Tamahra Faith Mast

Our precious baby girl, Tamahra Faith Mast, was born July 2, 2010 at 11:04 am. She was very diplomatic in the time she chose to arrive in that she came a day after Canada day and two days before Independence Day. Amazingly she arrived exactly on her due date which is apparently a rather rare occurrence.

The whole experience was very blessed, God brought together a amazing crew to encourage me and support me through the whole birthing process. Our team included my mom who flew down from Canada, Adrienne Shales who acted as doula and, of course, my amazing husband, John. There were also some amazing nurses and doctors who helped me so much.

I went into labor at 1:30 that morning and we got to the hospital by 4:00 am. John stood by my side the entire time, breathing with me, spoon feeding me crushed ice, massaging my back and applying counter pressure to my back. Adrienne, was a constant source of peace and reassurance as well as wisdom when it was necessary. Mom took on a mom's role and was constantly doing whatever she could to keep me comfortable. One nurse in particular, Lou, was so helpful, when I really needed it she gave me the pep talk of my life which gave me the drive to press through to the end. It was so worth every minute of it. And what a joy and relief it was to finally get to hold our baby girl.

I had all these ideas of how everything would be from the labor experience to what it would be like to be a mommy. Once again those got thrown out the window. It was way different than I imagined but honestly way better too. I've come to a realization of a common misconception which I had embraced and feared for so long. When talking about pregnancy, birthing and parenthood, people would tell me how hard or painful it could be. I therefore always feared these things. What I've come to realize, as with all new responsibilities, harder or painful is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact these experiences have brought some of the biggest opportunities for me to grow emotionally and spiritually and some of the biggest blessings I've ever encountered. It's amazing how the enemy, through fear, tried to rob me of these things. I am so glad God gave me the courage and the strength to press through, it is the best decision I have ever made.

This new chapter in our lives as parents has obviously just begun and another huge part of my walkout is to not get ahead of myself. Often times I'll catch myself worrying about what's going to happen next, the next stage in baby's growth or even my marriage. What I've come to conclude is that every day or even every moment is like a contraction; you take each one as it comes and deal with them one at a time. As soon as you start thinking about the next ones to come and how hard they may be you get overwhelmed and forward progress is hindered for that time. So I guess I'm saying I'm learning to take life one bite at a time. Matthew 6:34 says: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Tamahra Shakes Herself Loose

Tamahra's First Happy Birthday

My Pregnancy So Far

These past eight months have certainly been an amazing journey. I've learned and grown in areas I'd never even noticed before. I have been and still am walking out of some interesting generational issues. God sure has been faithful this whole way as I know he will always be.

You can ask questions and read books or listen to teachings all you want about pregnancy and how it's going to be, but I have realized that you can never fully comprehend the entirety of it until you are in it yourself.

I started out following only what I had heard other people say about their experiences and, not surprisingly, started experiencing all of the symptoms they had warned me about. The first few months especially were the hardest for me. I encountered nausea and an intense repulsion to foods that I normally liked. I took on self pity big time thinking that the whole nine months was going to be that way. I couldn't imagine why anyone would ever want to get pregnant for a second time.

Then almost exactly at the three month mark, Pastor Henry did a teaching on Self Pity. I suddenly realized how much of that I had been participating with and I immediately repented to God for my participation with that way of thinking and came out of agreement with it. It was like someone took a switch from misery to freedom. All of the worst symptoms I had been enduring were gone overnight especially the cloud of oppression that had me tied down. There were still a few of the minor symptoms but those I could definitely handle.

I was finally able to get my joy and my peace back and be excited about the new life that was forming within me. Since then, any time I catch that stinking mindset trying to come back on me I remind myself that God intended this to be a blessing, not a curse. What's happening inside of me is such a miracle. I am not saying that all of the symptoms have gone away, a few are to be expected with our constantly changing bodies physically and chemically as the baby is developing. The enemy really has been trying to rob me of the incredible joy that this time truly is supposed to be.

Another one of these battles was with sleep. I had been told and had read that often times in the last few months of your pregnancy it becomes difficult to sleep because of discomfort of the growing baby among other things. At first I actually took this on without even having a reason to. I would actually lay in bed awake, afraid that if I went to sleep I'd encounter all these discomforts that I had heard about. So for about a week, I barely slept at all! Finally I recognized how fear was robbing me of my sleep and was able to overcome that with God's help and lately I have been sleeping super soundly with hardly and interruption except for potty visits. Praise the Lord.

It's funny this last trimester of the pregnancy was the one I dreaded most and actually it has been the best part so far. I just love laying on my bed and watching my belly squirm around. At one point I was in my glider chair watching TV with my cockatiel, Jazzy, sitting on my belly. She was peacefully preening herself when all of a sudden she started freaking out. I couldn't figure out what on earth was her problem until I realized that she was glaring intently at my belly. Tamahra had been kicking her from the inside. Finally the bird had enough she squealed and poked my belly with her beak then jumped off onto my pant leg. Ever since she has been a little wary of my belly. I'm going to have to teach those two how to get along once Tamahra's out.

I suppose that my whole point in this post is to encourage you that we are all on our own journey and there is no point in taking on other people experiences. I've learned that as I rested in the Lord and trusted Him in this particular area that He met me and gave me peace and joy beyond my expectations. It really is amazing to me how unique every person's pregnancy is, it's like each one of us has our own special time just between us, our baby our God and, of course, our husbands. What a gift!

PS. The "Self Pity" Teaching and another teaching that has been super helpful to me called "God's Plan for Childbearing" are available in the bookstore section of www.beinhealth.com

Baby's Name!

John and I are expecting our first baby who is due July 2nd 2010. I found out that I was pregnant two months after we got married and just two weeks after my 21st birthday. Talk about the best birthday gift ever! We actually picked out baby names while we were still engaged. We were bored one day and I pulled out my journal which had a list of baby names I've been saving for years.

For a girl, which is what we are having, we came up with Tamahra Faith. The hardest part about the name was actually trying to decide how to spell it. We wanted it to be pronounced Tam-air-ah in contrast to the classic pronunciations, Tam-ar-ah or Tam-er-ah. The spelling we came up with was actually suggested by a friend of ours from the ministry we work for. It's actually the Australian version of the name.

The root of the name is actually the Hebrew name, Tamar meaning "palm tree." It may seem strange that we are naming our daughter after a palm tree but upon further investigation, we discovered that some of the crowning qualities of this particular plant are its beauty, height and durability. Some types are even created to be able to withstand hurricane force storms. So our conclusion to the meaning and relevance of her name is that, in conjunction with her middle name, Faith, it portrays a beautiful woman who is strong and sincere in her faith and walk with God.

I know a name by no means defines who she will become but it's a starting block. If anything it portrays how John and I are growing and will need to grow through the course of this pregnancy and parenthood. This sure is going to be and incredible journey!