Pregnancy & Labor: Taylor Milan Lindsey's Birth Story

Introducing the world to our little princess, Taylor Milan Lindsey! 

First, how did we come up with her name?

While me & Cornelius were courting, we used to joke and make stick figures creating our little family. The first stick figure was a little boy named "Logan," the second, a little girl named Taylor. And.. there was a third & I think we are going to adopt him/her! :) 

So, as we searched high and low for girl names, we couldn't agree on one name. It's crazy how many people you realize you know when it comes to choosing names! :) So, we were sitting at Houston's restaurant and I said.. remember our stick figures? The names? Cornelius smiled & said "TAYLOR!" Yes!! That's it! The name we've always loved and had peace about. So, with further research, I checked out a few more things. 

Taylor definition: Transferred use of the surname derived from the Anglo-French taillour (tailor), which is from the Old French taillier (to cut).

Milan definition: "Gracious" 

So, as we paired it together, we figured that God would use Taylor to graciously share the word of God which CUTS deeper than any two edged sword. She will be used to share Christ in a dark world as she shows people how important it is to CUT out anything that isn't like Him. :)

So, onto my birth story!

If you read my birth story with Logan, that I had a ROUGH, long labor. The doctors had been measuring Logan for awhile and found that he was a big boy so a C-section was always a possibility in the back of my mind, EVEN with my birth plan. I ended up having a C-section with him but I was open to a VBAC (Vaginal birth after C-section) and so were my doctors. We agreed that we would continue to monitor the size of Taylor to determine if we were going to try for a VBAC. So, we went to our 33 week doctors appointment and Taylor was measuring 6 pounds and 11 ounces! Whoaaa! ANOTHER big baby! My doctor was shocked, she said, "And you don't even have diabetes! You just have BIG babies!" So, she suggested that I schedule a C-section because obviously, we tried that whole vaginal birth with Logan and he didn't come after 27 hours because he couldn't fit in my pelvic wall. Hey, some women are smaller down there and I just happen to be one of them that births big babies!

39 weeks & one week later with Taylor! 

So, I told the Lord that if for some reason, I go to into labor before my scheduled C-section at 39 weeks and a half, that I would go for the VBAC!

Welp.

On Tuesday, July 7th, ONE day before my scheduled C-section, I went and got my hair done (the photo above), I got a manicure and a pedicure. That morning, I noticed that I was having contractions, REAL contractions (not braxton hicks) and they were about 10 minutes apart. So, I continued about my day and they became more spread out. Then, at 6pm - the contractions were every 10 minutes until 2AM. I'm thinking.. wait, this isn't normal. My contractions are getting closer and closer together! The other part of me was thinking, "WHY LORD!?" We had PLANS to go in & get a scheduled C-section! Why are we adding extra tests?!" lol! So, then the contractions started to come every 5 minutes for an hour! Those contractions were PAINFUL! Whew! So, we rushed to the hospital and shockingly, I was already dilated to 6 CM! We were shocked! With Logan, I never went into labor and the fact that my body was going into labor was a sign to me to let it run it's course.

Until.. 12 hours later.

Lots of contractions and I was still only dilated to 6 CM! The doctor continued to check my cervix to see how far Taylor was from my cervix and we kept running into the same issue, her head wasn't dropping.

It couldn't fit. Again. 

Welp, I tried Lord. And about 18 hours later.. the doctor said to me, "Heather, we've been here before, Taylors experiencing some stress from contractions -  what do you want to do?"

C-section please, sir. 

Did I want another one? Um, who wants their abs cut open and a child ripped out of them!? lol! Of course I didn't but it wasn't about me! It was about the safety of Taylor! To me, it was a tiny sacrifice to get her here safely!

1 hour later on July 8, 2015 at 4:10pm, we were holding Taylor in our arms! She was a perfect 9 pounds and 2 ounces and 21 inches! When I heard her cry for the first time, I cried happy tears! Gosh, my little baby girl is here! I have a DAUGHTER! A mini me! There's so much I want to teach her. There's so much I want her to learn! 

So, I'm a breastfeedin' mama and right when we went into the recovery room, they let me latch her on! She latched RIGHT on and started nursing! I was so proud of her! I had just finished nursing Logan about 5 months prior to giving birth so, it's like my body already knew the drill!

But, things didn't get much easier after that. 

