My (Redemptive) Unmedicated Birth Story

My first delivery took me 14 months to process and blog and here I am just 2 weeks postpartum with my second, marveling at the peaceful birth I just experienced.

To fully appreciate how redemptive my second labor/delivery was, read my first birth story here.

Getting my Body Ready

Because I delivered my first 12 days past my estimated due date, I knew that going past my EDD again was a good possibility. The day after my due date, I had an appointment with one of my midwives and we made a plan (hoping we wouldn’t need it) to monitor baby during week 41 and encourage my body to kickstart labor on it’s own. Trust me when I say I was doing all the things to increase oxytocin in my body and get baby in the right position (except for eat spicy food, that just gave me heartburn.)

The Game Changer: Christian Hypnobirthing

During my second trimester, I discovered Christian Hypnobirthing, an app and a course that uses Scripture to prepare for a physiological (unmedicated, limited intervention) birth. My husband and I took the course together and I would listen to the tracks as I went about my day or when I was falling asleep. As I let the Truth about God, my body and my baby permeate my mind I felt peace leading up to my birth.

Early Labor

On Thursday night (2 days after my EDD), we had dinner at a friend’s and went for a walk. By the time we got home I was starting to feel stronger surges (contractions) but I didn’t say anything to my husband. We got our daughter to bed and went to bed ourselves. From 10:30pm-2am I tried to doze off but the surges kept waking me up. They weren’t painful and I was calmly breathing through them while Jeff slept. By 2:15am, I felt like I should check in with the midwife on call. Since my surges were still 10 minutes apart she suggested I check back in an hour to report how I was processing. Within the hour they went from 10 minutes apart to 5-6 minutes apart, lasting a minute or longer. During that hour I was playing my Christian Hypnobirthing affirmations, braiding my hair, and breathing/swaying through the surges. I doubted I was in labor based on how calm I felt.

At the Birth Center

Once my contractions were 5-6 minutes apart, I called my sister who promptly came over, we packed up and headed to the birth center.

At the birth center, the midwife took us to our suite and we got settled in. In between surges I unpacked baby’s clothes, my essential oils, and our snacks. Jeff dozed off a bit more and I continued to breathe through the surges. At this point, I had turned off the encouraging Scriptures from the app and pivoted to just relaxing music. It was calming and peaceful.

I needed to receive some antibiotics via IV but this is the only hook up I had. The team monitored baby’s heart periodically with a handheld doppler, which meant I could move freely throughout the birthing suite.

Active Labor

Around 10am on Friday, I started to experience back labor. I had been praying the entire night and morning and until the back labor hit, I had maintained my peace. The intense back pain took me back to my first labor with extended back labor and I started to panic. I had to be very intentional in between contractions to choose what I was going to tell myself during the upcoming surge. Some surges I told myself, “This feels like last time! I want Jeff to take me to the hospital so I can get an epidural!” and other surges I told myself, “The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever, not this pain.”

During the back labor I started crying out to God and I told Him, “I am giving this everything I have. You have to help me. I can only do this till noon, Lord, so she’s GOT to come by then.” As I was silently pleading with the Lord, Jeff was pressing a hot compress and his fists into my back for counterpressure. He also started speaking in tongues over me.

Noon passes.

At 12:15pm, after 2 very intense surges I tell Jeff that I need to go pee. I waddle to the bathroom in our suite and as I sit on the toilet another contraction starts and I beg Jeff to push on my back. Then I said, “Wait! I think I need to push!” It was the oddest feeling but my body was ready! Jeff looks down and sees her head crowning. I’m fairly certain I’ve never seen him move so fast. He flew out of our birthing suite to find the midwife and nurse. The three of them come running into the bathroom, the midwife throwing gloves on, crouches down and asks me if we can move to the bed. Then she saw baby’s head and we decide to stay on the toilet. She directs Jeff to stratal the toilet and support me while I stood over the toilet. With just 3, completely pain-free pushes she was born!

Redemption

My entire pregnancy my husband and I prayed “peaceful” and “redemptive” over the birth of our second born.

My first labor was 41 hours and my second was 14. God literally flipped it around! He is such a redeeming God!

If you had a traumatic labor, I know that God can redeem your experience, even if you are done having babies. You never know how God will use your story to encourage and bless someone else.