  I was able to avoid throwing my back out this time by regularly going to my chiropractor.  I felt very blessed that as members of Samaritan Ministries 25 chiropractic visits were paid for by other members with our pregnancy need.  I am convinced that without the proper chiropractic care I would have had much more pain this pregnancy.
     We found out in January that Samaritan board members had also decided to begin publishing ("taking care of") doula bills.  This was great news!  We could now hire a professional doula to help with our plans for a natural birth.  It took me awhile to get around to calling doulas that Dr. Kindred's midwife, Mary Tisdale had suggested.  I think I probably felt overwhelmed and didn't want to make the wrong decision.  After calling several doulas we were leaning towards Malory Teegarden.  She was highly recommended by Mary and by another friend of mine who had hired her for her own birth.  I waited several weeks to hear back from the other highly recommended doula, but never did hear back (she did call a couple weeks before Thomas was born to apologize for the delay).  It was amazing how the Lord worked to clearly show us that Malory was the doula for us.
     As 34 weeks came closer and closer, I became more nervous about the "deadline" approaching.  It was obvious that we'd either have another surgery or we'd have the natural birth that we'd been waiting so long for...I wasn't going to be pregnant forever (thankfully).  At one of my doula appointments with Malory she gave me a list of 40 different things that could be done to bring on natural labor.  40! So far I had only heard of 4 or 5 things I could do.  This was both exciting...and daunting.  I mean eating tons of pineapple sounded great! But with all of the different teas, supplements, exercises, etc. that it mentioned how would I know if I was doing enough every day.  I trusted the Lord that He would guide my daily activities and committed to diligently being mindful to drink my teas and swallow all my pills.
     Week 34 passed, then week 35, and then 36.  So far no contractions and so far no softening of my cervix.  When I went in for my 37 week prenatal I wasn't sure the story would be much different.  After checking me, Dr. Kindred's expression was the same as always.
     "Not a lot of progress.  You are nubbing.  And only half way softened."
     "My cervix is softening? Great!" Since it never had before!
     At my 38 week appointment Dr. Kindred sounded slightly more enthused.  Well you're all the way softened and maybe dilated a half inch but that's it."
    "Wait? Dialated a half inch?"  This sounded like wonderful news to the lady who's never ever been dilated and yet pregnant with her forth child.
     "Sure, but that's basically nothing," the doctor informed me.
     "Well I'm deciding that's good news!"

Contractions? Oh yeah!

(Thomas just a few days old)

     I remember distinctly standing in front of my kitchen sink, finishing up some dishes and thinking to myself. You know I'm not contracting now, is there really any reason to think that I will?  I never have before.  Immediately the Lord brought Scripture to mind.  You know he is the one who turns kings' hearts and He controls all things, for goodness sake, sending me some contractions is all in His power and His timing.  If it's His will...it WILL happen.

     I woke up the Monday morning after my 38 week prenatal at around 3am.  I felt like I had to use the restroom REALLY bad.  After using the restroom 3 times in the course of a half hour with no "progress", I thought, hmmm...could this be contractions?  I decided to wait it out in bed if I felt the need to use the restroom again, and hope for the best.  Sure enough the feeling passed on it's own and I felt normal again.  I had an acupuncture appointment that morning and by the time I was ready to leave the house, I was fairly convinced that these were contractions. I called my doula Malory as I was on the road to Morton.  

     "Hey!  I think I've actually got some real contractions here."

     "Oh good," Malory's groggy voice reminded me that I was calling around 7am, oops!

     I asked her if she thought that I should drive out to Morton for my appointment.  She told me that it wouldn't be a bad idea since my contractions weren't coming that frequently, but that if I could reschedule for the afternoon if my contractions tapered off that that might be better. Acupuncture is supposed to get contractions going and since mine were obviously "going" maybe a later appointment would be better.

     As it turned out sure enough the contractions did slow down, so I set up that acupuncture appointment.  The contractions did pick up a little bit that evening after my appointment, and by Tuesday morning I was asking Micah to stay home with me.  Mom Repke came to pick up our three little ones so that we could get ready if this was the real deal.  Malory had told me to try to be too active incase labor picked up and I wouldn't be able to get any sleep.  I did my best to rest and work on small projects.