They noticed that her blood sugar levels were low. They said it was common with larger babies, so they sent her down to the NICU. I had no idea that it was like a baby prison down there! Of course, the nurses were awesome, but I felt like it robbed the freedom I wanted to just take my baby girl with me to my hospital room. I had to get buzzed into the back to see her every 3 hours as I nursed. The first day, I took a wheelchair to go see her, but by day 2 of my c-section, I was walking around. Although my amazing husband would have wheeled me all over the hospital, I tend to be a bit independent and if I'm nursing her on demand or every 2-3 hours, there's a chance my hubby was out grabbing food or even sleeping and I didn't want to bother him. So, as I sat on the 7th floor, taking mini- naps, I would calls to go downstairs to the 2nd floor & feed Taylor. So, up & down, up & down. We prayed for baby girl's quick recovery & that we could take her home with us when we were scheduled to leave the hospital. Talk about exhausting!

Thank GOD that after 24 hours, her blood sugar levels were stable and then they wanted to wait another 24 hours to make sure they remained that way. Sadly, they pricked her every 3 hours to make sure. Although I understand their precaution, I hated that she had to go through those things just days after birth! So, we were pretty intentional about spending hours and hours of skin-to-skin and nursing. Shoutout to my hubby who was right there, present and always active!

Logan came up to the hospital every single day and spent a few hours with us each day! We did the "gift" exchange and told Logan that his little sister bought him his little superhero toys! He was so excited! :)

Finally, we were able to take Taylor home and we got discharged at the same exact time! She was in the NICU for a total of 2 days.

What have I learned? That God's will isn't always what we think. Obviously, I prayed, believed the best but I learned that I cannot control every thing that happens to me, but I can control my response towards it.

Now, back at home-- I'm pretty intentional about resting, walking and getting back into the swing of things. I'm not good at just laying around for hours and hours. I love to be active, work, and run errands but I understand that my body needs to heal! So, I've been in the house dealing with cabin fever BUT I'm enjoying all of this snuggle and bonding time with my Taylor. Never will I have just days and days and days of constant skin-to-skin and laying around together. I'm going to soak up every single moment!

Will we have more?

Long answer short, NO. lol! My prayer is that the Lord will close my womb and that we will be able to adopt a couple babies! :) I have pretty big babies, my pregnancies are usually pretty hard on my body and labor & delivery is a hot mess! My prayer is that the Lord will allow somebody else to do the work & we get the baby via adoption! :) Hey, I'm adopted so I support adoption 100%!

And now, we are a family of four and my heart is seriously exploding. I LOVE being Cornelius's wife, Logan & Taylor's mama! Our hearts are so at peace and we are THANKFUL that God chose us to be parents of 2 precious babies!

Taylor and Logan are getting along quite well and Logan is SUPER helpful. He even tried to explain to me that he needed to nurse Taylor. (blank stare). Hey, he's only 2 years old! lol!

Thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement along the way!

God loves you all like crazy,

Heather Lindsey

Our first family stroll with Taylor! She's one week old!

I love my family! 

"Sloppy Words"

As I near the end of my pregnancy (39 weeks) I have found that just because you're pregnant, people don't tell you their beautiful pregnancy and labor stories-- they tell you the most horrific, crazy experiences that they went through and their mama went through. It's almost like you have a sign on your head at the grocery store that says: "I want to hear your worst experiences." As with anything in life, you MUST guard your heart against what people SAY. Why are we walking around just "signing for everybody's sorry packages" about our LIFE? The bible gives us FULL instructions on HOW to LIVE regarding being single, married, raising children, dealing with family members, working on your job & EVERYTHING else. Why do we RUN to all these other sources and ignore the MAIN source of life? I don't know about you but I don't have time to entertain the lies of this world. So, in light of me giving birth and just reflecting on everything over the past 9 months, I want to remind you of the following:

1. Humans don't know everything. There's no formula for ANYTHING. What may work for someone else (they met their hubby at church, one person may give birth at 38 weeks vs. 40 weeks) may NOT work for you. Be VERY selective in what you allow to be planted in your heart. You may meet your God-fearing, fine husband at the mall or at the grocery store! Why would you limit the God of Israel based on what you can see? God can IMPORT a man, He can OPEN up a barren womb, He can OPEN up a position at a company JUST for YOU. Just because this can be true, it cannot be your FOCUS. Our focus is on CHRIST. You never know. Even in my own life, my husband and I were pregnant in March of 2011 and we were excited until we found out that the sac was empty at the first ultrasound. There was no child-- just a growing sac. My body rejected the sac in May 2011 and I went through a painful miscarriage of the sac. I experienced ALL the things that came with pregnancy (symptoms) but had no child to show for it. I continued to experience problems with my body for a few more months. When we got pregnant again and found out in June of 2012.. I had a choice. I could sit around and FEAR that there wouldn't be a child or understand Ecclesiastes 3:2 that says there's a "time to be born." It wasn't my TIME to get pregnant OR for my son to be born and NOW I understand it! Pinky Promise started in January 2012 & I'm confident if I would have given birth in November 2011 that I would have been TOO busy to focus on a brand new ministry which as taken up a ton of my time! I had to LEARN to trust God's timing. PERIOD. 

