Our sweet Monet recently turned ONE, so I thought it was a great time to tell about all the things the Lord did in and through me during her pregnancy and birth. I’m always so impressed when mamas can write these stories soon after they birth their babies. I’ve always needed several months to process and capture it well, so here is the beautiful story of our little miss Monet Ruby Ramsey.
After two healthy pregnancies and births, I was eager to have another – I felt the most steady and confident this time around. I knew what I wanted to keep the same and I knew what I wanted to try differently this time – I wanted to continue eating a specific way and my only “goal” was to have a water birth, which I hadn’t done previously.
Leading up to this pregnancy I was eating cyclically and supporting my hormones in other natural ways. My body felt strong and ready to carry another baby. But as we were trying to get pregnant my husband and I took a trip to Spain, which was a good trip for us – so many things to see and do, and the food and wine were delicious – but because of the time difference and changes in my diet, my cycle was disrupted which resulted in a lot of negative signs, month after month. Within those seemingly long months of constant “no’s” my heart grew faint – this pregnancy was not working according to my timing or schedule.
It was now the beginning of 2024 and during this time, I was not reading or listening to anything else besides scripture – I wanted to hear from God, I wanted his voice to be the loudest and only voice I heard. I was reading my Bible daily and chose to listen to the Bible read aloud while driving in the car or making dinner. I replaced all of the podcasts, sermons, books, social media, etc. with scripture alone.
I found myself drawn to Psalm 34, I would pray through it almost daily and felt led to pray specific verses over my two kids, my husband, our home, and our season of trying to become pregnant.
I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the Lord…
I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant…
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him…
Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
(Verses 1-2s, 4-5a, 8 and 11.)
Amidst this season of pursuing quiet and creating more peace, I felt enlightened to surrender even more and decided to fast and trust God in the process. If you know about eating cyclically or are in a season of trying to get pregnant, fasting is not what you should be doing. But I knew that I could trust God over my own knowledge and health. I fasted every Sabbath, not for the entire day, but from sundown on Saturday up until lunch on Sundays. I dedicated that time to prayer and trusting in God’s timing.
I was a few weeks into fasting once a week until one Sunday morning, in the rhythm of not eating breakfast, I sought the Lord and He answered my prayers. Upon feeling weak, I prayed and then I listened, and in a soft whisper it was as if he said, “Eat, nourish your body. You can be done, nourish your body.” And in that moment I knew I had a sweet baby growing inside me.
This pregnancy was my hardest but I felt the most me – grounded and in tune with the needs of my baby and my body. I ate the healthiest and endured all the sickness and hardness with grace – so much so that no one (besides my husband) even knew it was a hard pregnancy, no one knew that I felt any sickness at all, and truthfully, I was sick for nearly 7 months of the pregnancy.
I surrendered. I endured and delighted instead of complaining.
In my year of pursuing quiet, and leading up to the birth, I began envisioning what labor and birth would be like – I imagined it was super dark with only a soft glow of candlelight, I imagined which way I would be sitting in the birthing tub, I saw images of who was there with me – my two older kids on one side of me gently touching my arm and both midwives helping in a motherly way. I imagined everything from start to finish, down to the tiniest details. I even saw myself telling my oldest what the gender was. There were things I couldn’t quite make out, though – like someone bouncing in the distance. After envisioning every detail of labor and the birth, I would go back and pray through each moment I saw, trusting that the Lord heard me and would answer my prayers. I would envision this often.
All of our babies have arrived around the same time – contractions begin late into the night and it goes pretty quickly after that.
I woke up on Friday, November 15th around 1:45am with strong contractions. I woke up my husband to let him know and after I told him what time it was he responded with, “right on time” – our babies are like clockwork!
We called the midwife around 2am and she said to call back if contractions were stronger. We called 10 minutes later. My second born came fast and furious – a 2 hour labor and 4 minute birth, so we were expecting another quick one.
