#MyPandemicStory: God answered my prayers while giving birth without my family
By TaLeiza Calloway-Appleton
Growing up, I used to tell my mother that I did not think I was strong enough for childbirth. After all the stories I had read and movies I had seen, I just did not think I could do it. The pain of labor terrified me.
Well, God showed me just how strong I was two months ago through the arrival of my baby girl, Reima, in the middle of a global pandemic.
Childbirth wasn’t new to me. My oldest son Levi was born on the first day of spring in March 2014. My mother and husband were there when he arrived to offer support and love and celebrate his birth.
My middle child Royce was born two weeks early in November 2017. Again, my husband was with me, holding my hand and praying with me as I welcomed him into the world.
We live in the Bay Area of California, and we were on lockdown -- I knew the birth of my third child, my sweet Reima, would be so different. I feared the idea of no one being there to calm me if she had a birth defect. I worried there would be no one there to encourage me if I had to have a cesarean delivery.
Reima was born Monday, June 1, 2020, 12 days early. But this time, there was no familiar face in the room with me. The hospital had instituted strict COVID-19 measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, so I was without family beside me.
God’s nudge to prepare
On May 31, 2020 I randomly said to my husband: “I feel the need to pack my bag for the hospital.”
I was nine months pregnant with Reima. We had often talked about how the delivery would go as we were sheltering in place due to COVID-19 and hospitals were limiting how many people could be in the delivery room. Waiting rooms were also closed.
I prayed that things would be better by the time Reima arrived.
On June 1, I woke up excited to begin the week. It was the start of the final countdown to meeting Reima and Levi’s last week of Kindergarten.
However, Reima had other plans as I began to have contractions. I called the doctor and she said I needed to head to the hospital. My husband had left for work about 30 minutes prior. I could not believe the timing of everything, but God had prepared me. My hospital bag was already packed.
My husband came home and took me to the hospital. I waved goodbye to my children and told them I loved them. I said, “Mommy will see you soon and with your new sister.”
I was already anxious about going to the hospital solo. My husband and I put on our face masks and he walked me into the emergency room entrance. A nurse greeted us with a wheelchair and then I hugged my husband goodbye.
I know God was with me in the hospital. He helped me hold back tears as I watched my husband leave the hospital. He helped me smile at my children in the car even though I was scared about the experience I was walking into.
I still praise God that no one cried during the drop-off because I would not have been able to handle that!
Praying through the delivery
God helped ease my anxiety about the COVID-19 test results as I waited to be transferred to a birthing room. He helped me push through the pain as I delivered my daughter in a room full of strangers.
“We’re here for you,” said Nurse Sumi as we waited for the test results.
Sumi also held my hand as I got my epidural and told me “I rocked it,” when the anesthesiologist had to insert the needle in my spine for a second time to reposition it.
Before her shift ended, Sumi said she would come back in the morning so she could meet Reima. She returned the next day as promised. I will never forget their kindness.
No, they were not my family, but God helped me to lean on them and not focus on who was not there. He made me strong enough to deliver my baby girl alone. And when it was all over, I had never felt so brave.
Plus, I had the honor of cutting Reima’s umbilical cord — a task my husband did for both of our sons. I am so grateful that I had a great team of nurses to care for me and hold my hand as I birthed my daughter.
God was there with me and I know He heard my prayers. And for this I am forever grateful.
He heard my prayers for strength to safely deliver my baby and to make it home to my family.
I have always liked Romans 12:12, “Rejoice in the hope. Endure under tribulation. Persevere in prayer.”
It speaks to me and often pertains to my life and provides reassurance. When I read this verse, I am reminded that when life gets hard, it is important to endure and remember that what I might be going through will not last forever.
I am reminded that I must maintain hope even when I feel scared, insecure, and uncertain of my future.
More than anything, these words remind me that God sees me and hears my prayers. He knows my heart and knows what I can and cannot handle. I did not realize just how much God would prepare me for something I feared with my whole being.
TaLeiza Calloway-Appleton is a media professional with experience in journalism and marketing. The Ohio native has written for major daily newspapers, weekly news outlets, magazines and non-profit organizations. She lives in the Bay Area of California with her husband, Richmond, and her three children.