Lilliana's Birth Story

When God gave us the name Faith for Lilliana’s middle name, we were praying this name would be true to her life- that she would be a woman of great faith, trusting God always. What we didn’t know when we chose the name is how much faith we’d have to have in this process of bringing Lilliana into the world. Without faith, Lilliana would probably not be here today.

Five months before we found out we were going to have another baby, we started praying for all the details that would need to be worked out for our next birth. We knew we’d probably be having a baby in Zimbabwe, and that it could present several difficulties. We found out we were pregnant three months before we moved to Zimbabwe. 

When we got to Zim, we started looking into our options of where to have the baby. We talked to some doctors and they recommended a certain hospital, Avenues Clinic. So, we decided that that would be the birth place. However, after taking a tour of the hospital in March, our feelings about a hospital birth began to change. One of our main concerns was that there are visiting hours for everyone, including the husband (from 7pm-7am, the father could not be at the hospital). Heidi was very nervous about the possiblity of having Ian gone soon after the baby was born as well as several other concerns. After evaluating the situation more and praying, we decided to start looking into the home birth option. 

It is very unlike Heidi’s character to do things last minute (considering the baby was due in 2 and a half months), but the apprehension of having a baby at the hospital was enough motivation to pursue another option. She did some research online and emailed several different people to see if there were any birthing centers or midwives in Zimbabwe. We found that there are no birthing centers here and the one midwife who was here just moved in the beginning of the year to Germany. Then we found out about a ministry called Mission Midwives. Their ministry is to send midwives to missionaries who want to have a home birth. Exactly what we wanted! The midwives charge nothing for their midwifery service- the only expense is to pay for the plane ticket and living expenses while in the foreign country. We knew this was a big sacrifice for the midwives, but paying for the plane ticket was too much for us. However, we still looked into it. About five midwives contacted us from Mission Midwives and Christian Midwives combined, but none of them could help us pay for the plane ticket. So at the end of March, we decided that maybe we should just go to the hospital. A few days later, we found out about a love offering taken at Ridgeview Baptist Church to help pay for anything with the birth. We got enough to pay for a plane ticket! So the midwife search resumed. We were pretty set on one midwife who was able to come, but after talking to her some more, we really did not have a peace about her being our midwife. It still looked like it was going to be a hospital birth. But then we felt like we should email the first lady who contacted us (Betsy) again. When she contacted us in the beginning of March, we counted her out because she had a client due May 5 in Texas. But after emailing her, we still saw her as a possibility. It was the middle of April at this point, so we figured if her client was on time or early, Betsy could still come...and if she couldn’t, we’d go to the hospital. On April 29, we were told that Betsy’s client had the baby. So, as soon as possible, we booked Betsy’s ticket to Harare. 

Betsy Robinett is a 49 year old midwife from Texas. She grew up as a missionary kid in Mexico and greatly loves the Lord! We picked her up from the airport on May 11. The first week she was here, it was a blessing to get to know her and build a relationship with her. 

On Saturday, May 19, Heidi first started feeling labor pains. She wasn’t sure if it was labor or not because her labor with Mikayah was all in her back (this pain was in the front). The pains were very inconsistent. However, we decided to stay up for most of the night because the pains didn’t go away. Sunday morning came and the pains continued, and even got to be 4-5 minutes apart, but as the day progressed, labor slowed. 

(If the talk of cervixs and yucky things like that bother you, skip this paragraph...but if not, enjoy the miracle God did!) On Sunday morning, Betsy said God woke her up early and she wanted to talk to us. When she had been doing Heidi’s exams, she felt like her cervix was off to the side, and not in the middle where it is supposed to be. When Heidi gave birth to Mikayah, we think she had a big tear that the midwife did not notice and therefore was not sewn up. When it healed, it probably caused the cervix to connect to the wound (therefore making the cervix off-center). If Heidi gave birth to Lilliana with a crooked cervix, it could cause the uterus to rupture and could kill the baby and possibly the Heidi as well. This news was quite unexpected and a little nerve racking. However, what a blessing it was to have a God-fearing midwife at that point. She didn’t try to scare us or back out from the birth. What we did decide to do was pray! After we got done praying, she did another exam on Heidi. When she checked for dilation, she noticed that the cervix was completely in the middle where it’s supposed to be. God did a miracle and moved the cervix! 

After that, labor became much quicker. The contractions gradually got closer throughout the day. The pains were very bearable! A warm rice sock held on Heidi’s back took so much pain away! She was able to watch a movie, read, cook and talk for most of the labor. This was a very different experience than with Mikayah. At 7 cm dilation, Heidi got in the warm bath tub to help relieve more pain. A little over an hour later, she began pushing. She pushed 4 minutes, and Lilliana arrived at 11:54 p.m.

Right after Lilliana came out, we noticed that she looked pale and blue. Then we saw the cord wrapped around her foot pretty tightly. We think it was wrapped around on the inside for awhile. Immediately, Betsy began to give her rescue breaths because she was not breathing. We instantly started praying and praying. After a couple of minutes, which seemed like eternity, Lilliana began to breathe and cry. God breathed life into our little girl and did another miracle!

There are so many other little details of God’s work in this whole process, but if we mentioned all of them, we might have a short book. We pray you are encouraged by Lilliana’s birth story and give praise to God with us for all of his wonders! Our God still heals, still answers prayer and still cares about the little details of His childrens’ lives, even where their babies are born!

Much love in Jesus,

The Fry Family