Valor Knight's Birthing Story

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VALOR KNIGHT’S BIRTHING STORY

Valor Knight came quickly. We were in the hospital room for four minutes before I was able to hold him in my arms! Yes, four minutes!

After a good night’s sleep on Saturday evening, July 21st, into the early morning, I woke up multiple times with discomfort, pressure and cramping in my lower pelvis area. However, because of my first birthing experience, which was very long early labor, I told myself this was not labor yet but just normal for being 40 weeks pregnant. When it was time to wake up, though, I could tell that I was a little bit exhausted, so I told Dan that I was just going to rest in bed for the morning. Dan got Olive up and walked over to the Lighthouse to see Grandma and Grandpa McClelland who had arrived Saturday night. (Grandma was going to stay to watch Olive when Valor was born. She also took most of the picture in this blog.) When Dan and Olive left, I laid down and took a nap as best as I could in the midst of the discomfort.

Around 10:30 am, I was having contractions requiring me to breathe them out, so I asked Dan to come over and assess where I was. At that point, I was still able to talk in-between contractions and was able to breathe through them without too much pain. Neither Dan nor I were saying out loud that I was in labor, but after seeing me, he decided to explain Olive’s routines to Grandma just in case we did go into labor.

Around 11:23 am Dan decided that we should start timing contractions. As we started timing contractions, they were three minutes apart for one minute each and over the next half hour, the contractions quickly became strong. Dan contacted our Doula, Ashley, who said she would get ready to come over (pictured above).

At 12:07 pm, the contractions started to become a lot more intense, so Dan decided to call the midwives and give them a heads up. When he was on the phone with the midwives, I started my first transition contraction with a loud scream. The midwife asked if that was Carole in the background. When Dan said, “Yes,” she said, “You want to start thinking about coming to the hospital.”

At 12:23 pm our Doula arrived. During the first contraction, as she was rubbing my back, she gave Dan a look like, “We waited too long! We need to go fast!” However, out loud, Ashley said calmly that I was in transition, the third stage of labor, and we were going to move to the hospital. This was the first time anyone had officially voiced that I was in labor!

Dan quickly packed up some of the last minute things for the hospital bag and, with much support from my Doula, I walked to the car pausing with two, powerful contractions. Ashley told me right before we left the house, “You’re going to feel the urge to push, but DON’T PUSH until we get to the hospital.”

Dan quickly drove off. He drove with one hand on the steering wheel, his other hand was rubbing my back constantly. He kept encouraging me that I was doing a good job and that we would make it to the hospital. At this point, I was screaming through every contraction; feeling the urge to push but trying my best to resist. We made it into DC, hitting Sunday traffic, but after taking a few shortcuts, we finally arrived at the hospital at 1:04 pm.

Our Doula pulled in right after us, and we walked into the hospital. Upon entering the lobby, I had two contractions. During the second one, I screamed, “I am pushing!” so loud the security guard thought I was going to have the baby right there in the lobby! As everyone looked my way, she directed us to the most private area in the lobby. However, Ashley looked me in the eyes and said,” No. We’re going to make it up the elevator to the birthing floor.” I nodded as she guided me to the elevator. 

As soon as we arrived to the birthing floor registration area, I let go as I could feel his head coming out. All of a sudden, nurses were running at me. I felt the baby’s head crowning as the nurses came with a wheelchair, pushed me into it, causing me to sit on his head!

The nurses rushed me into an empty birthing room at 1:11 pm. I got on the bed as the midwife arrived. I gave two pushes, and on the third push his head was out. I felt so relieved, that I stopped pushing. The midwife quickly encouraged me to keep pushing as his body still needed to come out. I gave one more push, and Valor Knight arrived into the world! He was born at 1:15 PM.


Funny/unique parts of the labor:

During transition at our house, I threw up pickles. Pickles happen to be a favorite food of mine, but I liked pickles so much more during this pregnancy. I ate them all the time including for breakfast on the Sunday morning Valor was born. The only things I ate that morning were toast, applesauce, and a pickle. Recommendation for future mothers: do not eat pickles in early labor.