     My acupuncture appointment that day was set for the late afternoon.  By this point the contractions were really picking up.  People would ask us how far apart they were, but I was finding it hard to tell and I was obviously not all that good at keeping track.  After the appointment I went to the restroom, with delicious Chinese dinner on the brain since my hubby had thought it might help.  In the restroom I discovered that a reasonable amount of "bright red" discharge had occurred.  I began quietly panicking.  I had been told that one of the biggest signs of trouble with a VBAC is "bright red bleeding."  This can mean a uterine rupture.  I went out to the lobby paid for my appointment and then quietly told Micah what was going on.   As soon as we got in the car we called Malory.  She thought that it might be something called "show," the mucus discharge that would mean that I was dilating.  

     We went out to Malory's house to have her examine the situation.  She reassured me that the discharge was not actually blood but was mucus.  This was a big relief.  We weren't really wanting to run into the hospital just yet.  But Malory did tell us that my contractions were obviously productive ones and that she wouldn't be surprised if I called her in a few hours with active labor.

     I went to bed that night (no Chinese...it was too late...bummer), and then woke up in the morning having had far fewer contractions than before.  Micah went back to work and the rest of the day progressed more slowly.  The kids came back on Thursday, and Mom Repke stayed with us to help me to get ready for the birth.  Thursday was another slow day, but by Friday morning I was beginning to have more consistent contractions.  

     My 39 week prenatal was set for noon.  I told Dr. Kindred that this week had been MUCH different than previous weeks.  When he checked me his expression was much more impressive.

     "Well you are 100% effaced and maybe dilated to a 3 or 4.  I'm sure I'll be seeing you again tonight!"

     I was SO thrilled, "Now I do have a chiropractic appointment this afternoon, is it ok to go to it?"

     "Where is it?" he asked.

     "Morton."
     Dr. Kindred looked thoughtful, "You know I think it would be better to stay closer to home.  Even a few bumps in the car could put you into active labor."

     I had asked my friend Debbie to come along with me to the chiropractor earlier that day, so that someone would be there if labor picked up.  I called her up after the appointment and told her that the chiropractor was off.  I then called Malory to tell her the news.

     "You need to go to that chiropractor appointment!  If it was me I would."

     "Well that's what I had thought since this is likely the last time I have to get adjusted before the birth.  With my bad back I was disappointed not to go," I shared.

     Again Malory told me that she strongly suggested going.  So I called Debbie up, "We're back on!"

     When we got to the chiropractor's office I gave Debbie "strict" instructions not to tell anyone that we really weren't supposed to be there.  She was a trooper and hung out in the lobby while I had my treatment.  By the time we were getting back in the car contractions were around 4 minutes apart. I had wanted to go to Aldi to pick up some essentials for the next day in case we were in the hospital.  I had also hoped that the walk around the store would move things quicker.  

     "Are you sure you don't want me to just go in for you?" Debbie asked.

     "Well give me a minute out here, go ahead and pick up my stuff, but I think I'll be in anyways."

     Sure enough I got the strength to head in.  We had a few strange stares, and some concerned strangers, but I was convinced that if I didn't walk around Aldi that I'd likely regret it if baby Squirt wasn't born that night.  Later I found out that the walk around Aldi was probably not necessary at all, better safe than sorry though!

     By the time we got home the contractions were coming more like 3-4 minutes apart.  I was really moving into active labor, but wasn't convinced at the time since I wasn't sure that my Tuesday experience had been much different.  We texted Malory about the contraction span.  When Micah got home a little after 5pm, he helped me up to the bath tub.  I figured that a good soak would really help with the painful contractions.  Micah pulled his Bible out to begin reading passages of Scripture.  

     But before he could even start I heard him say, "Oh what's that?"

     I looked down and saw that there had been a very large gush of bright red bleeding in the water.  Micah immediately called Malory who was already on her way to our house.  When she got there she told me that there was a lot more discharge than she would like to see and that it would be best to go into the hospital.  I began to get really concerned.  I knew that I felt fine (other than the steady contractions)  I had no strange pains.  It made me wonder if everything was ok with the baby.  I also began wrapping my mind around the idea that if I had had a rupture that a surgery would be in my near future.  I tried not to think about it.  

     By the time we got to the hospital I could tell that the bleeding was continuing.  They hurried me off to a triage room.  They began monitoring the baby and checking my cervix.  Praise the Lord, baby Squirt was doing just fine!  I overheard the nurse say that there didn't seem to be anything wrong with my uterus. Woot!

