Esther Rose Palmquist was born at the LifeHouse at 7:06 pm on Tuesday, November 15, 2005.
She weighed exactly 10 pounds, her head measured 15" around and her length was exactly 22".
All of her brothers and sisters were there to welcome her, but Sarah seemed
particularly pleased to meet her new little sister.
The following account was written by Esther's father Tim on Wednesday morning,
November 16 (with an update on November 21).
It may still be updated in the next few days, so if you want to know
more about how God blessed us through Esther's birth experience, be sure you subscribe to
our e-mail updates by entering your e-mail address in the box at the lower right corner
of this page.
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Terri and baby Jocelyn don't get to see each other often because Jocelyn lives in Bishop,
but they enjoyed some time together after last year's
Labor of Love banquet.
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Terri began to realize that she could be in labor Monday evening. During her early labor she
made phone calls to "turnarounds" (women who had decided not to abort their children
on Monday at Bakersfield's FPA abortion chamber). Terri was particularly concerned about
a woman who had come to the killing center from Bishop (a five hour drive). As this woman
wrestled with her abortion decision, Terri told her about baby Jocelyn, a two-year-old
girl from Bishop who was saved from abortion. The fact that Terri took the time to call
while she was in labor seemed to help solidify this woman's decision to choose life for
her baby. (Read more about the testimony of this baby saved in the LifeSavers Ministries Weekly Ministry Focus
newsletter.)
Our 2 1/2 year old daughter Sarah was particularly
thrilled to meet her baby sister.
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Amy holds baby Esther as Sarah delights in her new little sister.
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Watch how Sarah said goodnight to Esther on the day of her birth.
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Long before Esther was born, Sarah was already expressing her love for her little
sister, often hugging Terri's pregnant belly and exclaiming "I love your baby!"
Read more about how Sarah has expressed love for babies in
the womb like her sister Esther.
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By 2 am Tuesday Terri's contractions began to become more severe, making it difficult
for Terri to sleep. When the abortion employees began to arrive shortly after 7 am,
Terri knew that she would need some people to take her place on the sidewalks for the
day. One of the people who took several hours out of her day to intercede for the children
was our friend who just happens to be named Esther! Although Terri and I were a bit
preoccupied during the day, we did notice some effective encounters taking place from time
to time, such as Cindy praying with a young woman on the sidewalk.
As Terri tried to rest between her contractions, I handled the phone calls, including
a call from a 24-year-old Wasco mother who wanted to abort her baby. The woman said
that she knows that her Church is against abortion, but she is comfortable with the idea
of aborting her baby anyway. I silently asked God to give me something to say that would
penetrate this woman's hard heart, but my efforts seemed futile. With our most active
Elizabeth League group in this woman's own community and church, I hoped that she would
realize that real help is available for her and her baby, but she said she was not
interested. Please pray that God will change her heart in the next few days, because
based upon our phone conversation I would assume that we will see her at the abortion
chamber next Monday or Tuesday.
Alicia Gonzalez, LifeSavers Ministries' Elizabeth League coordinator, stopped by for
several hours in the afternoon as Terri's contractions began to become very intense--just
two minutes apart. Even though these contractions required so much of Terri's
attention, she took a few minutes during this time to visit with a young mother and her
newborn baby who stopped by the LifeHouse.
Three experienced labor assistants, Marcie, Arlene, and Becky, came to help Terri through the
birth, along with Marcie's helpful daughter Jocelyn. When Terri was checked at about 6 pm, she was
almost fully dilated. But from our past birth experiences we knew that Terri typically
requires several hours to push the baby out after she is fully dilated. Knowing that this
pregnancy has been difficult for Terri (physically and emotionally) we hoped that God's
mercy would shorten this process for her.
At 6:15 pm, our son Joseph was scheduled to go to his weekly piano lesson with his teacher,
Lewis Ament. We know that this is very important to Joseph, so we hated to have him miss
the lesson, but with the intensity of Terri's labor there was no way that I could leave
her side. Just then, our friend Carlotta called offering to help. When I told her about
Joseph's piano lesson, she quickly agreed to come give him a ride. (We are so blessed to
have friends like this!)
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Terri looks at baby Esther, moments after birth.
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Before Carlotta brought Joseph back from the piano lesson, baby Esther had been born.
Terri pushed for less than 20 minutes--it was the shortest pushing stage of any of her
labors!
As Esther emerged from Terri's body, Terri cried "Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!"
Esther let out a few cries, but then she quickly fell asleep at Terri's side. It was
obvious that both Terri and Esther were exhausted.
A few minutes later, we allowed our daughter Amy to "unveil" the baby, telling us all if
we had a little boy or a little girl. Terri assumed that she was a boy (as she had done
with Sarah) but of course as the parents of eight sons, we hoped for another girl.
Amy's annoucement of "it's a girl" delighted us all (except for some of our boys who
were rooting for another brother).
We chose the name "Esther Rose" because we believe that just as God appointed the
biblical Esther "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14), God has a special plan to fulfill in our
Esther's life.
The rose is a pro-life symbol, so Rose seemed to be an appropriate middle name,
expressing our prayer that Esther's life could somehow be effective in saving the lives
of our nation's helpless unborn children just as the biblical Esther was effective in
saving the lives of the Jews who were threatened with destruction. Terri and I also both
had aunts named Esther who were dear to us, so we were thankful for an opportunity to
use this name.
After Esther was born, there was a short time of concern as the placenta seemed to be
stubbornly staying inside. As the labor assistants provided Terri with some herbal
remedies to help the process, Arlene led us in a time of intense intercession for Terri, asking
God to release the placenta from Terri's body, laying claim to God's promises and applying
these promises directly to Terri's immediate need. God quickly answered our prayers and
the placenta was released!
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Terri and baby Esther, surrounded by our dedicated support team of labor assistants
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Our labor assistants have a variety of tools and herbs to help them through a birth, but
I'm sure they would all agree that prayer is one of their most important tools. We thank God for
the gift of godly midwives and other labor assistants who (like the Hebrew midwives) are
willing to follow Him even though some in society frown upon their practices.
We also thank God for you, because we know that many of you have also been interceding
for Terri, and we sensed your prayer support throughout this experience.
Terri's labor pains are not over yet. With each baby, it seems that the afterbirth
pains get a little more intense. We would appreciate your prayers for Terri in the coming
days, and of course we will also be praying that God will protect Esther's health.
Update: November 21, 2005
Yesterday morning during the worship time at church, as we sang the song
Blessed
Be Your Name, I choked back the tears as I reviewed what God had done in our lives
over the past year or so.
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Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Well Blessed be your name
In September 2004, we were deeply wounded as Terri suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks.
We named this child "Glory Lyn," though somehow God never allowed us to see our child's
tiny body. We had never experienced a miscarriage before, but this experience helped Terri
to more deeply relate to the loss women experience after abortion.
Looking into the eyes of precious Esther Rose, we realized that if Glory Lyn had
been born, Esther would not be here today. We may never fully understand how
God worked in this experience, but we are thankful that God can bring such a
beautiful result out of bad circumstances.
Terri's own life began with God working in a similar way.
A few months before Terri was conceived, Terri's mother miscarried twin boys. If those
boys had lived to full term, Terri wouldn't be here today.
"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD."
- Job 1:21
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
The shower was hosted by the Our Lady of Guadalupe Elizabeth League Group
(St. Vincent de Paul).
