William’s Birth Story

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I was 42 weeks pregnant and very ready to have this sweet baby boy! He was my second baby at home with Dorothy, and my first was 10lbs, so I knew this baby was going to be sizable himself. It was very hard to stay patient waiting for his arrival—it was the middle of summer and I was just hot and exhausted chasing around a toddler! But the Lord kept reminding me that His timing is perfect and He had a wonderful plan for when this baby would arrive. I trusted in God!

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On July 9th at 2:00 in the morning, I woke up to feeling wet, like, really wet! I was so excited my water had broken, because it was FINALLY happening, I was going to have my baby! A funny part to the story is that, for some odd reason, the night before my water broke, I decided to wear one of my “diapers” that I’d gathered for postpartum—I had told my husband “just in case my water breaks in the night!” In hindsight, I think my body knew something that my mind didn’t fully want to reckon as true, that I was having my baby the next day! I got out of bed and cleaned up in the shower, then called Dorothy’s phone number. I was surprised when Violet picked up the phone instead of Dorothy—I knew they must be at another birth even though that wasn’t specifically explained. Violet told me to get some rest and let them know when contractions started up. So I did just that. My husband was blowing up the birth pool in our living room at this time, and even though we were both excited and anxious, we went back to bed and actually slept! I woke up around 8:00am to some fairly strong contractions, but to my surprise I was able to make them much more manageable by laying on my side and tucking my stomach. I hadn’t learned this from anyone, it was almost instinctual, and I just followed my body. This allowed me to remain much more restful while contractions were still mild enough to stay lying down. I kept telling myself that it was going to be a long haul and I’d have lots of hard work ahead and I needed to rest as much as possible to conserve my energy. 

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I got up from bed around 9am and was feeling a little nauseous, but I knew I should eat something for the long road ahead, so I decided to make a smoothie. I only drank about two sips and couldn’t eat anymore. I was becoming a lot more irritated and less chatty, so my husband said we should call Dorothy and my doula. They arrived around 11am, and by then I was getting very focused on getting through each contraction. I was experiencing a lot of low back pain, and my doula was very skilled in massage, so she was very helpful with getting me through each contraction by massaging my lower back. She was truly such a blessing during this specific time of labor. A few hours passed and Dorothy came in and said I was welcome to get into the pool if that sounded good to me. I had explained to everyone that I really wanted a water birth, but had open hands about that and would like to at least labor some in the pool because it was very relaxing to me with my last birth. I was hesitant because I didn’t want the water to slow things down because I felt like I was progressing faster than my last birth, but I decided it would be nice to have a little break. I was still telling myself that it was going to be a long time of laboring and that I’d have to keep being very patient and strong for the long haul. It was 1:00 in the afternoon when I got into the pool, and the warm water was such a relief. Although, I was very hot and sweaty by this point, and initially asked for the water to be cooled down, which is funny looking back on! I wanted it even colder, but I was reminded it needed to be warm enough for baby when he arrived haha! Within a half hour of being in the pool I started to feel pushy. Which was a shock to me. I didn’t think I could actually be this close to having my baby—after all, I’d been telling myself it was going to be a long, long time, and I’d probably labor into the night. I was wrong, praise the Lord! 

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I started pushing gently when I felt the urge naturally from my body. That was a mistake I made with my last birth: I pushed way too early, before my body was ready, because I just wanted it to be over. And I became exhausted and also made my recovery harder. That was naive of me, and I’m so glad I decided to listen to my body and trust its natural instincts on how to birth this time!  I started feeling some rectal pressure and knew baby was close. I couldn’t believe it. As more contractions came, I pushed, but didn’t feel like I was progressing like I should be with the effort I was putting in. So I asked Dorothy to do a cervical exam: I was at a 9 and 100% effaced! That was very encouraging. But I did have a small anterior cervical lip, which I also had with my first, and this was probably one of my worst fears going into this birth because it was such a hard part from my last birth. I had Dorothy hold it manual through a few contractions, and although excruciatingly painful, it was very effective in getting the lip moved so baby could come down! I knew that brief bit of bad pain would get me closer to meeting my baby, and every minute was worth it! With much effort, his head was born! What a wonderful relief! I remember being so thankful—I was verbally thanking the Lord for His goodness and also thanking my team for their love and support. This was such a special moment to me because I was, and still am, in awe that I could be laying there, with a baby’s head freshly out of me, in the middle of labor, with a genuine spirit of gratitude and humility. It’s not like the movies at all—birth can be a raw, serene, powerfully beautiful thing. The Lord truly created our bodies with the unique and intricate ability to give birth. What a miracle birth is. 

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After this, more contractions passed and I pushed with my body to birth his body, but he wasn’t coming. I was instructed to move to my hands and knees and still no progress. I then was told to get into a kneeling lunge position. Still no progress. His shoulders were stuck and Dorothy helped get one shoulder delivered but his other was still stuck. By now I was scared. It was the first time during my birth where I felt out of control and fearful: I wanted my baby to be ok. I knew I needed to listen to and execute every one of Dorothy’s commands. She told me to get out of the pool and lay on my back. With much effort and use of suprapubic pressure, the rest of his body was finally born! No one can describe the feeling of hearing your baby’s strong, healthy cry when they are born. I sobbed thank yous to the Lord as I held my sweet baby boy in my arms on my kitchen floor. Life is not guaranteed and not to be taken for granted. The Lord is the giver of life, and the One who takes it away. He is sovereign over every life and has a perfect plan for each. 

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I suffered a considerable amount of blood loss due to some membranes that would not come out, but thanks to Dorothy’s calm response and expertise, she was able to manually remove the membranes and stop my bleeding. I truly could not be more thankful to my birth team for their care during my birth. They worked extremely hard to make sure my baby and I were healthy and well cared for. Not once did they complain of being tired (even though they had been up for hours the previous day and night assisting with another birth) or lose faith in my body’s ability to birth my baby! They encouraged me all the way, even when I lost the strength to keep going. 

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My big boy came so much faster than I ever could have imagined. Because my first labor was so long and grueling, I thought that was just how my body birthed and it was going to be like that for all future births. However, when I listened to my body, welcomed each contraction as a helper to my birth, not a hindrance, and embraced the natural process that birth was designed to be by our Creator, I had the most beautiful, fast, worshipful labor, despite having an 11lb 11oz baby! Your body was created to birth. The Lord designed your body intricately to produce all the hormones and physical processes needed to have a healthy baby, and you can do it all at home, even on your kitchen floor if you like. ;)