     Not long after they told me that they were taking me to the delivery room.   This whole natural birth thing was becoming more of a reality!  Mom Repke was able to come and help with the delivery since my friend Debbie had agreed to watch our three bigger ones.  When it came time to push I was a nervous.  This had always sounded like the hardest part.  Thankfully it was only about a half hour of pushing before, squirt, plunk!  There he was, "It's a boy!" Micah told me!  So at 9:09pm Thomas Winston Repke was born weighing in at 7lb 0.2oz.

     It was so wonderful to feel all parts of my body at work in delivering my brand new baby boy!  Thomas took to nursing right away.  I realized that I was not feeling "great," maybe a little "woozy."  I did lose a lot of blood, almost twice as much as during a typical delivery.  When I got up to use the restroom later on I passed out.  Thankfully the nurse was right there and the next thing I knew there were 5 or 6 other nurses rubbing my arms and legs to get the blood moving again. After I passed out and then woke up again I felt MUCH better.  Micah says maybe I just needed a 45 second power nap! 

     Ever since Thomas was born, whenever I'm feeling discouraged for any reason at all I try to remember how completely awesome it was to see God's hand at work in our lives.  After we hadn't been able to have a VBAC with Lizzie, I told myself that this just might be one of those instances in life where you can turn around and bless someone else through your experience.  It feels so great to be able to say that with God ALL things are possible, including beating the multiple CSection odds!  Praise the Lord!

Thomas turns 2 months old at 9:09pm tonight!  He is a healthy baby boy who's just now getting excited about smiling and rolling from tummy to back!

With God ALL Things Are Possible!

(The whole family with Thomas, less than 24 hours old.)

     

     

Elizabeth- A Diamond in the Rough Story

   

Baby #3

(Elizabeth at 8 months)

     Although some thought us to be nuts, Micah and I thought that a minimum of 18 months between births would be ideal.  So in August of 2010 I found out that I was pregnant with our next little blessing.  I took Micah and the boys out to Richards on Main to make my announcement.
     Mid way through dinner I began, "So the boys have a secret to tell daddy!"
     Micah gave me an intrigued grin, "Yeah?"
     "Henry, tell daddy the news...."  Henry was only 10 months at the time, so I chimed in.  "The boys are going to be big brothers!"
     I could tell that Micah was completely elated!  We talked through the rest of dinner about how long I'd known, how I found out, and of course how excited we were.  We decided then that we'd wait to tell the extended family until after the first prenatal so that we could find out if we were having a singleton or twins again.

(Meeting her Grandma Repke blanket for the first time- her lovey)

Prenatal and Telling the Family

     At my first prenatal we found out that this time we would get to find out what it felt like to care for just one baby.  I began to fantasize about snuggling my one baby in bed while Micah fed the twins breakfast...that is how it worked out every now and then!  

     I was also looking forward to getting to deliver this baby naturally.  Dr. Kindred and I talked about how strong my uterus was when he delivered the twins.  There shouldn't be any specific reason that a successful VBAC wouldn't be in our future.  He also told me that if I ever wanted to have a natural birth, that this would be the time to do it with my first pregnancy after the cesarean I'd had with the twins.

     We decided that we'd wait until beginning of September to share the news with the rest of the family.  My parents had been invited out to the Repke farm to celebrate Micah's brother John's birthday.  We thought it would be nice this time to get to tell all the parents in person at once.  So we decided to slip the baby's sonogram picture into Uncle John's birthday card.  We told him that his birthday present was a new niece or nephew.  I remember that my dad was the last to catch on.  It was obvious that he wasn't expecting another grand baby just yet.  Surprise!

     

"The Problem of Pain"

     I had the same subtle nausea that I had with the twins.  But this time around I had two 10 month olds to tend to.  I told Micah once, "If anyone is attempting to witness to one of their friends, and wants to give them a great object lesson about what Hell is really like...they should bring them to our house around 4 o'clock!  They'll be converted for sure!"  We laugh now, but yeah, not fun.  But then again there's always the second trimester and they do say, "This too will pass...right."  True, but not yet.

