We proudly introduce to you.....

Samuel Thomas Lockwood
March 12, 2009
10:04 pm
3 lbs. 12 oz
17 in.
"God Has Heard"

(Pictures of our sweet newest blessing for whom you all prayed for so long can be found at the bottom of this post.)

I can hardly see to type as tears fill my eyes. Tears of joy and a heart overcome with amazement of all the Lord has done.
For the past several weeks, I have heard our children pray for mommy and the baby as I know so many of you have so faithfully done. But I have also heard my little ones specifically pray that Jesus would make the placenta grow back the other way. They prayed this because they heard Daddy pray this very thing. Often, he would hold me, put his hand on my growing belly and ask God to let that placenta grow back out that uterine wall/muscle.
Yesterday evening around 8 pm, I had been reading in bed and got up to use the bathroom. Suddenly, I began to hemorrhage again. It was so bad that I couldn't get back to my bed to call the nurse for a minute or so; the bleeding was coming so quickly. When I finally made it back to bed, I was covered in blood and my nurse came into the room and immediately called for help.
My brother and his wife arrived a few minutes later and it was so good to have them here while everyone was deciding what to do. Finally the doctor came in to assess the situation and after seeing I'd lost well over 1000 ml of blood, he said, "It's time". Our baby had just about completed 32 weeks and 3 days inside me and it was time to meet him.
Everything happened so very quickly. I called Daniel right away and he had just finished feeding, bathing, and pj-ing the children and as he already had planned to come see me that evening, the baby sitter was on her way and his brother's wife was in town and came right over to the house so Daniel could get up here.
Dr. Van Kirk works with 5 other ob/gyns in that they take turns during the nights/weekends being on call for all of their patients. I had met 4 of those other doctors and I was so happy when I found out my favorite of the 4 was on call and would be doing the surgery.
Another blessing, my ob doctor with Elijah and Beka, and my now dear friend, Dr. Edwards, was on the floor that evening as she had a patient in labor. I had been praying it would work out for her to assist with the surgery and be with me as she had offered to and has been so encouraging to me this pregnancy. When she heard I was going to have the baby, she came right in and was with me the entire time.
Daniel got here in time, got on his scrubs, and they wheeled me down the hall. Once they got my spinal in and prepped for surgery, Daniel came in, we cried and prayed together, and then he sat by my head and held my hand. Oh, I was SOOO happy and felt SOOO relieved when he came into the room. I have had my last 3 c-sections in Mexico by myself as husbands are not allowed in the room, and while the Lord had given me tremendous peace throughout the entire evening, just having my husband at my side lightened every fear and I felt so safe.
They began the surgery and Daniel and I quoted Psalms 23 together. I was unsure when they finally pulled out our baby because he didn't cry for a while, but I finally heard he was here and the NICU team was working on him. I couldn't take my eyes off the table where he lay; I couldn't see him as everyone was gathered around working on him, so I just cried and prayed for the Lord to take care of him for me.
They finally had to wisk him away to the NICU but let me know that he was doing good all things considering. Daniel stayed by my side while we waited to hear how serious the placenta accreta or increta was. I knew that if they couldn't get it out right away, they would put me under general anesthesia.
I could feel the pulling and tugging and then I heard words I will never forget as long as I live..."The placenta is out. No problem, no accreta, no increta. It detached beautifully". Daniel questioned the doctor to make sure we had heard him right and he assured us it looked great.
He said my uterus was nice and thick and in wonderful shape. My brave and curious hubby was so elated that he even asked if he could watch part of the surgery which they let him! They stapled me all back up and took me to recovery. I had lost an additional 1,000 ml. of blood during the surgery and was continuing to bleed heavily, so they gave me a couple more units of blood, after which, I felt so much better.
Daniel was able to go back and forth between the waiting room (my parents, Uncle Tom, Pastor Ryan, his brother Joel, my sister Jessee, and my brother Joshua and his wife Hope were all there), the NICU and my recovery room.
They took me back to my room between 1:30 and 2:00 am. Daniel and I talked a while going over and over the events of the evening, praising the Lord who truly worked a miracle, and marveling in His goodness. Daniel fell asleep, but I continued to bleed and need bi-hourly assessing. I don't think I could have slept anyways as all I could to is thank the Lord and think about our little baby boy I hadn't even been able to see yet.
In the morning, Daniel woke up and we decided something very important...Justin Other's real name! :) You see, we had settled on a name a while ago and wanted to keep it a surprise. But a short time ago, Daniel told me that he just wasn't sure about it. We went back and forth about many names and couldn't decide. Daniel likes nice, strong simple names like John, Paul ect... and I like name that have at least 3 syllables. :) But I asked this week especially that the Lord would soften my heart to be happy with whatever name Daniel wanted and that the Lord would give us wisdom in choosing a name.
A few hours before my big bleed, my brother in law Samuel and my sister in law Leah were visiting me. We were talking about names and I was just simply curious and asked Samuel if he knew what his name meant...to which he answered "God has heard". I honestly didn't think anything other that what a nice meaning it had. We had never used a name of any of our siblings or the children's first cousins, so I didn't think much of it.
In the OR room, shortly after the doctor told us the wonderful news, I was just talking with Daniel while they worked on me and I told him about visiting with Samuel and Leah and what Samuel's name meant. This morning, when he woke up, he asked me again what Samuel meant. I looked it up online just to make sure and read, "God has heard". We both smiled at each other and we both knew that was the name. What a wonderful meaning for our little son and his mommy who were prayed over so much and we proudly and humbly announce to any who ask "God has heard!"
I am feeling so much better than I expected. My pain isn't horrible, and they are currently giving me another couple units of blood as I'm still unable to sit up without everything going black. They brought me some crackers, pudding, and juice and between some food, fluids and blood, I hope to be up and walking sometime this afternoon. I can't WAIT to walk because once I can get up, I can go see sweet Samuel. Daniel went in this morning and took about 25 pictures of him for me. I can hardly believe he's really here! Pray I'll be able to go to him today...I think he is just the most handsome little man just like his Daddy. I just LOVE having babies! Thank you Lord!
Some fun facts, if you've made it down this far :), about Samuel:
He was born on 3/12 and he weighed 3 lbs 12 oz. :) And he's our 12th :) And there are 12 letters in his first+middle name. His middle name Thomas is given to him in honor of Daniel's uncle, Uncle Tom, who has been like a father to him and been a tremendous blessing and encouragment to Daniel and the rest of our family.
Thank you so much for praying and please continue to pray for a speedy recovery for me so I can see and spend lots of time with sweet Samuel and especially pray for Samuel. He is doing as well as is expected, but with preemies, things can change quickly. But we know that Jesus is holding our son in His hands just as much now as He was in my womb. He is so wonderful!