I am grateful for the the gift of Peace that the Lord has instilled in me.  As Sarah Young describes it in her Jesus Calling devotional, "a gift of such immense proportions that you cannot fathom its depth or breadth."  For as long as I could remember, I did not live in peace, instead I internally lived in fear, shame, anger, sadness, anguish, resentment, etc.  It wasn't until I made the choice to live for Christ that I truly understood what it meant to exist in a peaceful state of being.  So when I heard the hospital nurse on speaker phone advise my wife to wait another 2 hours before we drove to the hospital (and we had to call and get permission first) to ensure that the contractions were constant and that her pain was immense, it didn't give me anxiety.  My peaceful self thought, "Yeah right, we are not waiting that long with her contractions being 2-3 minutes apart!" So as I heard my wife's breathing begin to increase and her pain grow stronger, I decided to continue timing the contractions for another 30 minutes to have some concrete data, and then we would start our 45 minute drive to the hospital, in the pouring rain.

One of the aspects I love about my wife is how she surprises me with her growth and wisdom.  I always perceived myself as the more organized one, the more experienced one, the more resourceful one, and it is very humbling when I see these strengths growing in action within her.  A few days before going into labor, my wife had pulled me aside to have me watch the "Slow Dance" video on the Baby Center App, you can view it at minute 2:21 here:
https://www.babycenter.com/2_pregnancy-massage-for-labor-pain_10413818.bc

Honestly, I laughed at the thought of doing this, but we tried it and it was amusing, but I never imagined actually applying it during labor.  So when I saw how hard she was breathing and verbally expressing pain as she paced back and forth in the living room, I asked, "Why don't you come sit down on the couch with me and rest?"  She replied, "I will, I am just trying to walk around to ease the pain."  It was then that I remembered our funny moment of trying it out this technique and I quickly said, "Come here, let's try this." So we swayed, left right, left right, left, right, as I heard her breathe in and out in pain.  When she would breathe out the contraction I would put pressure in her lower back with my fingers as the video suggested.  I am not sure I provided much relief, she will be able to tell you when she starts writing, but I sure remember it as a very tender moment and in my head I was thanking God that he was guiding us through this process.