     Just before Christmas during my second trimester, I threw my back out.  Earlier in the year, before I was pregnant I had fallen down about 10 steps head first and had begun randomly throwing my back out every few weeks.  I had feared that something like this might happen as my belly became larger.  The worst thing though was that normally my back would heal within 2-4 days before I was pregnant, but not this time around.  This time days turned into weeks and weeks into a months and still no relief from the pain.  Most days I would lay flat on my back on the couch, only to roll off every now and then to take care of a toddler in trouble.  My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law came over as often as they could to help out, and I'm not sure what I'd have done without them.

     My friend Espi had suggested going to see chiropractor, Dr. Ehling, in Morton.  I took her advice and within just a few weeks my back felt as good as...well...as good as it ever has.  There were days that I wondered if I was just going to be crippled for life. It's amazing how pain does that to you.  You begin to wonder if you will ever heal.  I praise God for his healing work in my body over the past 5 years, and for those who He has brought into my life to bring that healing about.

Looking Good

(One of maybe two pictures we have of me pregnant with Elizabeth- crazy times!)

     With every prenatal visit we would get good report after good report.  Everything looked like we were on track for a natural birth.  As we approached 36 weeks the doctor informed me that the baby was head down, but that the head was not engaged yet.  

     Kim, a friend of mine from church, had volunteered to help out as a doula for us in the hospital.  I met with her once about the birth and chatted with her on the phone.  We talked about a birth plan and what to expect during labor.  The pushing still made me nervous.  I hadn't been given the chance to practice it during Lamaze class when I was pregnant with the twins.  I figured (and hoped) that pushing would come naturally.

    When I went in for my 37 week prenatal, I was greeted by Dr. Kindred's midwife, Mary Tisdale.  She told me that Dr. Kindred was on vacation and asked if she could conduct my appointment.  When she checked my cervix she told me that nothing was happening just yet and that we should pray that it stayed that way until Dr. Kindred got back.  She told me that the doctors on call were not as sympathetic to VBACs as Dr. Kindred was.  I was rather concerned to hear this and begun asking everyone to pray that labor would hold off until my doctor returned.  I was careful not to do anything that might start labor too soon.  With every check up I was told that everything looked good and that my body didn't seem to be anxious to go into labor just yet.

     

Blindsided

     By the time Dr. Kindred returned from his vacation, I was heading in for my 41 week check up.  I came in on Tuesday, April 26th with Micah by my side.  I thought that we might talk about induction, and I wanted Micah there with me to help me to convince the doctor if need be that we'd like to hold off on any medication.  They did a sonogram to see how the baby was doing.  The tech told me that the amniotic fluid looked rather low and that Dr. Kindred would need to talk to me about it.  When the doctor came in he immediately brought up the distinct possibility of a CSection.  Our defenses were immediately up.  We couldn't understand why this would be necessary.  He told us that once a baby becomes over due the possibility for a still birth rises dramatically.  When he saw the picture of the amniotic fluid, he became more adamant.  He told me that if the fluid didn't rise within the next couple of days that we'd need to do a CSection.  He told us that there was no way of telling exactly how much fluid was still there since there was a pocket of fluid around the placenta and that that couldn't be counted in the percentage.  He said that I was at a 0.6 and they don't like to see fluid drop below a 0.7.   

     We asked why I couldn't be induced (we didn't expect to be begging for an induction that day).  He told me that since my cervix was still hard and since I hadn't been experiencing any contractions (not even braxton hicks) that my body wasn't ready for pitocin.  He told me that there was something called cervidil that would help to soften my cervix, but that he couldn't give that to me since I was a previous CSection.  

     Needless to say both Micah and I were discouraged.  It felt like we had worked so hard to have a natural birth, only to find out that there wasn't a lot we could do.  The doctor did tell us that he could give me 2 more days to do everything I could to raise my fluid levels and get natural labor to start.  This was encouraging, but when you realize that most of the activities used to start natural labor are opposite of what you're told to do to increase fluid levels (lay on your left side for hours at a time) you begin to wonder what exactly you are supposed to be doing.

     My next appointment was set for Thursday afternoon. I went home and my mom came over for the next few days to help me care for the twins while I rested and tried different labor inducing activities. The morning before my appointment I had set up a chiropractic/ acupuncture appointment.  On the way home I picked up some Red Raspberry Leaf tea to help get contractions to start. I had also been using the nursing pump and Evening Primrose Oil.  