As we drove off to the hospital, Dan stopped before we got out of the parking lot asking if I had my ID card. I didn’t, so he had to run back to the house and get my ID. We needed my ID to check into the hospital.

When we pulled up in front of the hospital, I saw a sign that said Ronald Reagan, and I yelled to Dan, “This is the wrong hospital.” For just a second, Dan felt panic, but quickly regaining calm, he drove in anyways. As he pulled in, it was actually the right hospital. Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking. However, I was about to have a baby! I act

After the birth, I quickly wanted to take pictures of all of the nurses in the room to remember them. Each nurse I asked said the same thing, “I didn’t do anything!” as they were not in the room for very long.

During my birthing class, the instructor shared that sometimes they encourage women that are giving birth to have a Coke right before transition, so the mother can have a burst of energy to deliver. I was so excited about packing a Cherry Coke for my transition part, as it is my favorite treat! In fact, it was the first thing that was packed in my hospital bag. However, the labor was so fast that I didn’t have the chance to drink my Cherry Coke. I was pretty sad, but I was able to enjoy the Cherry Coke in the recovery room.

During the week before Valor’s birth, it took me forever to pack the hospital bag, wanting to make sure Dan and I had everything we might possibly need, and we didn’t even open it until the recovery room! It was actually very nice to have all of the snacks afterwards for the two days in the hospital.

After his birth the midwife showed us Valor’s umbilical cord. It actually was knotted like a pretzel. The midwife had never seen anything like it. Valor truly was in unique positions and moved around a lot in the womb!

Honoring Big Sister Olive Brave

Olive Brave loves being a big sister! 

About a week after, Valor was born, I, Mommy, took Olive on a mommy/daughter date. 

We got our nails done, Olive for the first time. She loved it! 

The BEST date EVER

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We laughed, we cried, and we danced. And the whole time I couldn’t wipe the cheesy smile off my face. It was the most expensive date I have ever been on, and it was worth every cent! Jesus is the best lover I know.

          

On Friday, June 22nd, I got to go on a date with the lover of my soul, Jesus. He took me back to Illinois State University, my college campus, where, while attending college there, I made my faith my own, accepting Him as the Lord and Savior of my life. That was when I truly fell in love with Him.

Even the drive down from Chicago to the campus was amazing. Just me, driving a rental car, singing loudly to worship music with Jesus! I felt like I was in HS jamming with my best friend. On the drive, as I passed cornfields, Jesus spoke saying, "From the maze of cornfields to where I belong, sharing the gospel to the ends of the World". Only at the end of the date, did I really understand what this phrase meant.

On that Friday, I walked with Jesus through the campus, remembering. I remembered how He protected me and my head, when I was hit by a car my freshman year, and then we came to the place where I had a terrible fall on my roller blades my first week of school and felt I needed to change colleges because it was so embarrassing. These are places on our "date" where we laughed.

Then we went to other places, like the dorm where I said a prayer asking God to come into my heart and surrendering my life to Him. This is where we cried tears of joy for how He "brought me out of darkness into his marvelous light".

There were other places that refreshed old memories like the first time I shared my testimony in an open air evangelism event, on the quad in the middle of a busy transition time between classes. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the campus ministry I was a part of, hosted this event. I even remembered my first line or "my hook" that I screamed to get people's attention (and it worked), "I WANT TO BE ACCEPTED". I am making that face in the picture, because I remember how nervous I was!

