Category: New life

Well, actually, according to my mother, I arrived sometime in the middle of the night. I don’t remember, despite being there! What is clear in my memory as I write this are the events that led up to the arrival of our grandson – our first, and the reason for our joy this week. Last week was momentous. Not just in that he finally arrived, but because of all the emotions, stresses and worries that led up to his birth.

He is tiny. That was no surprise to us – he has his grandfather’s genes and he weighed only 5lb when he was born. But it had the medics worried, so induction was suggested. That was on the Tuesday. The date finally set to get things rolling was Friday. So we all had a few days to prepare ourselves. Or in my case, as an ex midwife, to think about all the possible scenarios, worry about the ‘what ifs’ and desperately try not to convey any of those niggling fears to my actually amazingly calm daughter and son – in – law. We prayed and prayed, and of course it was all ok. In fact she did amazingly well, with the minimal of medical interference, and our boy was born, rather quickly in the end, but safe and sound, on Friday evening. Mother and baby are doing well 😊

The hard thing for me was being apart from my daughter for all of those hours; both the hours in labour and the 24 hour period afterwards that she had to stay in to have the baby monitored. As her mother, I so wanted to be with her. I couldn’t even speak with her, as her Wi-Fi and phone signal were so bad. It was agonising. The waiting and wondering, yes, and the constant worrying.

But that was not half as hard as what my poor son-in -law had to go through. The dreaded Covid regulations meant that even he could not be with her. He spent Friday and much of Saturday in the hospital carpark, as the hospital is 45 minutes from home. He could not be with her in the early stages of labour when she needed him so much, and he only just made it to the birth, which was traumatic in itself. He also could not be with them for that precious first day of his son’s life, to bond with him, and to support his wife.

Of course, although we all had to go through the mill, nothing compares to what my daughter went through. She breathed her way magnificently through the early stages, alone apart from stranger midwives. She was out of it by the time the decisions were being made to hasten his arrival, and her carefully prepared birth plan went out of the window. And then she had to deal with the aftermath – feeding and caring for a new-born whilst exhausted and in pain – alone, with minimal assistance, for almost 24 hours. We were all mightily relieved when they all finally got home!

But all of that has faded into a distant memory, now that we can hold him, smell him, smile at his funny little expressions, decide who he looks most like, marvel at his tiny hands and feet. All perfect. He has brought so, so much joy into all of our lives!

It just reminded me once again – not only of God’s amazing goodness and faithfulness, and wondrous creativity – but of how He keeps His promises. Whether you are the one going through the difficulty, or a loved one watching from the side-lines, feeling their pain but being powerless to help – His promise stands over all our lives.

Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5 NKJV

We may weep through the night, but at daybreak it will turn into shouts of ecstatic joy. Psalm 30: 5 TPT

I know it to be true. I’ve proved it over and over.

Joy Margetts is new to blogging, and new to being published. Her debut novel ‘The Healing’ was published by Instant Apostle on 19 March 2021. A work of historic fiction, set in mediaeval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian abbey life, it is also a story of faith, hope and God’s redemptive power. Joy has also self published a short novella, ‘The Beloved’ as both a companion to ‘The Healing’, and an easy to read standalone story, which is available to buy on Amazon Kindle.

More information on Joy and her writing can be found here http://www.joymargetts.com