     When I arrived for my prenatal appointment the first step was the ultrasound.  Sure enough we found out that despite our best efforts the fluid had drastically lowered instead of increased.  It was now close to a 0.1.  After checking my cervix Dr. Kindred told me that there still wasn't any indication of my body being ready for labor, no softening, no dilating, etc.  About that time Dr. Kindred had to rush off for a birth at the hospital.   I was given a non stress test to see how the baby was doing.  I remember fighting back tears as the lady in the other testing chair chatted casually with me.  When Micah arrived at the doctor's office we decided to ask for a second sonogram to be done.  There had been talk that there was a pocket of fluid around the placenta that couldn't be factored into the percentages since there was no way of telling how much fluid was actually there.  We thought maybe something would have changed with a second sonogram, or at least that we could rule out any errors.  The second look offered no extra information and everything looked the same.  Since I still wasn't dilating, softening, etc. the nurses told me that Dr. Kindred wanted to schedule a CSection for that evening.  We told the nurses that we'd like to talk to Dr. Kindred before we scheduled the surgery to make sure there wasn't any other options.  Micah told me that his strongest memory of that time was me sitting on the floor of the doctor's office unable to fight back tears.  Dr. Kindred reassured us over the phone that he had heard of a woman who had had several CSections.  He also told us that with a following pregnancy, he'd be willing to consider a VBAC if my uterus looked strong.  We found a small amount of comfort.

     We went home and called our friend Kim who was set to help us with the birth.  We also called a local midwife to find out if she knew of anything else we could do.  The best advice we were given was to do everything we could to continue to get labor going between then and the surgery.  So I basically kept bouncing on my birthing ball and praying.  We had told Dr. Kindred that we'd schedule the surgery, but that I didn't want to go in until he had checked my cervix again to see if there was any progress.  The non stress test had confirmed that the baby was doing well, but Dr. Kindred reminded us that with the low fluid at any minute she could begin to be in distress.  

     The Birth

(Finally holding my daughter in the hospital)

     We eventually made it to the hospital after packing up and making calls.  When Dr. Kindred checked me and they put me on a monitor, they could tell that there were very small contractions happening (that I couldn't even feel), but that my cervix was not even beginning to soften still.  This confirmed the need for surgery.  Our pastor and his wife, James and Stacy McDonald came to pray with us.  My friend Kim used essential oils and her best words to encourage me.  I did everything I could to focus on what Dr. Kindred had told us about there being hope for a successful VBAC in the future.

     I was prepped for surgery.  There is a lot I don't remember about that time since I must have been in a fog.  I don't remember when exactly they said she was born.  I know it was in the 9 pm hours.  I also don't remember Dr. Kindred commenting on whether or not my uterus was strong.  These are 2 things that I wish I'd paid attention to.  I do remember Micah saying, "It's a girl!"  We had known the genders of our twins, but had chosen to be surprised with this birth. So on Thursday, April 28th, 2011, Elizabeth Grace officially joined the Repke family weighing in at 7lb 6oz!

     They wrapped my Lizzie girl up and brought her over so I could see her.  It was a wonderful moment.  Not too long after they had brought her over she began making grunty noises.  I heard Dr. Kindred tell the nurses to take her to the nursery area to check on her breathing.  I didn't think a lot of it at the time.  When I woke up in the recovery room I was told that  Lizzie was still on the breathing machine.  By the time that I could finally go see her in the nursery area, they had determined that Lizzie must have inhaled some meconium and now had a condition called pneumothorax.  There was a small hole in her lung making it hard for her to breathe.  I was told by our pediatrician, Dr. Smith, that they would need to take her to the NICU at a near by hospital.

     Those were two very difficult days being separate from my newborn.  Micah and my dad stayed with Lizzie at OSF hospital, while my mother in law stayed with me at Methodist.  My sister- in-law Liesl graciously offered to stay with Martin and Henry.  I healed up from surgery as quickly as possible and was released in two days to go be with Lizzie and Micah at OSF.  The doctors were amazed at how quickly her lungs healed.  They said that by the time she was dismissed there was no trace on her lungs that she'd even had a small hole.  We were very grateful to the Lord that her condition wasn't more serious.

Elizabeth is now 2 years old and loves being the family's little princess!

We all praise the Lord that even though things didn't work out as we would have liked, that he sustained both of our lives and gave us strength to press on.

(The whole family after her first or maybe second Sunday at church)

Henry and Martin- A Surprise Story

Wednesday marks our brand new baby, Thomas Winston's, 2 month milestone.  Over the next three days I decided that it would be fun to celebrate by writing out each of our children's birth stories. So first babies first! 

