Well Worth My Now-Puffy Eyes

As you can imagine, I can't feast my eyes on too many birth stories these days.  I'm not naive enough to think our own story won't be completely unique, and I realize we won't know how that story goes until life and time has written it for us.  Still, I find myself thirsty for the inspiration and knowledge during a time when all I can do is wait.  I'm always moved by these stories, no matter how they happen or end.  Today, however, I came across one that made me unabashedly sob at my desk in the middle of the day, made me love life and its beautiful twists and turns all the more than I already do.

I must warn you: this birth story is absolutely heart-wrenching.  For me, particularly, it brought back a lot of emotions of a time three and a half years ago when my precious nephew Gavin was born. My heart broke again while reading this, thinking of all the varying emotions my sweet sister went through that day and in the many months after.  Don't say I didn't warn you, but if you have tissues on the ready and want to go along for a very honest, emotional journey that will leave you feeling inspired after all is said and done, you should definitely go read this birth story.

An extra note: 
I feel the need to give my sister's situation some clarity.  She and my brother-in-law had far more to bear than just an unexpected surprise the day Gavin was born...there were severe health issues and scary "will he live?" questions to go along with the raw emotions.  And so, when I say my heart breaks reading this story, I guess what I really mean is that it actually soars...  Because our Gavin - against all odds - is with us today, by the grace of God.  And while I will never truly know what my sister went through during that experience, this birth story helped put at least a little of it into words for me.  (To my big sister, Alicia: you amaze me every single day...I hope you never forget that!!)