Tender mercies of the Lord

I am finally putting up Nathan's Birth Story.  So, my parents left on a mission to Africa at the beginning of September.  Last year my mom called me and told me that they were going to go on a mission in August.  We decided that I should hurry and try to have a baby before she left.  I had some pretty severe postpartum anxiety after Thomas and so we knew I would need help with this baby so I didn't fall back into such bad anxiety attacks (dang hormones!).  Anyways, not to be too personal, but we tried to get pregnant and unfortuntely didn't for about 4 months, which put my due date on October 18.  My mom said she prayed so hard that some how the mission call would be for after that date, but when the mission call came, it said they were to leave on September 3.  We had faith that everything would be ok.  Well, in July, the church sent my parents an email and told them that they wanted them to fly back on October 17 to SLC for an auditing trainer (they are areo auditors in Africa).  At first they were confused and upset.  They didn't want to fly all the way back from africa when they had only been there for five weeks.  Then they realized the dates matched up perfectly.  They called the church and asked if they could stay home for a whole week in October.  The church said yes, that in fact a lot of couples did that to take care of business and such.  We couldn't believe this tender mercy from the Lord.  I went early with William, so we hoped that I would make it to when my mom and dad got here.  I did! I was started on the morning of October 18th.  I got to the hospital at 8 am.  They hooked me up and by 9:30 they had pitocin going and they broke my water.  I had HARD contractions every two minutes until about 11:00 at which time I decided to get the epidural.  Mike wanted me to just go for it, but I was only dialated to a 6 and was scared it would be too long, so I opted for the epidural.  Unfortunately the epidural wasn't working exactly right and so I had to keep pushing the button to get more pumped in.  After the epidural I dialated really fast to a ten.  I started feeling a lot of pressure and called the nurse, and sure enough I was a ten.  I pushed for about 20 minutes and out he came.  He was BIG!  As soon as he came out, the doctor said he thought he was at least 10 lbs.  They put him up on my stomach and it was love at first sight.  They took him over and cleaned him up and weighed him and he was only 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long.  I think he looks like William.  He is cute as could be and never cries and is a great baby.  I LOVE babies!  It was heck to get him here.  I hate being pregnant and I hate struggling with postpartum anxiety, but it is all worth it to be Nathan's mom!  I came home from the hospital after one day (the hospital environment adds to my anxiety).  I also started on my medicine the day he was born which helped a ton!  But the thing that was the biggest miracle is that my mom was there.  She would sleep with the baby (I can't sleep if I am the one listening for the baby) and she would just bring him to me to nurse and then she would burp him and put him back to sleep.  She would calm me down and helped me rest and recover.  My anxiety has been so much better this time and I know it is because my mom was there and I started my medicine right away.  I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing my Mom to come all the way back from Africa to help me for that week.  It was so hard when she left, but I am doing great now and I know it is because she was here.  I am so grateful for Nathan and to be his mom.  He is super cute.  What a fun baby!