Henry and Martin, Our Twins

(Our adorable boys at 4 months)

     When Micah and I were first married, like all newly weds, we talked about when to start a family.   No couple agrees on everything, but because we had both desired to have a large family ever since we were kids, it wasn't hard to quickly agree that we would like to become parents within the first few months.  We were married at the end of August 2008 and we both thought that February of the following year would be ideal to start thinking about having a baby.  I was working to establish my Mary Kay business in a brand new area, and Micah was working hard on our fixer upper first home.  It would be good to have a few months to ourselves.  February just sounded best!

     Well not too much to my surprise, low and behold, I discovered that sure enough I was pregnant the first week of March 2009.  Micah had planned an afternoon get away to one of those "scam you into a timeshare" deals (we didn't realize it was that at the time)... so I thought this would be the perfect time to surprise him with the news that we were having a baby!  While we were waiting on our tour guide to take us around the wooded resort, Micah and I walked up to lovely, picturesque country church.  

     So with excited jitters I asked my husband, "So what do you think we'll be doing for Thanksgiving this year?"  

     He answered, "Well maybe we'll do what we did last year and drive out to your parents' place (in Ohio)."  

     "Well I was thinking that they will probably come out and visit us around that time so they can see the baby," I casually answered.

      Kisses, romantic squeezes, and excited dialogue ensued.  Needless to say we turned down the "offer of a lifetime" at the lovely vacation spot, but have beautiful memories regardless.

     We decided to keep my pregnancy a secret until the end of the month when we would be in Indiana for the Mary Kay Career Conference.  We would be able to tell my family in person instead of over the phone.  

     When we went in for our first prenatal appointment with Dr. Kindred, we were ushered into a room with what I found out later was a sonogram machine.  I didn't realize at the time that most doctors like to do a sonogram when you first come in, I assumed that would be later.  As the sonogram tech (whom we later found out was Dr. Kindred's wife) slathered the sono jelly on my tummy, I thought about how I couldn't wait to see the first images of our baby.  

     After a few moments of looking at images that I wasn't really sure what was what exactly, the sonogram tech asked, "Do you have infertility problems?"  I thought this was a really strange question to be asking in general, but especially since I was obviously pregnant on a sonogram table.  

     "No?"  I said, "why?"

     "Well it looks like you might have spontaneous twins here."

     Huh? Uh...spontaneous?  TWINS?  Uh....And so I asked, "What does that mean?"

     "Well, I have a heartbeat right....here.  And then...," (a little too much time later) "a heart beat here.  Yes, you're having twins."

     "Really?" "What?" "Oh wow!" "Awesome" "Yaaay!" Yes some version of all of this was uttered by Micah and I over the next few minutes.  The tech gave me a moment to use the restroom and I could hear her and Micah talking about her own set of twins, while I was dumbstruck attempting to wrap my brain around the idea that my baby was actually babies!  I had always thought it would be fun to have twins when I was a girl, but since becoming an adult had not really given it any thought.

     (Just after I told Micah the Big news)

Spreading the News

     On the way home from the doctor's appointment I just HAD to call my sister, Lydia.  Like I mentioned we hadn't planned to tell anyone until the end of March, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer.  I had to leave her a message, telling her that I needed her to call me back.  Not long later my phone rang.

     "Hey what did you need?" she asked, giving me really no chance for small talk.

     "Uh, well....we're having twins!"

     "Oh, well I'm heading into Wal Mart....," she began to chat casually.

     "Did you hear me?"

     "Yeah I think so, what did you say?  You're having twins?  Like twin puppies?"

     "Puppies?!?! no, we're pregnant, we're having twin CHILDREN."

      It was obvious that Lydia was having a hard time making the jump to twins when she didn't know I was even pregnant.  Later that night Micah told me that since I had told my sister that he should get to call his brother, Ben to see if his reaction would be similar.  So we put Ben on speaker phone to tell him the great news.

     Micah started off the conversation by saying, "So we're having twins."

     Silence.  "Hey Ben, are you there?

     Confused Ben said, "What that's...that's not even a sentence....?"

