While I was pregnant, we started looking for a house to buy. We needed something with three bedrooms as I have two older boys and couldn’t very well put her in their room.

My mother-in-law had a cousin who was a realtor and told her about this thing called the Rural Housing Development Loan. They give loans with the interest based on your income in rural areas. We got 70% of our loan with a 1% interest rate. That was unheard of in the year 2000. So after stacks of paperwork and many hoops jumped through, we moved into our house in May. I was eight months pregnant. I’m very short, so I looked like I was ready to pop any second.

I was put on bed rest for the last month of my pregnancy due to high blood pressure and water retention.

My due date came and went. The boys went to camp, so the doctor decided it was a good time to induce. The baby was doing fine, but she wasn’t really in place. We went into the hospital on the 26th of June. They tried all night to soften my cirvex. I couldn’t eat or drink anything except ice chips. The next day around 11:00am the doctor came in. He sat on my bed and told me he thought they should do a cesarean. I was so scared. I had my two boys naturally, but all the other women in my family have had their children through cesarean births. He said he would schedule it for the next morning. He sent us home and told me I could have something to eat. Just as the nurse was unhooking me from the contractions monitor, I had a strong contraction. All she said was, “hmm.”

We got home and Matt made me a sandwich. I had another strong contraction. They started coming more frequently and became more painful. I told him we had to get to the hospital. He didn’t believe me. “I don’t think so. I’m sure it’s not real. We’re just going to get to the hospital and they’ll send us home.”

I insisted, so away we went to the hospital. I got in and I was definitely in labor. It was about 1:00pm. It was a fast and painful labor. I was in the pushing stage and I had gotten to that part where you just don’t think you can go on. I said, “Jesus, I’m so tired. Please let her be born.” Something to that effect. I heard him say, “She’ll be born at 6:01pm.” I forgot all about that as the next contraction came and I had to push. They put a monitor on her because her heart rate kept going down. Fortunately, I am a quick pusher and the next contraction she came out. They whisked her away and that scared me. I found out the cord was wrapped around her neck three times.

I asked what her Apgar score was. They just said they were giving her oxygen. After five minutes they told me her Apgar was seven, which gave me some relief. They finally brought her over to me. The grandmas came into the room and held her.

We had our Precious Victory and she is beautiful. God redeems every situation and I know I have a baby in heaven waiting for me. She never had to go through the hardships of life, but got to go straight into the Father’s arms. I am thankful for that and I’m so very thankful for our Pearl Victoria Schulz.

A few weeks after Pearl was born, I received a present from the doctor’s office. It was a little ceramic bootie with Pearl’s weight, height, date and time of birth. I looked at the time. It said 6:01pm and then I remembered what God had told me during labor.

He is an awesome God!