Jennifer Polimino - Praying Through Your Pregnancy: An Inspirational Week-by-Week Guide for Moms-to-Be

2010 Jennifer Polimino and Carolyn Warren

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Revell edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2558-0

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. 2001, Broadman and Holman Publishers, Lifeway Christian Resources, 127 Ninth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37234.

Other versions used are:

ESVScripture taken from the English Standard Version, Copyright 2001.

The ESV and English Standard Version are trademarks of Good News Publishers.

GODS WORDScripture taken from GODS WORD. GODS WORD is a copyrighted work of Gods Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by Gods Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

KJVKing James Version. Authorized King James Version.

NIVScripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

NKJVScripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NLTScripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The content in this book is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Dedication

Jennifer Polimino:

For my children, Micah Kekoa and Malia Grace.
Without you, this book would not be.
I love you both more than youll ever know.

Carolyn Warren:

For my children, Ryan and Wendy.
You have brought me joy and gladness.

We give honor to our mothers, Sharon Joy and Barbara Jean, two beautiful women who taught us the power of prayer.

A big thank-you to our literary agent, John Willig, president of Literary Services, Inc., for believing in our message and our ability to express it on the written page. We appreciate the counsel he gave us along the way to help make this project a success.

Heartfelt appreciation goes to Steven Lawson, for his vision and expertise in shepherding our project from start to finish. Thank you to Mark Weising for his proficient supervision of the copyediting stage, and to the entire team at Regal Books in Ventura, California.

We want to thank the courageous women who shared their beautiful pregnancy and birth stories with us: Kimberly Grano, Karen Johnson and her daughter Haley Tizzard, Jo Lembo and her daughter Betsy Leeuwner, Holly Montoya, Nancy Rice, Barb Rickford and Darla Sanborn. Also, a special thank-you to Janet Grabe, Jennifers doula extraordinaire, for her support and help in recording both of her birth stories; and to Betty Fire, Jennifers dear friend and favorite massage therapist, for helping her during her pregnancies.

We express our gratitude to Debbie Mills, Prayer Leader for Prenatal Prayer at the International House of Prayer (IHOP), for sharing her spiritual insight and testimonies with us. And our respect goes to Director Mike Bickle for being the pioneer who started IHOP.

We thank our church pastorsPastor Blake LaMunyon at Cherry Hills Community Church in Colorado, Pastor Gordon Banks at New Heart Worship Center, and Pastor Joe Turner at Shorewood Foursquare Church in Washingtonfor their teaching on faith and prayer and for watching over our souls.

Love from Jennifer to Dan, and from Carolyn to Brandon, our husbands who gave us their support and encouragement.

And most of all, we thank and give praise to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We give the credit to Him for the idea for this book; for the ability and stamina to write it in less than three months; and for making it possible for us to meet up with each otheracross the States via the Internetin the first place.

I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born.
JEREMIAH 1:5

Its been over four months of trying and were still not pregnant. Im not sure what is going on.

Maybe we are too oldIm 35 and Dan is 37. Did we wait too long?

Weve been married more than five years, and Ive been the one who wanted to wait, and now Im secretly crying every month when I get my period.

I was at lunch the other day with two of my girlfriends, and I broke down again over the fact that were still not pregnant! They both have children, so I dont think they truly understand.

Maybe God doesnt think Ill be a good mother. There were many times in my life when I said, I will never have kids. Maybe God heard me and listened.

But in my heart, I know thats not true. I know I just need to wait upon God. He knows when Im ready.

Ive been praying every month that if Im pregnant, God will help me to be a great mother, and that I will raise my kids to know and love Him.

Maybe it will happen next month...

Could there be something wrong with one of us? my husband asked. I knew what he was talking about. Id just found outyet againthat I wasnt pregnant.

Its okay, its only been five months, I said. A lot of couples try for longer than that. I smiled, trying to reassure him that nothing was wrong.

I know; but still, it wouldnt hurt to get checked out. Just to make sure... he said. Dan was 32 when we got married, and now he was 36. He didnt want to wait any longer to start a family. Hed been looking forward to being a daddy, and he didnt want to be too old to play ball with his kids.

I said, Sometimes it takes awhile. Im sure theres nothing wrong. But if it will make you feel better, go ahead and set an appointment.

So he did. My husband is the type of person who likes to plan things out, and according to his plan, we were supposed to be starting our family now. Wed been married five years and were ready to take on the responsibility of a child. We definitely had the love to give. But so far, no baby was on the way. Its not always easy waiting for Gods timetable; but still, I had faith that we would conceive according to Gods calendar, not ours.

That week he went to the doctor and had the tests done; every-thing proved to be okay, which made Dan feel a lot better.

And then, wouldnt you know it, later that same month I made an astonishing discovery. I was pregnant! Finally, we were expecting a baby! All day long I couldnt stop smiling. In my heart I was jumping up and down with joy; but so far, no one knew except God and me. I wanted to take just a little time to let the reality sink in before I shared the good news.