     Although the first two instances of sharing our exciting news had produced lots of laughter between the two of us, Micah and I determined that it would be best to tell everyone that we were pregnant first, and THEN a few moments later, break the "rest" of the news.  So the Thursday before we left for Indiana the Repke sisters and our friend Katie Ackerman had set up a girls night out to the pottery barn in Peoria.  We also had to work in telling Micah's side of the family the same night.  We thought this might become a problem with the late night so we decided to tell Micah's sister Liesl first that we were pregnant.  We thought that this would be a good idea so that she could help me to get everyone back to the farm in a timely manner before mom Repke went to bed, so we could share the news.  We purposefully left out the part about twins when we told her.

     When we arrived at the farm, mom was really tired and was just about to go to bed.  Micah knocked on her bedroom door and asked her to come to the kitchen telling her that "Jo had some exciting news to share," in hopes that she'd think that it had something to do with Mary Kay.

     The entire family had congregated in the kitchen.  All eyes were on us, that is except for Liesl who was picking at the stir fry on the stove since she obviously knew what we were about to say (so she thought!).  Micah started the announcement.

     "We want everyone to know that we are pregnant!"

     There was gush of excitement through the room.  "Oh I thought something was fishy when you weren't feeling well last week!" and "OH I figured that's what you were going to say," and "Congratulations!" were all some of the remarks heard. 

     Micah interjected,  "Ok so who's going to volunteer to babysit the baby?"

     A sister here and a sister there, "Oh I'll do it," "That will be so fun," "Me!" and such.

     Micah continued,  "Oh good, well who's going to babysit the other baby?"  Liesl stops picking at the stir fry, completely at attention.

     Confusion...??? (Mom Repke later confessed that she thought Micah was referring to Buddy, or rat terrier...to which she was about to say, "Not me!")  Amelia was the first sibling to figure it out.

     "You mean twins??? You're having twins?"

     "YEP!"  There were a few doubters in the room, but they quickly changed their tune when we showed them the sonogram pictures.  We swore the family to secrecy since my side of the family (except for Lydia) still hadn't heard the news.

     The next day we began our road trip to Indiana.  I spent the evening at Career Conference with my sales director Gloria.  The plan was to arrive back at Gloria's house after the first night of the conference, Micah would pick me up a little after 9 and we would head over to my parents' hotel to share the big news with them.  I wanted to tell my parents first before I told my MK consultant friends at the conference on Saturday.  

     We arrived back at Gloria's house on Friday night much later than we had expected.  I had called my mom to tell her that we'd be able to come see them that night, but that it wouldn't be until a bit later than I had originally told her.  She told me that it would be better if we just came the next day since she was very tired from her trip.  I thought to myself, That just won't work!  I need to tell the girls tomorrow! and I'll be gone all day.

     Micah met me to pick me up at Gloria's house after 10 pm, and we headed straight AND quickly towards my parent's hotel  By this point I was determined to tell my parents that night one way or another.  But how would we pull it off without tipping them off.  All of a sudden a plan began to form.  We were set to stay the night at my brother, John-Paul's house and my parents knew this.  We quickly called up my brother and told him, "Guess what!  We're pregnant! and we're trying to get to mom and papa's hotel room to tell them before tomorrow, so if they call you in the next few minutes or so, DON'T answer the phone!" 

     "Uh...ok...congratulations...," my poor brother.

     I hung up and called my mom's number, ready to lay one heck of a whopper on her.  She didn't answer, Urg.  I called my dad's cell number.  Still no answer.  I kept dialing the two numbers until my dad picked up.  

     "Honey, you're mom's sleeping," he whispered.

     "Well here's the thing.  We can't get a hold of John-Paul or Alita (my sister-in-law).  And so we have no where to crash tonight, can we please come and stay with you guys.  We'll sleep on the floor!"

     "What? That doesn't make sense, he knew you were coming right?  Did you call both of their cell numbers? Did you ring their door bell?  Did you ring it REALLY hard?  Sometimes they can't hear it if you don't push REALLY hard."

     I sigh, "Ok we'll go back and ring it REALLY hard."

     A few minutes later we called my dad back, "We rang it REALLY hard and they still didn't answer, can we PLEASE come crash on your floor?

     "Well I guess."

     After attaining the room number a few minutes before arriving at their hotel room door, we knocked.  My dad answered with a groggy expression.

     "That was quick!"

     We tip toed in to find mom awake sitting in bed, with a not so impressed look on her face.  "Well we have some great news!" We weren't going to leave them (or us) in suspense.  "We're pregnant!"  