Then there was a street corner where, during college, I felt Holy Spirit stop me and ask me to help a mother and a daughter looking lost on a day when I was already late for a graduate school interview. Obeying the Spirit's voice turned into an amazing testimony of me being an answer to a girl's prayer from a small Christian college. She had told God that she would transfer to ISU if she met a Christian on campus. When I stopped and asked if they needed help, I mentioned that I was a Christian, and she literally started to cry. She did transfer to ISU the next year, and I got to hook her up with a Christian roommate and she became a part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

The memories continued to flood in when I reached the exact place, where I did evangelism on campus for the first time, with two other people, and the first person we talked to accepted Jesus! I remember when I asked this girl if she wanted to accept Jesus and she said "YES", I looked dumbfounded like, "what do I do now?" Fortunately my Evangelism leader, Aaron, jumped in and took over, explaining the next steps to being a disciple if Jesus.

   

Then Jesus led me past the building where I took ASL classes and learned ASL; falling in love with the Deaf community, culture and language.  Next there was the dining hall where I did evangelism alone for the first time as I felt Jesus ask nudged me to meet a girl named Maria. We became friends, then roommates my junior year, the year which she accepted Jesus. On that day in the dining hall though, I remembered being so nervous to walk up to Maria, who was sitting alone eating. Through obedience to the Spirit, I ended up being "her angel of her day" as she called it.

     

Then there was the rock that I would lay upside down on and watch people walk upside down, when I was having a bad day. This was the strategy Jesus gave me when I was having a day that just was not going well. Just laying there upside down watching, brought so much laughter that my whole day would change. I even would drag some of my other friends to do it, just to try. (I don’t think it was ever something that caught on. ) Jesus and I walked past the place where on my Sabbaths, I would go and just lay down and "soak up the SON (sun)".

I think the most meaningful place on our date, was revisiting the place where God spoke to me through an ugly bush on campus. It was the end of my senior year, my boyfriend had just broken up with me, and I had no idea what I was doing after graduation. Should I attend graduate school in Deaf Education, teach General Education, join IV staff, or become a missionary? I was so confused like my life was upside down.

While I was in this state of indecision walking across campus, I felt like I was supposed to stop and look at this bush on campus so I did. As I looked at this bush, it was so ugly I said, "God, why do you want me to look at these bushes? They are so ugly!" It actually got me more upset, because the bush was all mixed up and tangled. Why did God think this was important? I just sat there for a while looking at this ugly bush and God spoke. He said "I placed every branch and every leaf on this bush exactly where I wanted it, and when I look at this bush I think it’s beautiful." After a few minutes, I understood how it applied to my life. In the midst of uncertainty or while in the maze of the unknown future, God was speaking that He had placed me exactly where He wanted me, and that when He looked at the "mess" of my life, He only saw beauty.

This is where we danced. Jesus has renewed my life from a messy ugly bush into the place where I know I belong; into his presence. Into a deep relationship with him, walking out a crazy life of missions, following him as my Lord and Savior every step of the way.

After I danced I realized that this is the school that I actually did my first internship experience in Deaf Education, an elementary school on campus, Metcalf. I love the way God redeems things. While still in college, this was the place where He spoke to me through an ugly bush and now the place is completely reconstructed. In the place of the ugly bush, there is a beautiful, grown tree next to a garden. He has restored and redeemed, and has made my path straight. Through His masterful, creative hand, He has combined the three things that He introduced into my life here on ISU campus to weave the life I now live: Himself, a life of missions, and the Deaf community.

I understood His analogy. He has led me out of the maze of cornfields into the place where I belong. I belong in His presence, sharing and discipling people in the Deaf community into a relationship with Jesus.

Valor Knight's Name Unveiled

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Valor Knight

We believe that Valor Knight is a Victorious, Trustworthy Bringer of Peace. 

And one who has great courage when facing danger in battle for the Lord.

VALOR

In the Bible the word Valor is used for warriors of the OT. For example, when referring to the mighty men of David, in some versions it says, the men of valor. One of the first and main identity words that we received very early on in pregnancy and was confirmed multiple times from a variety of people was that this child was going to be a warrior. As we prayed into the kind of warrior that he would be and a name that would fit the pieces that God had given us about his identity, Valor was a name that popped into my head. As we prayed and researched more in the Bible, this word stood out in both Dan’s and my mind.

For me, Carole, the two references that really stood out in the Bible that use the word valor were in Joshua 8, the Fall of Ai, as well as first Samuel 30, the Rescue of Ziklag. Both of the armies of Israel had just come off of a huge defeat, and from this place, God calls the men of valor to rise up to victory. In both of the stories, at first it appeared Israel was completely defeated. They had a great loss, but the men of valor rose up believing victory could be won with God on their side.

These stories stood out to me when during the process of trying to get pregnant with our second child, I felt defeated. Then God turned that defeat into victory as Valor was conceived. In addition, throughout the pregnancy there were multiple times when it seemed like our son was experiencing defeat before even being born! For example, our 20 week ultrasound showed that my placenta was attached low and that our baby boy had a cyst in his brain. Praise God that my placenta moved to a normal range, and his cyst dissolved and his brain developed normally. Then later in pregnancy, he was in a very unique position that could have caused difficulties during labor. However, from that place he shifted and moved into a better birthing position.

In contrast to the spirit of defeat, we believe that our son will be fearless and relentless to see the resurrection power of God displayed through victory. He will be one that takes courage and chooses to go on the offensive in battle, in the midst of danger, trusting God will bring a victory.

Once again, just like deciding on Olive’s name, God spoke confirmation to Dan for the name Valor in a different way and through a different Bible verse. The Bible verse that stood out the most to Dan was in Judges 6 when God called out the identity of Gideon through an angel saying as “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor”. As a response, Gideon built an altar and called it, “The Lord is Peace” after God said “Peace be with you.”

In that Biblical story, Gideon asked God for a sign. Then Gideon used reasoning and wisdom, asking that the fleece be wet one day and then be dry the next day. It was simple logic that Gideon asked God for. In return, as Gideon was called, he was confident in God to go into battle. God used that same simple, wise reasoning to reveal to Gideon the 300 men that should stay for the battle, making sure Israel recognized the victory came from God, not from man’s strength. God continued to use wisdom over man’s strength in the battle, using torches in jars to make the enemy believe more Israelites were fighting than there actually were.

As we have been praying about the identity of this child, we believe that he will have the same characteristics of God found in Gideon in the Old Testament: simple logic and clear wisdom. He will be a wise leader in battle who brings peace wherever He goes.

KNIGHT

We also prayed into the kind of warrior that our son would be. The character that God actually envisioned in my mind was William Wallace from the movie Braveheart. He was one that didn’t want war but recognized when war needed to happen for others to have freedom. His uncle taught him how to fight with his mind and use wisdom not only physical strength.

As we were trying to find a name that fit this identity piece, Dan felt that Knight, or Knighthood, was the kind of warrior that I was describing. We believe our son will be wise, a warrior that brings truth and justice, one who is trustworthy, faithful, and kind- hearted, and a warrior who uses his mind in battle, not only his physical might. Valor Knight would be a man of honor, courage, and mercy, showing humility and grace. Knight embraced the essence of these characteristics.

In conclusion, there were a total of 15 identity pieces that we received over our son during this pregnancy that we are declaring and believing for him: visionary, bringer of balance, warrior, a storyteller, surrendered, relentless, wise leader, a man of understanding, speaker of truth, confident, victorious in the face of defeat, kind-hearted, peacemaker, a man of rest, and a rock from intimacy.

Arriving Home to His Big Sister who was eagerly waiting 

Olive's first glance series 

A big thank you to Grandma McClelland, 

who arrived a day before Valor was born to help with Olive

and Valor actually shares a birthday with her, July 22nd! 

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Olive has had loads of fun with grandma. 

They have gone to the park, drawn pictures, and cooked delicious meals!! 

On a final note, my beloved Grandmother Edith, my dad's mother in Chicago, passed away this week, four days after Valor Knight was born.  I am so grateful that she was able to see pictures of Valor and hear his birth story before she passed. She lived a full life and loved God and her family well.  

She will be dearly missed. I love you, Grandma.