Rebirthed
5 years ago today, I was safe in my bed at home in Dallas, holding my little Norah Jewell, who had been born 47 minutes after midnight. I had tried with all my might to get her out on January 22nd so she could share my dad’s birthday, but in the end, she came into the world on her own time, as she still does as a carefree little girl who says, “My favorite color is rainbow, and my spirit animal is a unicorn.”
Here’s the story of Norah’s birth - the consumption of inordinate amounts of fro-yo, the waddling around Whole Foods and holding onto a shelf in the body care aisle during contractions while the customers looked at me strangely, the waiting, the hoping, the believing that this would be “my healing birth.”
After preparing for months for a homebirth VBAC, this experience unearthed a strength I never knew was possible and ended up birthing me just as much as it birthed my child.
I thought I was going to break.
I didn’t.
And in the end, I was handed a beautiful, pink skinned baby with her daddy’s Asian eyes.
Little did I know how much I would draw upon the strength I found in myself that day for years to come, because a few years later, I would push my body to the limits again, this time to birth a farm and grow an abundance of food from soil that had never seen life before.
So, here’s what I want you to know today - God says that because of Him, when we feel weak, we are actually strong - so much stronger than we thought possible.
I believed it 5 years ago and I still believe it today, for you, and for me.
