Hi everybody, it's Stephanie Alesi Mwinha, and this is Gianna Mwina, and you are here on the family business with the Alesssies. Next up, you're gonna hear a story of the best day ever, explained by my mom, Pastor Mary Alesi. And she's gonna share with you the story of the day my baby girl was born. So enjoy this clip, enjoy the sermon, and we hope you enjoy the story.
SPEAKER_01Well, I have to tell you a little bit about our experience this week with Stephanie. Is that okay? Can I share it? I'm going to anyway. And uh, because all my friends want to know, and the rest of you can just listen along. And it was really an amazing, surreal experience to watch your daughter have a daughter. I know many of my friends in the room have said over the last few months, just wait, just wait, just wait, wait till it's yours, wait till it's yours, wait till it's yours. And I I definitely would say that it's even greater than what they had the ability to convey into words, which is what all of them said. Just wait. So when you lay eyes on your first grandchild that is an offspring of you, it does something to you. There's a lot that starts happening in your heart and in your mind and in your spirit. I started having all these conversations with myself and with the Lord while I was in that labor and delivery room. So Monday, well, actually Sunday nights, uh Gabby graduated with a bachelor's degree at FIU, and so we were celebrating that. And uh she went last so she could get the loudest applause. No, everyone was texting, oh, we feel bad, you had to sit through it all. That was intentional. And um, then Steph was there and she was feeling the pain, so then the next day she went to the doctor and they said, Let's get you to the hospital because the amniotic fluid is low, and so they admitted her. Well, it took hours to get her in a room, so we were partying in the waiting room with her, and we're just making a fun experience. All the while, I know what's about to start happening. It just hadn't happened yet. So through the night we waited, and our staff came, and Pastor Steve went and got the RV and parked it in the parking lot, which is the downside of COVID, because we all can't be where we'd like to be. So it turned out to be even more fun. We made a memory. Stephanie didn't, she had a whole nother experience. But I would go in the labor room because she was at six or she was at seven, and I'd say, You feeling good? I'll be right back. And I'd run outside to the RV where the party was, and then I'd run back in to check on her. And so it was just an incredible night, and the adrenaline was flowing, and it was really exciting. Well, now it's time for her to have this baby. And as the process began to unfold as it does, and she's at the point where it's time to push the baby out. I keep asking her this question does it hurt? Are you hurting? How much pain? Are you are and she, you know, how do you answer that? Like on a level of one to ten. You're screaming. So she's not screaming, she's really calm. So I'm I'm thinking, all right, the epidural, praise God for epidurals. I'd like one right now, thank you. Whoever it was that invented that. I think it's an angel that just came down to earth and said, Here, all the women need this. Eve messed them up, but uh, it's enough suffering. So it was all working good, and she was doing wonderful and it was great, and and then it starts to get a little bit more intense. And I I knew that I'm a protective mom. I'm a protective mom. You know, I'm a very laid-back, chill mom too, but I'm I'm protective. But rarely does the grizzly bear mom come out in me. It's not that often. I don't really have that many opportunities because my kids can, you know, are pretty tough, and they have their dad who was a major protector, so I don't have to, I just get behind him and I'm like, yeah. But I'm in this room with Chris, the daddy, and Stephanie and the nurse. And at this point, it's just us. And what's what was crazy was right before it was time she was ready for transition, I started to process the reality that Steve wasn't gonna be in the room, her sisters weren't going to be in the room. I knew Chris wasn't gonna be in the room. Because they were understaffed that night in the hospital, and we did not need for him to be in that room. With a nurse tending to him trying to get him up off the floor. Am I right or am I right? Okay. So, as that process, I'm realizing Steve saw all of my deliveries with his children. Listen, I had four kids. At some point, we had a cooler. All the family came in the room. I mean, like, if you could fit in the room, you came in the room. That's just how it was with I married into an Italian family. There is no room they are left out of. There's nothing sacred. Does anybody else have that in their culture? You're you you're you're my cousin having a baby? Oh, come on, everyone. Let's go. And I wanted it that way. So the reality of COVID that Stephanie was not going to have that experience, it just, oh, it just hit me all at one time. And I was trying to focus on her, but the reality that it's just me and Chris, and we have this gargantuan responsibility to get it on tape and to remember it and to and to experience it and coach her. And all of a sudden, Stephanie sits up and she looks at me and she goes, Mom, now she's almost ready to push. Let's zoom it. I said, What? She goes, Call Miss Moore, get a zoom link. And let's zoom it to everybody in the waiting room. I said, Are you sure? She goes, Yes. Like, okay, you gotta hold that baby. Hang on. So I'm texting Steve. I said, we're gonna zoom it. And Steve doesn't even ask questions. He's like, great, here's a zoom link. And the next thing I know, this was my position for the next hour. I had a my phone in my hand, zooming it into the everyone. Now our family members from all over the country were watching, and trying to make her dreams come true with getting pictures of the baby. Okay? So this is me. This was not how I envisioned my daughter's first birth. That this is the position I'm in for an hour. Okay? And I'm going, okay, can they see? Well, they can't see, but they can see. All they need to see is her face. Okay, are you good? Are we good? Are we good? Okay, Steph? Steph, I'm gonna show you where you need to push. So here, click, click. You see this? You see this? Look, see? That's where you push. You see the baby's head? Okay, all right.