2. If you don't know the bible for yourself, someone will feed you their opinions. It's simple, if you don't have a standard then someone else will set it for you. You can't just let people's words & opinions push you around like the wind!! Can you compare to a piece of paper that is being tossed around by the wind.. kinda going wherever the weather pushes it? Or are you like that TREE that is planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in it's season and its leaf doesn't wither and whatever it does -- does well? (Psalm 1:3). So STUDY the bible DAILY. Look up scriptures on things that you struggle with-- don't just walk around blind to what the bible says, accepting what everyone tells you!

3. Fear. For example, if you're believing God for a husband, pregnancy, salvation for your husband, a change in your child or whatever the case, you must hold on to what you believe to be true. It's because of your aunt's 4th divorced advice, you think that marriage would never work. It's because your girlfriends son who is the same age as your son.. and "this & that happened to him" so now the idea has been introduced in your heart and in the back of your mind, fear is growing and your faith is being attacked. We should listen to stories of HOPE and be encouraged that God hasn't forgotten about us! Don't let these silly distractions have you so messed up that you're believing the lie more than you're believing God's truth!

4. Stop watching Scandal. Ok. Scandal is JUST an example and I've never watched the show. But based on what people tweet and post about.. it sounds like there's some adultery & sex scenes. So as you lay down tonight, whether single or married you could 1. Wish you had someone with you that you aren't married to OR 2. You're married but now you're imagining yourself sexually with someone from your past. You may not get attacked right away but a seed was PLANTED. One day, your husband just won't be good enough, being single & just "trusting God" won't be as enticing especially since you've been waiting soooo long. You may think that I'm extreme. You may think that it doesn't "take all that." But living for Christ will cost you your LIFE. Satan is SEARCHING for an open door in your heart & you GIVE him an open door & then you DEFEND the open door. There's other silly shows out there that are filled with drama, unhealthy friendships and so much more. Guard your heart against these things. Turn off your cable. Do your part. This goes for music as well. I know you love your Beyonce but she's framing your thinking. And please, don't send me emails challenging your music- if God hasn't already convicted you-- go to Him & ask Him His thoughts on it. :) 

5. YOUR part. Ok, sis- You have a responsibility. Yes, you do. What do you spend your time doing? Do you spend 14 hours on facebook, 8 hours of your day at work or school, an hour working out and then you open up your bible for 5 minutes to read 1 scripture and think that you're approved? Do you just go to church on Sunday to get your fix.. but ignore God the rest of the week? Do you only go to God when you're heartbroken or down or do you constantly seek and PURSUE Him? What if someone only came to you when they needed something? Wouldn't you feel .. a bit used? Do you really want a relationship with God or do you want what you think He can do for you? God has a personality.. a heart. He grieves. He cares. He's jealous for YOU. You must spend time with God daily. Do your PART. Remember, we spend time with God for OUR good, not for "His good." HE IS GOD. 

As I mentioned above, I'm about to give birth! :) I am currently writing a book on how to stay fit & fabulous pregnant so I cannot wait to share it!! I am going to try to keep you all updated on Baby Boy Lindsey but grace me as I get adjusted to mommy-hood!

1. If you live in Atlanta, I want to invite you to our church. Join us on Sundays at 11:00am at Landmark Art Cinemas. Our churches name is: "The Gathering Oasis" (there's another church that holds service there too). 931 Monroe Drive NE Atlanta, GA- in Theatre 6.

2. My book is selling like crazy! I'm so thankful for all of you that have supported! Check it out here: My New Book! Pink Lips & Empty Hearts:  www.PinkLipsAndEmptyHearts.com

3. As always, you can join a Pinky Promise group locally! There's about 11,000 ladies that have joined! Find a group near you by joining & checking out the intro page! Join here: www.PinkyPromiseMovement.com 

4. To purchase cross rings, tote bags, fabulous shirts, purity rings & all that other good stuff-- go here: Pinky Promise Store 

P.S. If you've asked me questions on here-- know that I'm not ignoring you! I get THOUSANDS of emails & questions and it's super hard to get to each one. Thanks for your patience during this busy time!

God loves you like crazy!

Heather Lindsey