Baby Mae is Born

I thought I didn’t want another baby. The truth was I didn’t NEED another. Five kids is plenty. And when I prayed and asked God (just to be sure) if He had another baby meant for me, I was essentially asking for permission to be done. “Can I be done?” my tired subconscious asked, “or do I have to have another one? Can my body even handle it? I mean, I’m too old for much more of this, right?”

Questions like this don’t always get clearly answered, but this time mine did, strong and clear. In my mind and heart, I felt and understood the answer. “Why are you asking me?” God said, “If you want another baby, have one. If you don’t…don’t.” But one other very clear and lasting impression came with it… “If you do, it will be a girl and everything will be fine.”

In spite of that very special and spiritual insight, and after talking it over with my equally tired husband Scott, we decided to be done… to move forward with what we already had, to grow our young family out of their bottles and diapers and naps and high chairs as fast as possible so we could start experiencing life outside of a toddler’s strict schedule. But as the years passed, even though I felt more and more on top of life, more and more in control of my tasks, I also felt less and less at ease, less at peace, less satisfied. That promise of another healthy baby girl rang louder in my spiritual ears every day. And I started to want her.

So, since the end of the story has already been revealed (I mean, she’s here isn’t she?!), I’ll skip all the in-between and attest to the fact that hers was the least eventful, most comfortable pregnancy, labor, delivery and recovery to date. I had some unbecoming acne and ankle swelling, but was otherwise pain and problem free. And now that our girl is here, I don’t just want her. I NEED her. We all do. She came bundled up with so much joy that we could never, never live without her. And now, with gratitude for a wise Heavenly Father and His generous spiritual promptings, the Gordon family would like to introduce…Mae Berlynn Gordon.

She was born on July 31^st, 2015 at 1:10pm after a peaceful inducement and a lovely epidural. She weighed 7 healthy pounds and 1 ounce, was 20.5 inches long, perfect and whole, spotless and blemish-free. Mae is a name we both loved and borrowed from Scott’s mom. Berlynn comes from the other person in my life (like Mae) that I didn’t really ask for, never knew I needed, but now could never live without. Kimber Lynn Schaub showed up and befriended me late in my highschool years, and the truth is I wasn’t looking for a best friend. I didn’t really NEED her. From a young age I had been blessed with more wonderful friends than any human deserves. But our two lives stepped onto the same path at the same time, and neither of us has stepped off since. We went away to college together, served missions at the same time, got married a week apart, and have since been supporting each other through all the highs and lows of life. Our whole family loves her like a blood relative, and everyone agreed we should use her name somehow. So, Berlynn may be a shortened and bunched-together version of Kimber’s first and middle name, but I love how it sounds and what it means.

And while I’m announcing the birth of our sixth child, I would also like to share my new favorite quote that we just might adopt as our official family mantra…

“If you think our hands are full, you should see our hearts.”