Thankful

Some things I am thankful for, in no particular order:

• My midwife, Julie. She was allocated as my midwife when I was 20 weeks pregnant, and from the first voice-mail she left, I knew she sounded like a lovely lady. And she is. She has been with us literally every step of the way, from the first diagnosis of "no heartbeat", through labour and birth, daily visits in the first week and frequent visits from then on, Ariella's service, and our final visit to the doctor. She's an amazing woman, and I'm grateful to have gotten to know her.
• Birth. Even though I had to be induced, labour and birth progressed as though I'd gone into labour naturally. I even got to have the waterbirth I had hoped for. This meant that I didn't have to deal much with a physical recovery, just an emotional one.
• Time. We had two full days to spend with Ariella. Hearing stories of people who never even got to see their baby makes me even more grateful.
• My church family. They have provided all sorts of things for us - meals, money, cards, prayers, hugs...you name it, someone at church has probably done it for us. This includes one of our pastors, who brought us dinner on the Tuesday night, and stayed to eat with us (we hadn't even thought about the fact we would have to eat, yet alone what to eat!)
• My immediate family (Mum, Dad, sister and brother-in-law). Four pretty special people.
• My husband. He's amazing. 
• My daughter. I love her.
• My God. Always faithful, even in the deepest pit.

Lamentations 3:55-57

I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief." You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."