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SPEAKER_01Now push. And at one point, the nurse whom I love, and I believe she'll be at the church one day because she's she's a uh a Jamaican lady. And it's the kind of woman you want, is the kind of nurse you want. Okay, is she she's that lady. She's had a bunch of kids, and she's helped birth a bunch of kids, and she's like, we are not playing games. You're getting this baby out. But the only thing that she did that I remember even in my labor and and delivery rooms that drove me badding, and she did it too. And I don't know why a lot of the labor and delivery room nurses do this, but they do this. When it's time for you to push, they go, it's gonna come back for some of you. They go, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push. Push push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push. And I'm like, stop. Just say push one time. Okay, you're getting on my nerves, it's getting my video. So then uh before that moment, she was out at her desk, and obviously with COVID, the rules have changed. I've not been in the hospital. And this is a grizzly bear that came out in me because I knew stuff was getting ready, and the doctor was not there, and they had a lot of emergencies on the floor. Well, so you know, you just go. I took my pastor hat right off. I took my Christian hat off. I was mama bear. And I'm like, listen, you you she's ready. So when I walked out into the nurse's station, I just walked out and I just stood there. Well, she didn't look up at me. And thank God we had masks on. Because if she could have seen my whole face, she doesn't even make eye contact, and she goes, uh, please stop coming out into the hallway. Go back inside. Your daughter has a call button. Tell her to go in the room. You go in the room and tell your daughter to call you. Call me. And I went, okay. I walked back in. I said, give me your call button. Push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push. By the time it was over, she and I were kumbayanging. I love that lady. Because at one point she looked at Stephanie, and when it was ready, I mean, the head was there. Guys, you know if you're in the room, it's so exciting, and you're trying to help her. And all of a sudden, she goes, You feel that? The step's like, Yes. She goes, That's the ring of fire. And the doctor went, Don't call it the ring of fire. And she goes, Well, that's what it is. It's the ring of fire. And I yelled, it's the ring of fire, push. And within seconds, that baby was out in her arms, and all the pain went away in one moment. It was the most surreal moment of all time. And I'm just grateful I get to do it again and again and again and again and again and again. Processing all of that and looking at this verse, I realized that my role as mom in this last week was the most important role in my daughter's life. Next to the Holy Spirit, she needed me. And honestly, it absolutely gave me a lot of confidence in myself. Because you realize there are some things only mom can do, and there are some resources only mom can bring. And so in this verse of fanning into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands, I realized that when Gianna started coming out of that womb, that the same transfer from me to my daughter will now be transferred from my daughter to our granddaughter. And it really took on just this powerful picture in my mind of the importance for us as moms to be confident, to know who we are, and to know whose we are. Everything we want for our children, sometimes we lack in ourselves. And you cannot transfer what you do not have. But when you stand boldly in the confidence of who you are as a mom, knowing I'm the only mom you got, I'm the only mom you'll ever got, I'm the best mom for you. There's something that's so empowering about that as a mother. And it brings you peace. But listen, make no mistake, it brings a lot of peace and resourcefulness to your children. Because sometimes we think as moms, our kids don't want us there. We immediately go into this mindset of I don't want to be a problem, I don't want to be a burden, I don't want to be in the way. Any misconceived notions we have about mothering, a nagging mom, a mom that is frustrating, or a mom that just puts too much pressure on you. In that moment, all Stephanie wanted and needed was me in that room to help her get through this process. Mom, it's the same for you. Your kids, whether they say it or not, need you. But here's what they need: they need you to be confident in who you are. They need you to be confident that you know you are a voice of influence. Sometimes it's not easy. Especially in today's day and age, we just feel like we're in the way all the time because of all these new gadgets, all the stuff that they've invented that this generation thinks they've made it all easier. Can I tell you something? With this whole theme is the old school mom. I figured out I'm an old school mom. Okay? And so are you, whether you know it or not. Because when it comes right down to it, there's no gadget that we made in the 90s, there's no gadget we made in the year 2022 that's going to make any difference in labor and delivery. There is only one way out. Every generation, you know, we think we have a new way. And I've watched parents, mothers especially, over and over and over and over and over and over again think that it it is now their time to sit at the feet of their children and be taught. Can I just help you? That is never a good posture. You will always be out ahead. You will always be teaching and instructing and loving and nudging and compelling and affirming. Here's the word that I've heard over and over and over again in the 25 years of ministry. I don't want to push them. What would Stephanie have done if she said, I don't want to push? It would have been an emergency situation. Can I say that when I hear that, my question is, what does that mean? What do you not want to push? If you listen to our podcast, you hear me and Pastor Steve talk about it all the time. If you've known me more than a year, you've heard me say this. You push them to go to school, you push them to eat broccoli. Some of you moms will sit there for three days until they eat that one piece because you're gonna win. But then they wake up on Sunday morning and they don't feel like it, and you don't push them to go to church. You're choosing what you push. Well, I don't want to push Jesus. No, no, no, no, no. You do. Before Gianna was formed, she knew God. Because the Bible says he knew her. So guess what my role as a mother is? Your whole life in this earth, I'm leading you back to the one you know. I'm leading you back to the one you love. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. We can play football on Saturdays, but we're going to church on Sunday. I'm a grandma now. I can say some things with confidence and not feel bad about it later. Because I know I'm right. It's not being cocky. I've just watched it. We've just, how many times, Pastor Steve? You you can ask our staff. We've watched the cycle over and over and over and over again. And every time we hear that, I don't want to push them. Guess what happens? You don't push them. And they don't come to church. And they don't get to watch you serve. They don't get to watch you love Jesus because not everybody does it at their house. So when you're not at home living and walking and talking, which is a verse we're going to read right now as to why we need to do that, the church is the most important place for you, for your children, so that they learn the way, they know the way because they're following in the way. So don't you ever feel bad when you have to drag your kids to church and one of them has a Batman shoe and one of them has a Spider-Man shoe, or they don't have shoes at all. You've made it to church. That's all. As for me and my house, we're serving the Lord. That's what we're doing.
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