Sarah Noel Palmquist was born at 11:08 pm on Friday, May 9, 2003. She weighed
9 pounds 3 ounces and her length was 21 1/2". She was welcomed by her eight
brothers and one sister. The following account of her birth was written
by her father on Tuesday, May 13.
Throughout this pregnancy, Terri had been assuming that the baby was probably
another boy, due to various signs such as the baby's relatively slow heart
rate. She hoped for a girl, but even though she thought her hopes would not
be fulfilled, she was happy to have another boy.
Early Friday morning, Terri realized that she was in labor. We had decided
that the birth would take place at the LifeHouse, so that we were close to
the hospital if any problems occured. (In 2001, Terri had given birth to
Samuel at the LifeHouse.) Terri called her "doula" (labor assistant)
Marcie Rowland, and Marcie alerted doula Suzanne Shepard, along with Marcie's assistant Becky.
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Terri (and the poppies) in full bloom a few weeks before
Sarah's birth
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We spent the day making final preparations for the birth.
I couldn't help but think of what could go wrong. Most of Terri's birth
experiences have been very difficult, sometimes followed by days of
hospitalization for the baby and/or herself. But we trusted
in the Lord for our protection, knowing that the One who guided this child's
conception would also guide her birth.
The most important task of the day
was settling on a final boy's name. Terri had a girl's name picked out since
before we were married. She had always wanted to name a girl "Sarah" after her
grandma, and she planned to use the middle name "Noel", which was her mom's
maiden name. For years, the name "Sarah Noel Palmquist" seemed unavailable,
because of the confusion that would result with Sarah Louise Palmquist,
our niece. But now that Sarah Louise Palmquist is an adult (and may not have
the last name "Palmquist" for much longer), we felt that if the baby were a
girl (which was a longshot anyway, we thought) we would finally use this name.
We had mentioned this possibility to our niece Sarah before Terri was
even pregnant, and Sarah seemed pleased.
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Early Saturday morning, the sun shines on Sarah Noel Palmquist for the
first time. Hopefully she'll forgive us for dressing her in blue!
Her blanket was lovingly made by our friend Carol Ruesch from
Phoenix.
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While Terri's labor was not as physically intense as some of her past labors,
it was an incredibly emotional experience. At times Terri was overwhelmed
with uncontrollable laughter (which spread to everyone else in the room).
Although the laughter eventually subsided, the most exhilarating moment of
the evening was still to come.
When Terri was almost fully dilated, her doulas decided that she needed to
take a walk. As Terri and I left the LifeHouse on our walk, I must confess
that the abortion chamber was the last thing on my mind. But as we soon
found ourselves at the back wall of the abortion chamber, Terri felt compelled
to pray.
Placing her hands on the bricks which protect the abortionist's torture
chamber, just inches from the the room where the killings are committed,
Terri focused not on her own pregnancy, not on the child within her who was
soon to be revealed, but instead she thought of the tiny children whose
execution was scheduled to take place on the other side of these bricks,
and of their deceived mothers. "We breathe life into this place in the
name of Jesus," Terri proclaimed. I agreed with her silently in prayer,
but Terri's prayer left me speechless. I was overwhelmed with the love
within Terri's heart, this love which looked beyond her own needs--and the
needs of her own child--to the needs of the fatherless. It seems to me that
if there is one time someone might be justified to refuse to think
about the victims of abortion, it would be during labor and delivery. I
would have almost relished the opportunity to get the broken bodies of the
children out of my mind. But apparently it was not so for Terri.
As the contractions became more and more intense, Terri asked me to pray that
she would only push for 20 minutes. I would never have had the
faith to pray that way without prompting (considering the fact that this
was a request to cut her usual pushing time by 1/15th).
At about 10 pm, Marcie asked Terri if she felt like pushing. Terri did
try pushing for a while, but it didn't seem like she was making any progress.
I began to doubt that my prayer was going to be answered.
But just a few minutes after 11, Terri had a strong urge to push. Very
quickly (so quickly that the doulas had
to ask Terri to hold back), the baby was born in a flood. The amniotic
fluid poured out all around as the baby made her entrance.
As Marcie told me
later, it seemed that Terri pushed the baby all the way out with that one that
single push.
The doulas quickly covered up the baby and laid her on Terri's chest.
As Terri looked into the baby's eyes for the first time, she softly asked,
"what are you?"
Looking at the creamy white vernix which covered the baby's body,
Terri exclaimed "you're a very white boy." The baby responded by letting out
a loud cry.
"She's upset that you called her a boy," I said jokingly.
We decided to let our daughter Amy tell us whether the baby was a boy or a
girl. Amy had been at Terri's side during the delivery, but the boys were
in another room. So we called the boys into the room to see their new sibling
for the first time.
When everyone was there (except for little Christian and Samuel, who were
asleep), Terri asked Amy to "unveil" the baby. Amy slowly pulled back the
blanket, when suddenly the room erupted with screams of delight: "it's a
girl!"
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Amy holds Baby Sarah for the first time, moments after she was born.
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Terri was in shock. She kept repeating "no way!" over and over.
Amy called her grandparents on the phone to proclaim the good news:
"I have a sister!"
Amy cut Sarah's umbilical cord (with a little help from me), and the process
of cleaning up after the birth began.
Although we experienced such heights of joy during Sarah's birth, it
wouldn't be fair to Terri to fail to point out that she also experienced
extreme pain. Especially after Sarah's birth, the contractions were almost
unbearable. The afterbirth pains seem to get worse with every birth.
But now that four days have passed after Sarah's birth, Terri's pain is
finally decreasing. Now that Terri is beginning to feel better, the real
challenge will be trying to convince her to rest for two weeks, as
recommended by her doulas. Being at the LifeHouse, right across the
street from the killing center, makes it all the more difficult for Terri
to stay put. This morning she watched as the abortionist and his victims
arrived, seeing that nobody was on the sidewalks to speak out for the babies.
Thinking of the children who were scheduled to die today, she wanted to
get up and go across the street, but I told her she needs to keep resting.
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Our children made a banner saying "The baby is a girl!" The banner was posted outside
the LifeHouse after Sarah's birth.
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Amy has helped us by handling some pregnancy tests during this time, but a
few situations (women at risk of aborting their babies) required Terri's
help.
After Sarah's birth, the whole family enjoyed some
delicious meals prepared by our friend Jackie (who is featured on our
"Jackie and
Jordan" video). What a blessing it was to see our baby being held by
Jordan, a child who was saved from the abortion chamber.
All in all, it was definitely our most joy-filled birth experience so far
(out of ten birth experiences)! We have been so blessed by God to
be given the privilege of raising ten beautiful children!
We praise God for Sarah Noel, and pray that He will continue to protect
her as she grows in Him.
