Lisa’s birth story

As I’m pondering how to write this story, the words in my head struggled to take shape. How can I put to words this experience? To give God all the glory without it turning into a book. In order to tell the testimony of birthing Lisa, I have to start at the beginning.

It began more than two years ago when God started talking to me about having another baby. He also gave me a vision of a child. I seriously doubted my capacity for five, at times I even convinced myself that I’m not hearing correctly. Then the dreams started of me being in labour and delivering my own baby. We joked that, should I fall pregnant on the road, it’s going to have to be an unassisted caravan delivery. I prayed that if a fifth child is what God has in store for us, to please prepare Tian’s heart as well, but God knows my husband’s heart better than I do. 

We found out we’re expecting in Hazyview and from get go I was in warfare. Holy spirit led me into serious prayer walks and there He stilled my heart with scripture: Exodus 14:14. The battle was His to fight, I could just rest in Him. Later it was confirmed through a friend. We did feel led to not share the news, mostly because of the warfare, but also because the world does not take kindly to big families and to avoid the conversation of not taking the medical route. It took time to strengthen our hearts for the journey ahead. It did come with a lot of persecution and fighting off fear that people spoke over us. For some background: in medical terms I’m considered high risk – I had two previous caesarian sections, I’m advanced maternal age and a grand multipara (five or more pregnancies). 

Despite the medical facts, we knew that God prompted us to do this in faith without medical assistance. In some circles this is called a free birth. The law has also recently been changed that no midwife is allowed to assist a mom with a previous caesarian section outside of a hospital setup.

During my pregnancy, I read this in a devotion that strengthened my heart: Everything that God tells us to do is for our benefit. This statement is a truth that we need to settle in our hearts and our minds. Everything that He tells us to do leads to victory if we stick with it. The testing of our faith, and allowing patience to work in our life, have their benefits. God is trying to help us grow! He wants us to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing! – And with this, I would also like to add that sharing my testimony is not to say this is how everyone should do it. My heart is to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ, that anything is possible with God and asking yourself: What is God prompting you to do in faith??

When we were in Kosi Bay I started bleeding. It was hard for me to take authority, but I prayed, surrendered and chose to put my trust in God. Tian felt not to go for a sonar and to trust God, but I felt I needed the reassurance. I layed it to rest for a while and first prayed about it. While we stayed with the Fouries, we covered the baby and pregnancy in prayer with the Mele family which really uplifted my spirit.

Now, I wish I could tell you once you choose God’s path that it is smooth sailing from there, but it is often quite the opposite. The enemy came at me hard. I would suspect that majority of women feel this way during pregnancy. It is a vulnerable time for any woman. 

Only six weeks after the bleeding, I finally felt peace to go for a sonar and found out we’re expecting a little girl. Everything was perfect, with no indication where the bleeding came from . I was told to book with a gynae as soon as possible because of my age. I just calmly responded that I won’t receive any death spoken over me and my baby. 

God provided a home for us and I was led to prepare the property spiritually for the birth with spirit led prayers over a period of time.

The closer we came to the date of birth, the more anxious I became and doubt flooded me with thoughts like: “Will I really be able to do this?”

I was tempted to think it would be easier to opt out and have a caesarian section, but I knew it wasn’t an option. 

My body started to prepare for delivery and I had prodomal labour almost every day from 36 weeks. It was mentally and physically exhausting. During this time, God worked in me and dealt with a lot of fear and control. Complete surrender is what God desires. 

My dear friend Yolandi came and prayed over my growing tummy and anointed my scar – it was such a precious moment and we could feel the chains of fear fall off. The day before I went in labour, God revealed more anxieties in me and Tatiana and I could pray over it, bind it and the final release come.

I felt some contractions at the dinner table, but kept quiet to wait it out. Past eight that evening my eldest daughter, Nanke and I went for a stroll, I thought: “This might be it tonight!” We were swinging peacefully together when I said: “You’ll probably have a sister tonight.”

At ten I was hopping on the birth ball through contractions and by ten thirty Tian had a warm bath ready for me. My waters broke eleven thirty. I got out of the bath to try positions to help head decend and by now the pain was unbearable. A few contractions later, l got back into the bath, sitting up so that gravity can do the work and groaning through the pain.

I clearly heard Holy Spirit say: “Get out of bath now.”

I got a huge surge of contraction and melted into Tian and Nanke’s arms while bearing down. Lisa just gently slided into Tian’s hands, whilst the song “Praise” by Megan Tibbits was playing. Lisa was born 11 February at 00h57, weighing a whooping 3,7kg.

It was a sacred moment, where God showed up tangible. Thank you Abba for doing the impossible on a next level! 

I also invite you to read Ellie’s birth story here: https://elmidb.wixsite.com/cosmosinthewind/post/how-elllie-s-light-came-about