Happy Birthday Faith, Today she is 9 years old.

I remember when Dan and I found out we were expecting our first baby. Dan did not want me BUY a pregnancy test and said “You will know eventually.” So I asked him to go with me to a place that gave out free test. When we did the test together immediately it gave a positive sign of my being pregnant. Dan started reading the box saying, “ That was too fast it says it take 1-5 minutes.” He wouldn’t believe it but I assured him it was true we were expecting our first baby. There is something about the first that is so special. Everything is new. I never got sick but Faith was the only baby that I was always hungry with. For the first 4 months I would eat all the time and still feel starving. I gained the weight to prove it.

When I had my first midwife appointment at 4.5 months, (We were living in Oregon and then moved to Maine so I didn’t go right away to the Dr.) my Midwife weighed me, “Wow Melissa you have Gained 20 lbs, I can see you gaining 20 more.” “20 More!” I gulped. 40 lbs scared me and I figured I would never see my pre-pregnancy clothes again. But God was good and for some reason I never gained another pound.

My pregnancy went fairly smooth until Faith decided not to go head down and stayed breech. I did everything naturally I could, you should of seen me, I would go swimming everyday hold my belly flipping and driving in the water trying to get her to move into the right position, I put a flashlight on my belly hoping she would go towards the light, I tried placing a bag of frozen veggies in my belly hoping she would move away from the cold and the list goes on but week after week Faith wouldn’t budge. 2 weeks before my due date I went to see a special Dr who performed an external version that forcibly makes babies turn into the head down position. When the Dr was working on Faith trying to get her to turn she said “I don’t think the baby is going to turn.” I spoke “Oh God, No!” and just like that Faith flipped head down. Praise the Lord.

At the time of Faith’s birth Dan and I were building our house and living with my parents. Everyone was sure I was going to have a boy so Dan and I had chosen Seth Robert for a boy name and Faith for the girls name. Since we were so sue she was a boy we hadn’t picked a middle name.

I awoke August 30^th 1999 and knew the baby would be coming soon, even though I didn’t realize it was labor at first it took me till 11pm that night to know this was the real deal. We called the Midwife and she came right over. We filled the pool with warm water and it felt so good to be in the water. Dan was holding me in the water as I was pushing, the midwife said to me, “Don’t worry Melissa if you pee as your pushing since pee is sterile.” “I already have.” I gasped. Dan’s hands flew out of that water so fast.

At 2:30 in the morning on August 31^st 1999 Faith was born, As I pulled her out of the water up to my chest everyone was saying “He is so cute and so forth.” I finally felt down to see if it was a boy or not and I was so shocked as I said, “It’s a girl.” Although surprised we wouldn’t trade her for the world. After a few days of thought Dan came up with the middle name Summer since Faith was born at the end of summer. So there is the story of the birth of Faith Summer Wall.