     Facial expressions immediately changed.  "Really?  I've been thinking we'd hear that sometime soon," and "Oh praise the Lord!"  They chatted on with us about how exciting this was.

     I pulled out the sono picture and asked mom if she wanted to see the baby.  "Oh yes!  Let me see!"  She looked at the picture, not hiding her confusion.  "Where is he?"

     "Well there's the one baby...and there's the other baby."

     Speechless, goofy grins, and then, "No...really?"  And more "Praise the Lord!" "Wow!" etc.

     From there on we found this to be the most fulfilling way to share the news.  First, "We're pregnant." Then, "It's twins!"

The Wait

(Yes, we had fun with my HUGE belly!)

     My first trimester took me a bit by surprise.  I figured I'd either feel terrible, puking every morning (found out later that morning sickness can happen all day long), or that I might just feel great and get to skip the icky first trimester feelings all together.  Instead I had more of a dull, nervous feeling most of the time those first several weeks.  My second and third trimesters were much better.  Believe it or not I never actually had that feeling that I just "needed to have these babies RIGHT NOW" the way some describe.  It might have had a lot to do with the uncertainty of being a mom for the first time to not one, but two babies!

    When talking about the birth with my doctor I honestly had no idea that most twins were born CSection.  I assumed that everyone just tried to do things naturally, and that if that didn't work then there was "plan B"- surgery.  When I found out that more than half of twin births were CSections I did feel a little nervous.  I had always looked forward to getting to participate in all aspects of my pregnancies including the birth process.  Towards the end of my second trimester, Micah and I signed up for a Lamaze class.  We really enjoyed it and learned a lot.  Everyone seemed very supportive of our desire to have a natural birth.  Looking back I remember that when it came time to practice pushing the instructor told me that it would be best if I didn't participate in this part.  She told me that she didn't want to put me into early labor.  I agreed without much of a thought about it.  I wonder now if she just really didn't expect that I'd need the "pushing skills."

     As my pregnancy began creeping closer and closer to the 36 week mark the sonograms were showing that twin B was slowly gaining more weight than twin A.  Dr. Kindred told us that if the percentage reached a certain level then we would need to do a CSection, for fear that "twin/ twin transfusion" wasn't taking place which can be very dangerous.  A couple days before the 36 week mark I went in for my prenatal.  We found out that sure enough the gap between weights was much bigger than before and Dr. Kindred's advice was that we do a CSection as soon as possible for fear of loosing one or both of the boys.   This was definitely not what we were praying for, but we reminded each other that we knew women and knew of plenty of women who had had successful VBAC's (vaginal births after cesarean).  There was not much of a debate, the surgery was what we needed to do.

The Big Day

(Henry on the left and Martin on the right...awe!)

     We arrived early in the morning on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at Proctor Hospital. I was very glad to hear that I would be able to be awake for the surgery.  I sat there while the nurse did this and that to get me ready for surgery.  It seemed so strange that in less than an hour I would be able to see my babies for the first time.  

     Micah joined me in the surgery room.  I had had a couple of surgeries prior on a troublesome broken wrist, so although I was nervous, being under the knife wasn't completely new either.  I was most surprised by how quickly the doctor delivered/ removed the first baby.  Baby Boy A!  Also known as Henry Micah Repke.  It was such a wonderful feeling to meet my first son.  As I was getting to enjoy looking at my little guy, I heard the doctor reassuring me that it wouldn't take long, but that Baby Boy B was stuck under my rib, so I'd feel some pulling.  That was honestly the strangest part of it all, but not too long later Martin Lloyd Repke was born.  I was not able to see him right away because the nurses hurried him to an area to help him with his breathing.  I had a small amount of fear for a moment, but they were able to get him breathing rather quickly and neither of the boys ever needed breathing machines or any other NICU care.  We were so grateful to the Lord!

     Both boys took to nursing very quickly.  We ended up having to supplement for a short time through a supplemental nurser due to climbing bilirubin levels.  The lactation nurse was very helpful and I was glad to have the extra support.  I did tandem nursing (both boys at the same time) for the first three months whenever it was convenient.  This helped to save time.

The boys are now 3 1/2 and are mama's big helpers (occasionally)

We really praise the Lord that my twin pregnancy went so well and that even though we ended up with a cesarean, that He guided the doctor's hands and kept me and the babies safe!

(First Sunday at church!)