In the darkness of our home, it was just me and my husband. He lit a candle, as if instinctively, because I didn’t tell him my vision. And he grabbed his camera. We have never documented a birth before, but it felt so natural for us to capture this event. With the candle lit I began to sway and almost dance in our bedroom – in my bathrobe with my naked belly out. Honestly that’s the picture I wish we caught on camera, the last time our sweet babe was nestled in my belly.
Between little conversation here and there, I opened my Bible to Psalm 34. My husband laid down on our freshly made bed as I read the Psalm aloud. I also had Ephesians 3:14-21 marked and was praying these verses over us and our baby.
When the midwife arrived we finished filling the birthing tub and I got in. And there I stayed. I prayed, surrendered, prayed more and surrendered.
Eventually our older kids woke up, around 5am. They were in and out of the bedroom, reading books on the bed, standing beside me, asking inquisitive questions, and eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen with one of the midwives who happened to bring her 4 month old baby. The bowl of cereal wasn’t quite in my vision, but all the other parts were – a young 5 and 3 year old going about their daily rhythms and checking on me when they felt necessary.
Still in the birthing tub, pressure increased and I told one of the midwives, who happened to be in the bedroom at this point. She responded in shock at how far along I was because I had been so quiet. Honestly, the beautiful and simple fruit of spending almost an entire year pursuing quiet – learning when to speak and when to refrain, how to offer my body up as a living sacrifice.
My second birth was slightly traumatic, nothing went wrong but it was very fast and very intense, which we expected again, but to my surprise and delight, this labor was slow and nearly painless. As pressure increased and my body was opening, I repositioned from being on my knees leaning up against the tub with my chest and face nestled into the tub to leaning back, sitting on my bottom enduring the last and strongest contractions.
It was my first time having a water birth and I felt so buoyant, I couldn’t find leverage and I had to guess when my water broke; but once my water breaks, my babies usually are out a few contractions after.
Leaning against the birthing tub, it was as if all the pieces of my vision were playing out before my eyes – there they were, my husband and kids on one side, a midwife sitting in a chair across from me, and the other standing with her baby wrapped on her chest bouncing to keep her asleep – I nearly gasped, the bouncing figure in my vision. I pondered that moment in my heart and knew that the Lord heard me, he was continuing to answer my prayers.
In a few minutes of intense and painful contractions and pushes, the head was out. Honestly the biggest relief I’ve ever felt. Upon the next contraction the baby’s body came out like jello. One of the midwives scooped up the baby who let out a loud cry until laid upon my chest. My husband and I looked in shock and fear because neither of our other kids let out any noise after being born, but we decided the baby just wanted to make themselves heard and known.
Still in the birthing tub, we were told we had a baby girl – the last piece to my vision was unraveling! I looked to my firstborn, who was still standing to my left, and told her, with SO much joy, that she has a sister!
Monet Ruby Ramsey was born on Friday, November 15th. Another prayer answered – I prayed my baby would be born on the Sabbath, and Friday into Saturday is the traditional Jewish Shabbat. Just another little way my heart felt truly tickled by the Lord.
Months leading up to the birth, and not knowing if we were having a girl or boy, my husband walked past a book on our counter, it’s a book of Claude Monet’s table settings from his home in Giverny, France. “What about the name Monet?” he quietly asked and hesitantly looked at me with lingering eyes. My eyes lit up, we instantly fell in love.
This won’t come as a surprise…Monet means to be heard or to listen. In a year of allowing silence to rule in my heart, and for God’s voice to be louder than the world itself, even in the quietest whispers, I heard Him. And He heard me. Monet’s middle name, Ruby, is after my great grandmother – another beautiful and fitting legacy for our sweet baby girl.
And now our sweet little Miss Monet is ONE! I pray often for the Lord to hear her and for her tiny ears to hear Him. Praise the One who listens to those who fear and trust in Him.
