Lekk Ministry Update: May 2026 - The Birth Story of Our Little Girl

Jocelyn Lekkerkerker
5 days ago
8 min read

Dear Friends & Family,

This month has been absolutely life changing for us.

Here is the birth story of our sweet little girl Madeline Sophia Lekkerkerker,

born May 20th at 8:04am.

We had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. to prep for the surgery at 7:30 a.m. I planned to go to sleep at 9 p.m., which is way earlier than I usually do. This was my first time having any type of extensive surgery, yet it also meant we would get to meet our girl for the first time, so I was so excited but also anxious. No matter how much I prayed or tried to think of other things, the nerves of it all kept me awake. I only got two hours of sleep!

When our alarm went off, I was so incredibly tired that I started crying. I was having negative thoughts about how hard the birth of Kane was, and now, because of my lack of sleep, I thought I was less likely to recover smoothly from such a big surgery. I felt full of despair and cried out in my prayers to the Lord Jesus to please give me the strength and courage to go through the surgery. Shortly after this prayer, my thoughts shifted to the idea that this was Rune’s first time as a dad to his first baby. He has been a wonderful father to Kane since Kane was seven years old, but he had never witnessed a birth before, let alone the birth of his own child. It was a huge part of what would be our story. My love for him overwhelmed me, and I tried to shift my perspective to see this moment as a potential healing experience rather than a traumatic one. If I kept on with my self-focused thoughts, this time together could be all about Rune trying to comfort me, or I could open myself to trusting in the Lord and have a beautiful time with my husband.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, I started to calm myself down. We got in the car, and the sunrise on the drive to the hospital was magnificent. The sunrise was like one of those Japanese paintings where the sun is blood-red. There was mist everywhere. The light cascaded over everything, tinting the landscape with blues, purples, oranges, and reds. It was as if we had stepped into a painting. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was so immersed in the moment that I just soaked it all in with Rune. The entire ride, we were both silent, but we were holding hands. I could feel Rune’s loving support. Although I was still unsure about how things would go, I at least had a sense of peace in my heart.

(This is just a stock photo. Not from that morning.)

We arrived at the hospital and were checked into the surgery prep area. I asked if Rune would pray over me, and he did before the nurse came in. I looked at him and told him I felt I didn’t have enough faith because I was still so afraid and that I was disappointed in myself. Then Rune said the most beautiful thing to me. He said, “Jocelyn, Jesus wept and sweat drops of blood before going to the cross. Having emotions of sadness or fear about this right now is not you being faithless. I know you ultimately trust God. The fact is, this is a big procedure. So you’re nervous, and that’s understandable, and our God understands.” I cried again. His words comforted me and gave me more courage. The God and Creator of the universe had been tortured for our greater good. Through His Spirit, I could face the unknown of this surgery for the safe arrival of our baby girl.

Then the first nurse came in. She was very sweet, but she was at the end of her evening shift, and it seemed like she needed some sleep. When she put in my IV, she did it really sloppily, and blood shot everywhere. It went dripping down my arm and onto the floor. I was thinking to myself, “I hope that this is not foreshadowing how this is all going to go.” But then there was a shift change in nurses, and another nurse came in. She had the most beautiful, light-filled green eyes, and she was 34 weeks pregnant herself. She came into the room and said to me, “Hey, girl, you know we’re doing a shift change, and I’m your nurse now, and I heard that this is your first C-section and that you are nervous. Well, this is baby number three for me, and it’s going to be my third C-section. You’re a strong woman, I can tell. This is going to be a piece of cake. You are going to get through this.” Her words were such a relief and encouragement. I had this feeling that we were kindred spirits!

Then my anesthesiologists came in; there were two of them, an older man and a younger man. The older man said he had been in this career for thirty years, and the younger man had worked there a long time as well. I was nervous again and started to shake. All of the memories of my first birth, where I had a negative reaction to the anesthesia, came rushing back. The younger anesthesiologist reassured me, “Don’t worry, I’m going to be there the whole time, and I’m going to be talking to you and making sure that you are okay through the entire procedure.”

