Welcome Cole Andrew Yates
Born February 6, 2013
7lb 7oz
.JPG)
It has been an adventure for the Yates family this past month... full of anticipation, joy and God's faithfulness. It may be long, but here is story of some of the ways God has abundantly blessed our family through the birth of our son Cole Andrew Yates.
My son, your story starts
long before the day of labor. Your dad
and I were praying for you years before we decided to get pregnant. God’s provision over your life has been evident
and so beautiful.
I thought I had
everything all figured out… exactly when to start to try to get pregnant in
order to optimize the timing for life and overseas missions and my medical
training… little did I know that God had a bigger plan. We tried to get pregnant for 7 months before
God blessed us with your presence and our pregnancy. In fact, I thought that there was no way I
was going to get pregnant that month because I was working a lot and my cycle
seemed off that month, but God showed me that He is in control of the timing.
The timing worked out
perfectly. I started a new job and if I
had been pregnant any earlier I would not have been able to have Auntie Emily
Kroening cover my maternity leave and give me the rest and reassurance to spend
so much time with you after your delivery.
Pregnancy was difficult
for me. I really struggled with giving
up control and release of my body to share it with you. I wanted to do what I always did, but was
tired, emotional, unable to sleep and physically different, but God was
faithful to give me what I needed. Your
dad was so sweet and encouraging throughout the entire 9 months. We traveled all over the place, to Ethiopia , to Northern
California , to visit your Great-great Grandmother Ruth before she
died. Everyone we saw was in love with
you from your time in the womb. In fact
your grandma Debbie would cry every time she saw us because she was already sad
that she was so far away from you.
I left on maternity leave
at 38 weeks because I thought that you were going to come a bit early. I was having contractions from 22 weeks and
thought there was no way that you were going to come late. In the beginning, I was really worried about
the contractions and thought that you might be born too early, or maybe in Ethiopia
Because you were late, I
got to spend time with lots with people that love you. I was able to meet with Auntie Chelsey for
some counseling so I could prepare to be the best mommy for you. I got to talk to your Auntie/Dr Minako about
Jesus and his love for women in spite of some popular Christian myths. You got to meet Pastor Zhaudi from Ethiopia
As I approached 42 weeks
gestation, I knew that we were going to have to induce my labor. Your dad and I talked about it a lot and I
just wanted to resign… why wait any longer, he’s not going to come on his own,
I thought. We had planned to induce my
labor on Monday February 4th or Wednesday February 6th...
I figured might as well do it on Monday.
On that Sunday, we heard Pastor Britt Merrick speak about Matthew
10:28-31.
And do not fear those
who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy
both soul and body in hell. Are not two
sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of
them will fall to the ground apart from
your Father. But even the hairs of
your head are all numbered. Fear not,
therefore; you are of more
value than many sparrows.
He talked about his
daughter Daisy and the promise that God makes, not that life will be easy, but
that he would be there, to care and release the fears and unite families in
eternity. It was with this message that
I felt the presence of God during my time of frustration with waiting for what
I thought was unanswered prayers. The
spirit that day gave me the courage to wait.
Your Auntie Allison Blaze, who didn’t always go to our church, came up
to me during the service and loved you and prayed for you and encouraged me in
my waiting. She encouraged me that she
remembered the waiting with her baby and was there with me in spirit and beside
me that morning. She also reminded me
that she would be working in the hospital Wednesday. It was then that I decided to wait to have my
labor induced until Wednesday.
That Monday night your
dad and I had a great night together. We
were intentional in spending time with each other, speaking loving words to
each other and praying. That night was
the first night in about a week that I prayed out loud. I was previously afraid to pray, just to be
more disappointed. I prayed that you
would come on Tuesday, before the induction on Wednesday and that you would be
healthy and safe. God reminded me of the
power of the tongue to bless his name and the faith that it takes to speak it
out loud.
Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written
before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
2 Cor
4:13
Since we have the same
spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,”
we also believe, and so we also speak..
Matthew
17:20
For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of
mustard seed, you will say
to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of
mustard seed, you will say to
this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
I went to bed that night with regular mild
contractions, like what I had before… On Tuesday morning, the contractions were
stronger and still every 5-10 minutes, but I was in denial that it was actually
labor… too skeptical to get my emotions engaged, and besides I had things I
wanted to do that day. Your dad and I
went to breakfast at the Galloping Hen and split an omlette. During breakfast I asked him to pinch me in
order to distract me from the pain of my contractions. We then walked over to the Goodwill store and
bought a hair dryer for our friend Sarah Appel and walked around the
store. My contractions were getting
stronger, but I still thought it might be a false alarm. That day we packed up gifts to give to Sarah
and Auntie Amanda, who just had her baby girl Bridget Ellen that morning. We cleaned the house, visited James and Sarah
Appel and their baby boy Noah. We had
planned to meet Auntie Mary Wong that day, so we did. I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes
that were strong, but I really wanted to see her. So daddy drove me to Panera Bakery. He read, while Mary and I talked and
prayed. She was so excited to finally be
able to meet you and join us as a part of your birth story.
We went home because I was uncomfortable and
had a lot of visitors come over and love you… Auntie Emily Kroening, Auntie
Natalie, Auntie Emily Benson. Finally we
went to the hospital at 7pm. God was
with us the entire time. When we
arrived, my cervix was 3cm dilated and the contractions were really long
(2.5 -3 minutes) and painful. I tried walking and we saw Auntie Amanda in
the hallway, but almost fell down. We
went back to the room with Auntie Minako, nurse Tessie and then nurse
Monica. Dr Kotobi came by and gave mommy
some special anesthesia medicine, an epidural so she could relax a little bit,
but it made me shake all over. Auntie
Kavi, Mackenzie, Teresa, Natalie, Emily, Momo, Auntie Susu and Daddy were all
there to help me relax. We listened to
some great music and relaxed for a bit.
You were in a funny position, occiput posterior, and caused me a lot of
pain and coupling contractions. As the
time passed, my cervix dilated to 5cm, but the contractions spaced out to every
6 minutes, so we started some medicine called pitocin to make them more
regular. As your head moved down, to 0
station and finally +2 station, my really strong cervix would not open. I had a lot of pain, but daddy gave me some
great massages and we tried to move around from side to side and on hands and
knees to help you move your way down. My
cervix of steel really didn’t want to open… funny how my fears of preterm labor
were directly demolished. It was dilated
to 8 cm for 5 hours without opening.
Daddy was reading and I was praying these words
of scripture:
2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness.” Therefore
I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Isaiah 26:3
You keep him
in perfect peace
whose mind
is stayed on you,
because he
trusts in you.
Isaiah 43:
2-3
When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you;
and through
the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you
walk through fire you shall not
be burned,
and the
flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One
of Israel
I give Egypt
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and
his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” Jabez called upon the God of Israel,
saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand
might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm2 so
that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.
John 16:21
When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow
because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer
remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
It was around 5 in the morning when Auntie
Minako came in to talk to us very seriously.
She told us that your heart rate was going very low with the
contractions. She was worried because my
cervix wasn’t opening and your heart rate was stressed. She told us we could try an amnioinfusion (a
salt water infusion in my uterus) or just do my c-section at that time. I started to cry because I just wanted you to
be here, and I wanted my body to cooperate and do what a mommy’s body is supposed
to do and I felt like I was letting you and your daddy down. Your daddy was so good to me. He comforted me and reminded me of God’s
promises. After the amnioinfusion, he
helped me to move around and spend a lot of time on my hands and knees and
massaged my back every contraction to help you turn and help me feel
better. I prayed and prayed. After a bit your heart rate looked less
stressed. At 7 o’clock, Auntie Minako
had to go to Santa Paula
Hospital
Auntie Allison brought you over to me and
cuddled and I cried inside because you were beautiful and God again was SO
faithful, over and over again. He
protected you during labor, even with all the stress, and protected me from a
c-section and an induction… things that would not have been the end of the
world or horrible, but I was spared out of his grace and his mercy. He reminded me that morning that you are his,
he is watching over you in a very special way.
The ways he protects you and his spirit covers you is bigger and greater
than what we, your mom and dad, can do ever.
He has entrusted you to us, but has not left you. You will never be apart from your heavenly
father.
Through this process, I have seen and it is
confirmed that you are going to be a man of prayer and a prophet with words of
wisdom and truth on your tongue. We saw God
directly answer our prayers when we had the faith to speak them outloud. We were able to see and understand that the
release of control and fear allowed for our faith to rise through prayer and
the spoken word.
Cole, your daddy and I love you so much. God has blessed us with you and we are not
worthy of you or to care for you. We
promise to be prayerful and faithful with the parenting he has entrusted us to
do in your life.
Your name verse is Isaiah 6: 1-8
In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord, high and exalted, seated on a
throne; and the train of his robe filled the
temple. Above him were
seraphim, each with six
wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their
feet, and with two they were flying. And they were
calling to one another:
“Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound
of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled
with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I
cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man
of unclean lips, and I live
among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes
have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he
touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is
taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard
the voice of the Lord
saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will
go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!