He was very supportive too. The next part was the hardest because Rune was not allowed to be in the operating room while the anesthesia (the spinal block) was being administered to me. This was the hardest part for Rune as well. He said it felt like the longest twenty minutes of his life. He was in a waiting room praying for the baby and me the entire time.

They took me into the operating room, and the anesthesiologist explained, “This is going to feel like a bee sting, and then right after that, I’m going to administer the medication, and it is going to hit you pretty hard. I’m just letting you know because it can feel a bit overwhelming, but don’t worry, there’s going to be a whole team here that’s going to help you out.”

And he was not wrong. As soon as he administered the medication, whoa, I felt like I was in another world, still very aware but in another state of consciousness. At that point, they tested to see if I could feel anything. I let them know I was completely numb. I asked, “So when does my husband get to come in? And when are you going to begin?”

Then the older anesthesiologist said, “They’ve already begun.”

I was shocked to hear that and asked to have Rune brought in.

Rune sat down beside me and looked into my eyes, reassuring me that everything was going smoothly. There was no pain, but this was the most intense part of the procedure because I could still feel all the pressure from each movement the surgeon was making. It felt like my abdomen was a large carpet bag, and she was digging to the bottom of this purse to find a pair of lost keys. The lost keys were my baby, and I was the carpet purse. She was digging and digging for what felt like a long time. Because the sensations were so intense, all I could do was look into Rune’s eyes and breathe through it.

Ten minutes passed, which felt like an eternity. Then the doctors got her out and took her to the warmer to check her vitals. I did not hear her cry. Rune said it was only about 30 seconds, but to me, it felt like a lifetime. It was the longest 30 seconds of my life.

I cried out, “Is she okay?”

Rune had gone over to be with her. She started crying. Rune looked at her and then talked to her. He told her everything was going to be okay and that her papa was there for her. As soon as he said that, she stopped crying and calmed down. She recognized his voice.

Then they took her from the warmer and put her on my chest. It was about fifteen more minutes while they were closing me up. Rune was sitting with me, and he actually saw me cut open because he was tall enough to see over the curtain. He was tracking everything that was happening and protecting the baby and me. Out of all the romantic experiences we have ever had, this was the most fulfilling and bonding experience we’ve ever had.

It was so intense, but also so beautiful. The moment we both saw her, we were just so in love. They finished me up, and they got us all to our recovery room. We spent the next two or three days in the hospital. It was like we were both in baby school. It had been seventeen years since I had a newborn, and it was Rune’s first time, so we savored every moment. Kane stayed with my dad and Pam. They had the best time together. They even took Kane to the beach while I recovered, and we learned everything we could.

We were released from the hospital to go home with baby Madeline on Friday, May 22nd, 2026.

Lastly, I want to thank each one of you who was fervently praying for this birth, praying for her to flip in the womb so we could have a natural birth, and/or for the Lord’s will to be done. I had been trying everything I could think of to cause her to flip on her own. We tried Spinning Babies exercises, postural changes, and chiropractic treatment. But I just had this sense that she wasn’t going to be able to flip, and although surgery was my biggest fear, I started to slowly accept the idea of it as the three weeks passed. We had the opportunity at 37 weeks pregnant to do a procedure to try to flip her in the womb, and the prognosis for her to flip was quite high based on her being sideways instead of breech. But because they would use a medication with heavy side effects, we decided not to do the procedure and instead see if she would flip on her own.

On the day we were getting ready to leave the hospital after giving birth, the OBGYN who would have performed the flipping procedure came into our room. She went on to explain that she had talked to the surgeon who performed my C-section, who had been doing these surgeries for thirty years. She told the OBGYN that this was one of her most challenging C-sections because of the baby’s positioning. She said that Madeline was stuck underneath my right rib and that there was no way she would have turned, either through the procedure or naturally. The OBGYN encouraged us that we had made the right decision for our baby’s safety and my own.

When Rune and I heard this news, we looked at each other and smiled. We felt so much gratitude for the providence of God and for each and every one of your prayers.

God is so good. To Him be the praise and honor and glory forever and ever.

Please Pray For: