April 29, 2025 • 25 mins
In this very first episode of Faith Over Fear: The Christian Pregnancy & Birth Podcast, I’m taking you behind the scenes of one of the most transformative days of my life—the birth of my daughter, Ellie.
From navigating unexpected complications early in pregnancy to giving birth unmedicated in a hospital setting, this episode is full of the real, raw, faith-filled moments that shaped me as a woman and called me into the sacred work of serving other mamas.
You’ll hear how I coped with a subchorionic hematoma, managed intense pelvic pain, and prepared for birth with a mix of evidence-based tools and spiritual practices. You’ll also get a glimpse of the worship-filled atmosphere during labor, how “The Blessing” became my birth anthem, and the exact moment I realized God was calling me to become a doula and childbirth educator.
Whether you’re newly pregnant, preparing for birth, or just curious how God shows up in the labor room—this episode will inspire you to surrender fear, embrace faithful preparation, and trust in His beautiful design for birth.
In this episode, I share:
- My journey through early pregnancy fears and faith
- Coping with a subchorionic hematoma and pelvic pain due to hypermobility
- The natural comfort measures that helped me during labor
- How I experienced God’s peace and presence in the delivery room
- What sparked my decision to become a doula and childbirth educator
Scripture Shared:
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9
A Prayer for You:
I close this episode by praying over you—whether you’re hoping to conceive, currently pregnant, or already a mama. May God meet you in your preparation and birth journey with peace, strength, and deep trust in His goodness.
Mentioned in this episode:
- ✨ Christian Mama Birth Prep Library: Free birth planning tools, worship playlist & more
- 💛 Work with Me 1:1 – Doula Support & Coaching: Explore in-person and virtual support for your pregnancy and birth
If this episode encouraged you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend. Let’s keep choosing faith over fear, one birth story at a time. Go here for the full episode show notes and all resources mentioned!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Natalie Portman (00:44):
Hello there.
I am so excited to have you hereand I wanted to kick off this
podcast by starting with anintroduction of myself, a little
bit about me, and sharing mybirth story with my first baby
girl.
Her name is Ellie.
So I'll go into detail abouteverything that went into
(01:06):
preparing for that pregnancy,preparing for that birth.
The birth itself and sometakeaways as it related to
igniting my passion for birthwork.
So I am here in Jacksonville,Florida.
If you're in this area.
I do in-person doula support,and I'm also now offering
(01:27):
virtual doula support.
Two people that live in theJacksonville area and also, you
know those who live beyondJacksonville and the surrounding
areas.
It's a huge city here, and I ammarried to Brian.
He is an amazing husband anddad.
We've been married for five anda half years, and we have two
(01:49):
amazing little kiddos.
Our first is our daughter Ellie,and she will be four in June and
Daniel, who just turned one inMarch.
And we go to the Church ofEleven22, which is a huge mega
church here in Jacksonville.
And we just, we love our littlefamily.
(02:10):
We love our church family.
And it's been such an amazingthing to watch the Lord move in
birth in my life as a way tolove on and minister to so many
other families.
And without any further ado,I'll just go into my birth story
with her.
So we got married in Septemberof 2019, and then obviously
(02:35):
Covid hit in early 2020.
We moved into our first house atthat point and just began
nesting and doing all the fun.
Just newly married, just gettingto know each other, building our
little.
Nest and decided before, weoriginally had said, we'll wait
until our first year of marriageand then we will start thinking
(02:58):
about having kids.
There was literally nothinghappening during COVID and so we
just were like we'll start now.
So in September of 2020, westarted trying for a baby and I
actually had an IUD for years.
And I did not know when I wasovulating because I didn't ever
have a period when I had the IUDand I decided to do the
(03:22):
ovulation test strips.
It's like a urine strip.
And it would tell you when youwere ovulating, which, would
give you a better chance ofknowing when to time having sex
to conceive.
So I did that and like I said.
We were very blessed, gotpregnant our first try, and I
remember first of all being inshock that I was able to get
(03:45):
pregnant that first time, butalso just in awe of, okay, so
now what am I getting myselfinto?
This is.
Really intense.
Thinking about the fact that I'mnow going to be growing and
giving birth to a human beinglike, this is crazy.
And it almost felt to me like Iwas staring at this mountain in
(04:06):
front of me and I didn't know, Ididn't feel equipped.
I didn't know how to climb thatmountain and to get through that
journey.
And so I.
Am a researcher.
And so I, I really dove intolistening to podcasts, listening
to birth stories listening toaudiobooks.
I'm a huge audiobook person.
(04:27):
And that was a way that Iprepared.
I took online courses and justdid everything I could think of
to prepare myself for thisjourney ahead because it was so
unknown to me.
And.
I like to feel prepared.
I don't know if you're likethat, but I really like to feel
prepared for what I'm gettingmyself into.
And it was really great'cause Ifelt prepared going into my
(04:47):
birth.
I felt really excited.
Which was awesome.
But to go back to the beginningof when I first found out I was
pregnant there was a little bitof complication in that first
trimester.
So I ended up around 10 weeks Iwoke up and I had some intense
cramping in the morning andthen.
(05:08):
Started to have some bleedingand if you're not familiar, that
is a pretty classic miscarriagesign and we ended up going to
the emergency room.
And it was inconclusive.
They didn't know what washappening, if it was truly a
miscarriage or not, but theytreated it like it was a
miscarriage.
And so Brian and I and my familyreally, we were all just
(05:31):
grieving that because I had justrecently announced to my family
that we were expecting.
And so it was just a really hardtime.
I remember it being difficult,but also having just a peace
that passed all understanding.
I just trusted in the Lord'stiming and plan for that
pregnancy and just again, notknowing what was happening
(05:52):
because it was almost worse themsaying we don't know if you're
miscarrying.
Because I, again, I just didn'tknow.
I didn't know how to feel atthat point.
But the Lord was so gracious tous and I just played a ton of
worship music.
We just worshiped and cried and,I just really trusted in the
Lord when we didn't know it washappening.
And then I had another episodeof bleeding a couple days later
(06:14):
that weekend.
And then Monday went to myregularly scheduled OB
appointment and they told methat I actually had something
called a subchorionic hematoma.
And it's basically where like apool, like a little pocket of
blood.
Was formed, and it was close tothe cervix, like where that
(06:35):
opening is.
And so I was bleeding from thatsubc chorionic hematoma.
And so it was a huge relief tofind out that baby was fine and
that's where that bleeding andcramping was coming from.
So that was really wildexperiencing that in that first
trimester and then in the secondtrimester started having.
(06:55):
Some pretty intense pelvic pain.
My like front pelvic area, kindalike where the pubic bone is.
I started having just likereally intense pain.
Like I couldn't lift one legwithout my pelvis.
Feeling like it was like rippingapart, just walking, hurt,
moving, like rolling over in bedwas really painful.
Which I have come to now realizewas due to hypermobility.
(07:19):
I'm very hypermobile.
And I will also have a separateepisode about hypermobility and
how that could affect yourpregnancy and maybe, give you
some tips and tricks for copingwith that.
But I struggled to just getcomfortable in my pregnancy just
having horrible pelvic pain.
And so I had chiropracticadjustments that helped me so
(07:42):
much.
I remember I would like hobbleinto my chiropractic appointment
and then walk actually be ableto walk out of that appointment.
So that was super helpful.
And then I also went to,physical therapy, pelvic floor,
physical therapy, and they gaveme some exercises to help with
that as well.
So that, that helped a lot.
And then I continued toexercise.
(08:02):
I was doing reformer Pilates, ifyou're familiar with what that
is.
And that's a really great lowimpact strength training
exercise for pregnancy.
So that was, a huge blessing tobe active during the pregnancy.
Another thing that I was doingto prepare my body for birth was
cervical ripening methods.
(08:22):
So I'd heard about this as a wayto prepare your body for labor.
And I'm gonna also have aseparate episode about cervical
ripening methods and what thoselook like and how that can help
benefit your labor experience.
And then thankfully, I hadlistened to a lot of other
women's experience You know whatto expect in that last, month or
(08:44):
so of labor.
And my sister had a ton ofBraxton Hicks and things like
that.
So when I would go to bed atnight and then, throughout the
night and in the morning, Iwould have a lot of Braxton
Hicks, the practice warmup.
Contractions.
And so it was nice to have herperspective because if I didn't
expect that or I didn't knowthat was normal, I would've been
(09:05):
like, oh, I'm going into laborlike every night.
And so it was nice to expectthat and just to make my mindset
like, okay, this is normal.
This is okay.
And so the month or so leadingup to, I think it was like maybe
starting at 37 or 38 weeks, myprovider offered to do cervical
checks during my weekly OBappointments.
(09:28):
And I think there was someprogress up to that point, like
maybe I was like, a centimeteror so, a couple weeks ahead of
my due date.
And then my due date was June.
Seventh and on June 8th I had anappointment with my OB and I
asked them to go ahead and do acervical exam.
And I was already threecentimeters dilated and pretty
(09:50):
efface.
And so that was reallyencouraging to me because I had
been doing a lot of thesecervical ripening methods to get
my cervix to be favorable.
And they were like, whatever youwere doing, keep doing it.
This is awesome.
So I was really exciting.
And so that night we went toTaco Tuesday with some friends.
That was really fun and I lovespicy food and that's another
(10:11):
cervical ripening method, eatingspicy food.
So that was great.
me and my husband had sex thatnight, and that's another
cervical ripening method.
And the next morning I woke up.
And I had some kind of justcrampy feeling and could just
tell I felt, a little differentthat morning.
I am an early riser.
(10:32):
I woke up at five something andthen at six o'clock I'm in the
kitchen and I'm mixing up myoatmeal and I all of a sudden
have this pretty.
Powerful contraction.
And I look over at the clock andit's six on the dot.
And I was like, okay,interesting.
so I eat my breakfast and Ithink I was having some
(10:53):
contractions at that point, likejust really sporadic.
So I hop in the shower aroundlike 7, 7 30 and as I'm in the
shower, I just start to noticeI'm having pretty.
Regular and powerfulcontractions, and I'm having to
breathe through them I get outof the shower and at that point
(11:17):
I start timing them.
I'm getting ready for the dayand Starting to time those
contractions, and they werepretty regular at that point.
I think it was somewhere betweenfive minutes apart is what those
contractions were already at.
So eight o'clock my OB's officeopened up and I was like, if I'm
still having regularcontractions at that point, I'll
give'em a call and just let'emknow what's happening.
(11:37):
I call them at eight o'clock andI just get the nurse line and
I'm like, Hey, just wanna letyou guys know I'm having regular
contractions.
I'm already, a day past or twodays now past my due date.
When should I head into thehospital?
And so they call me back andthey're like, yeah, you can go
ahead and head here now.
And I was like, wait, what?
Because I fully anticipatedneeding to labor at home for
(12:01):
hours.
Like I, I just mentally preparedfor that to take.
A lot of time before they wouldhave me come in, during that
time I was definitely noticingthe contractions were picking
up.
I really needed to take, deepbreaths in through the nose, out
through the mouth.
I was vocalizing, moaning,making sounds.
(12:22):
Moving.
The most comfortable position Icould find was leaning over my
bed and kind of swaying side toside.
And I would even sometimes havesomebody do like double hip
squeezes.
So my sister my older sistercame over and she was helping me
pack up my bag because I didn'teven have my stuff all packed up
on my toiletries.
I had the basics packed away,but I didn't have any of my
(12:43):
toiletries, so she was helpingme pack all that up.
And so it was like I would havea contraction.
And then I would be like, okay,Kellie go and pack these things.
And I would tell her whereeverything was.
And so I only had that littlebreak in between the contraction
to tell people what to do andthen go back right back into
just working through thatcontraction.
So we got to the hospital aroundnine 15.
(13:06):
It's only like 10 minutes downthe road.
And they checked me and I wasalready five to six centimeters.
So even in just a couple ofhours of starting labor, I was
like in labor at for threehours.
At that point I was already,dilating.
So that was really encouraging.
And the nurse even said, is yourplan to get an epidural or are
you trying to go natural?
And I was like The goal, thehope is to go unmedicated.
(13:27):
And so she was like, I thinkyou're gonna do great.
So I was also very encouraged bythat.
And I continued to labor.
Just like the breathing, thevocalizing, moving swaying
leaning over the birth bed anddouble hip squeezes.
And they checked me again acouple hours later around noon,
and I was already eightcentimeters dilated.
(13:50):
And they were like, okay, yourwater bag is bulgy, so if you
want, we can break it and then,get things going.
But at that point I was like Iseem to be progressing on my own
let's not.
And so they were like totallyfine with that and I continued
to labor.
And then I had them check meagain, like close to four and
(14:11):
just to see what was happeningbecause I felt like the
contractions weren't progressingat that point.
Like they, they were stayingjust as consistent.
They were staying just asstrong, but like nothing was
picking up.
And when they checked me, sureenough, I had not made any sort
of change at that point.
And that was a little, notdiscouraging, but I was like,
yeah, I could tell like thingswere really manageable.
(14:32):
If I had to rate that intensityscale of zero to 10, they were
probably like a five or a six.
And so I, at that point whenthey checked me and said there
was no change, I was like yeah,let's go ahead and break my
water and just see if that kindof gets things going.
And sure enough, they broke thewater.
And oh my goodness, that firstcontraction after my water broke
(14:56):
was intense.
Like I, I got up out of the bedand started crying, like I, I
just was overcome with howintense it went from the
previous contractions to thatcontraction now.
And thankfully though, becausethings were much more intense, I
did completely dilate to 10centimeters within an hour and
(15:21):
started feeling that urge topush.
And I had given them a likechecklist of like my birth plan,
my birth preferences.
And one of the things I had puton there was a warm compress
during the pushing stage.
So when I started feeling thaturge to push, I got in the bed.
I was exhausted at that point.
(15:42):
'cause I had been laboring forlike 11, almost 11 hours.
And, standing up almost thatentire time because any time
someone suggested I sit down orlay down or do something, it was
like.
As soon as that contractionwould start, I would wanna stand
up again.
And I was exhausted by the timeit came to pushing and so I, I
did lay in the bed and startpushing and they, they did the
(16:05):
warm compress for me, which wassuch a help.
It really helped Knowing whereto push, but also just relaxing
that area and it helps withblood circulation there so that
reduce the risk of tearingduring the delivery.
So I pushed for about an hourand 15 minutes, and then she was
born at 6:09 PM which ishilarious because she was born
(16:28):
on six nine, June 9th.
At 6 0 9 and she weighed sixpounds, nine ounces.
And then she was born to thesong, Jesus.
I have my doubts, which is sofunny because it's a silly,
title, but it's actually abeautiful song.
By John Foreman, who's the leadsinger of Switchfoot, if you're
(16:51):
familiar with that band.
But yeah, so she was born tothat song and then throughout
the pregnancy I would sing toher a lot.
I'm a singer.
I went to an arts school forsinging, and so I sang to her a
lot during the pregnancy andit's really sweet because babies
obviously know and recognizeyour voice.
But they also love to hear yoursinging voice too.
(17:12):
And so I sing to her theBlessing by Bethel and it's the
verse, the Lord bless you andkeep you, make his face shine
upon you and be gracious to you,the Lord turn his face towards
you and give you peace.
And so that's the song, theMessage.
And so Brian and I sang that toher right after she was born.
And it was like, honestlysurreal, giving birth to her.
(17:35):
Just the intensity that happenedwhen she was born and then just
that immediate joy of her beingput on my chest and just seeing
her.
And she was just so beautifuland I was in disbelief that I
had actually done it.
And I had put on my birth planto have that golden hour where I
got uninterrupted skin to skintime with her.
(17:58):
And that was such a sweet timeof again, just getting to know
her, singing to her.
I got to nurse her.
The only thing that really wasnot fun about that time.
Was I did tear.
I did have a first degree tearand when you have a tear and you
are going unmedicated, they'llgive you lidocaine to help, numb
the area before they startstitching you.
(18:18):
But she did not numb me wellenough, and so I could like,
feel her stitching me up andthat was very painful, very
uncomfortable.
I know, for next time if I haveto go through that, I will just
say, please numb me a little bitmore please.
But yeah, so I was verydistracted during all of that.
But then after just everythinggot done and settled down and I
(18:39):
was nursing, Ellie.
I just remember looking down ather and just being overcome with
joy and just feeling like I wason a high, like I could not
believe that I had just givenbirth to her, that the labor was
just so beautiful and like Ijust felt the Lord's presence
there and that he had gotten methrough that challenge.
(19:02):
it was a worship experience ofand experiencing the Lord's
goodness in that.
So that was so beautiful.
And then yeah, so that was mybirth experience with her.
It was so transformative and I,I just felt like I couldn't get
enough of the birth.
World.
Like I, I just continued to justwant to learn more about it.
(19:24):
It was like almost after I hadthat experience, I was like even
more intrigued about birthbecause it was just such an
empowering and beautifulexperience that I had just had.
And I was talking with a friendwho was newly pregnant and she
was like why don't you become adoula?
And that's, that was like thefirst time it had really hit me
that could maybe be an optionfor me because I had heard about
(19:47):
a doula some of the podcasts andbirth stories that I had heard
about, talked about doulas.
And, with COVID and everythinggoing on I didn't know if I
could have other people in theroom with me for the delivery,
and so I decided to not lookinto a doula, which I really
wish I had.
But I was doing some researchabout doulas and came across
(20:09):
DONA, which is the number one,like largest.
Doula certifying organization inthe world and started to pursue
that route.
I did get my DONA certification.
I also decided to become a BodyReady Method Pro which was very
complimentary to my doulacertification.
(20:29):
And then I also became achildbirth educator.
Like all of this happened withinthat first year of me becoming a
doula.
And then started taking onclients and.
And it was so sweet because Ijust was in awe that people
would would trust me to be apart of their birth experiences.
And the feedback that I got andjust how much it, it helped them
(20:50):
get through that experience andencourage them, it really did
feel like such a calling thatthe Lord had on my life and just
absolutely have fallen in lovewith birth ever since then.
what I find just so strikingabout it is.
How, yes, of course birth is avery physical experience, but it
is extremely spiritual and theramifications and the
(21:14):
implications and the parallelsof the gospel, like it is insane
to me.
And I'll share more about thataspect of birth as we, explore
more on this podcast.
But it just was so striking tome just how much the Lord's.
Just goodness and his beauty indesigning birth and the birth
(21:36):
experience is, so that was mybirth experience with Ellie.
It was so amazing.
But I hope that was inspiringand encouraging to you having,
hearing about an unmedicatedhospital birth experience.
Something that I would love toleave you with is a verse from
(21:57):
Proverbs and it's from Proverbs16, nine.
And it says, the heart of manplans his way, but the Lord
establishes his steps.
And I love this verse because itreally has, been the meditation
of my heart that I would, planmy steps that I, like I said, am
such a planner.
I love to know what to do, feelprepared, feel equipped, but I
(22:22):
also.
Value and see the importance oftrusting in the Lord that he
will establish my steps.
Like I can make these plans, butultimately it's up to the Lord
and his will and his sovereigntyto see those things come about.
And so I would love to pray foryou and just leave you with a
(22:42):
very short prayer so that youcan also feel that encouragement
from that verse.
Father God, I just, I thank youfor this sweet sister of mine
that's listening right now.
I pray that you would stir up inher wherever she's at, whether
she is hoping to becomepregnant, whether she is
(23:03):
currently pregnant or already amama.
I pray that you would meet herwherever she is, Lord, and I
pray that you would just stir upin her, a stewardship mentality
of taking the beautiful thingsthat you've given her and just
to leverage those for your gloryand your goodness.
And I pray that you would justestablish her steps, honor her
(23:26):
preparation, honor her plans,Lord Jesus.
But I pray that you would justultimately help her trust in you
more deeply and just love youwith trust and surrender.
We love you Jesus.
It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
So that's it, that's my birthstory, and I hope that you will
(23:46):
stay tuned for the next episodewhere I'll be sharing about my
second pregnancy and birthstory.
And that was actually a homebirth, so it'll be a different
setting.
But stay tuned for that.
Hello there.
I am so excited to have you hereand I wanted to kick off this
podcast by starting with anintroduction of myself, a little
bit about me, and sharing mybirth story with my first baby
girl.
Her name is Ellie.
So I'll go into detail abouteverything that went into
(01:06):
preparing for that pregnancy,preparing for that birth.
The birth itself and sometakeaways as it related to
igniting my passion for birthwork.
So I am here in Jacksonville,Florida.
If you're in this area.
I do in-person doula support,and I'm also now offering
(01:27):
virtual doula support.
Two people that live in theJacksonville area and also, you
know those who live beyondJacksonville and the surrounding
areas.
It's a huge city here, and I ammarried to Brian.
He is an amazing husband anddad.
We've been married for five anda half years, and we have two
(01:49):
amazing little kiddos.
Our first is our daughter Ellie,and she will be four in June and
Daniel, who just turned one inMarch.
And we go to the Church ofEleven22, which is a huge mega
church here in Jacksonville.
And we just, we love our littlefamily.
(02:10):
We love our church family.
And it's been such an amazingthing to watch the Lord move in
birth in my life as a way tolove on and minister to so many
other families.
And without any further ado,I'll just go into my birth story
with her.
So we got married in Septemberof 2019, and then obviously
(02:35):
Covid hit in early 2020.
We moved into our first house atthat point and just began
nesting and doing all the fun.
Just newly married, just gettingto know each other, building our
little.
Nest and decided before, weoriginally had said, we'll wait
until our first year of marriageand then we will start thinking
(02:58):
about having kids.
There was literally nothinghappening during COVID and so we
just were like we'll start now.
So in September of 2020, westarted trying for a baby and I
actually had an IUD for years.
And I did not know when I wasovulating because I didn't ever
have a period when I had the IUDand I decided to do the
(03:22):
ovulation test strips.
It's like a urine strip.
And it would tell you when youwere ovulating, which, would
give you a better chance ofknowing when to time having sex
to conceive.
So I did that and like I said.
We were very blessed, gotpregnant our first try, and I
remember first of all being inshock that I was able to get
(03:45):
pregnant that first time, butalso just in awe of, okay, so
now what am I getting myselfinto?
This is.
Really intense.
Thinking about the fact that I'mnow going to be growing and
giving birth to a human beinglike, this is crazy.
And it almost felt to me like Iwas staring at this mountain in
(04:06):
front of me and I didn't know, Ididn't feel equipped.
I didn't know how to climb thatmountain and to get through that
journey.
And so I.
Am a researcher.
And so I, I really dove intolistening to podcasts, listening
to birth stories listening toaudiobooks.
I'm a huge audiobook person.
(04:27):
And that was a way that Iprepared.
I took online courses and justdid everything I could think of
to prepare myself for thisjourney ahead because it was so
unknown to me.
And.
I like to feel prepared.
I don't know if you're likethat, but I really like to feel
prepared for what I'm gettingmyself into.
And it was really great'cause Ifelt prepared going into my
(04:47):
birth.
I felt really excited.
Which was awesome.
But to go back to the beginningof when I first found out I was
pregnant there was a little bitof complication in that first
trimester.
So I ended up around 10 weeks Iwoke up and I had some intense
cramping in the morning andthen.
(05:08):
Started to have some bleedingand if you're not familiar, that
is a pretty classic miscarriagesign and we ended up going to
the emergency room.
And it was inconclusive.
They didn't know what washappening, if it was truly a
miscarriage or not, but theytreated it like it was a
miscarriage.
And so Brian and I and my familyreally, we were all just
(05:31):
grieving that because I had justrecently announced to my family
that we were expecting.
And so it was just a really hardtime.
I remember it being difficult,but also having just a peace
that passed all understanding.
I just trusted in the Lord'stiming and plan for that
pregnancy and just again, notknowing what was happening
(05:52):
because it was almost worse themsaying we don't know if you're
miscarrying.
Because I, again, I just didn'tknow.
I didn't know how to feel atthat point.
But the Lord was so gracious tous and I just played a ton of
worship music.
We just worshiped and cried and,I just really trusted in the
Lord when we didn't know it washappening.
And then I had another episodeof bleeding a couple days later
(06:14):
that weekend.
And then Monday went to myregularly scheduled OB
appointment and they told methat I actually had something
called a subchorionic hematoma.
And it's basically where like apool, like a little pocket of
blood.
Was formed, and it was close tothe cervix, like where that
(06:35):
opening is.
And so I was bleeding from thatsubc chorionic hematoma.
And so it was a huge relief tofind out that baby was fine and
that's where that bleeding andcramping was coming from.
So that was really wildexperiencing that in that first
trimester and then in the secondtrimester started having.
(06:55):
Some pretty intense pelvic pain.
My like front pelvic area, kindalike where the pubic bone is.
I started having just likereally intense pain.
Like I couldn't lift one legwithout my pelvis.
Feeling like it was like rippingapart, just walking, hurt,
moving, like rolling over in bedwas really painful.
Which I have come to now realizewas due to hypermobility.
(07:19):
I'm very hypermobile.
And I will also have a separateepisode about hypermobility and
how that could affect yourpregnancy and maybe, give you
some tips and tricks for copingwith that.
But I struggled to just getcomfortable in my pregnancy just
having horrible pelvic pain.
And so I had chiropracticadjustments that helped me so
(07:42):
much.
I remember I would like hobbleinto my chiropractic appointment
and then walk actually be ableto walk out of that appointment.
So that was super helpful.
And then I also went to,physical therapy, pelvic floor,
physical therapy, and they gaveme some exercises to help with
that as well.
So that, that helped a lot.
And then I continued toexercise.
(08:02):
I was doing reformer Pilates, ifyou're familiar with what that
is.
And that's a really great lowimpact strength training
exercise for pregnancy.
So that was, a huge blessing tobe active during the pregnancy.
Another thing that I was doingto prepare my body for birth was
cervical ripening methods.
(08:22):
So I'd heard about this as a wayto prepare your body for labor.
And I'm gonna also have aseparate episode about cervical
ripening methods and what thoselook like and how that can help
benefit your labor experience.
And then thankfully, I hadlistened to a lot of other
women's experience You know whatto expect in that last, month or
(08:44):
so of labor.
And my sister had a ton ofBraxton Hicks and things like
that.
So when I would go to bed atnight and then, throughout the
night and in the morning, Iwould have a lot of Braxton
Hicks, the practice warmup.
Contractions.
And so it was nice to have herperspective because if I didn't
expect that or I didn't knowthat was normal, I would've been
(09:05):
like, oh, I'm going into laborlike every night.
And so it was nice to expectthat and just to make my mindset
like, okay, this is normal.
This is okay.
And so the month or so leadingup to, I think it was like maybe
starting at 37 or 38 weeks, myprovider offered to do cervical
checks during my weekly OBappointments.
(09:28):
And I think there was someprogress up to that point, like
maybe I was like, a centimeteror so, a couple weeks ahead of
my due date.
And then my due date was June.
Seventh and on June 8th I had anappointment with my OB and I
asked them to go ahead and do acervical exam.
And I was already threecentimeters dilated and pretty
(09:50):
efface.
And so that was reallyencouraging to me because I had
been doing a lot of thesecervical ripening methods to get
my cervix to be favorable.
And they were like, whatever youwere doing, keep doing it.
This is awesome.
So I was really exciting.
And so that night we went toTaco Tuesday with some friends.
That was really fun and I lovespicy food and that's another
(10:11):
cervical ripening method, eatingspicy food.
So that was great.
me and my husband had sex thatnight, and that's another
cervical ripening method.
And the next morning I woke up.
And I had some kind of justcrampy feeling and could just
tell I felt, a little differentthat morning.
I am an early riser.
(10:32):
I woke up at five something andthen at six o'clock I'm in the
kitchen and I'm mixing up myoatmeal and I all of a sudden
have this pretty.
Powerful contraction.
And I look over at the clock andit's six on the dot.
And I was like, okay,interesting.
so I eat my breakfast and Ithink I was having some
(10:53):
contractions at that point, likejust really sporadic.
So I hop in the shower aroundlike 7, 7 30 and as I'm in the
shower, I just start to noticeI'm having pretty.
Regular and powerfulcontractions, and I'm having to
breathe through them I get outof the shower and at that point
(11:17):
I start timing them.
I'm getting ready for the dayand Starting to time those
contractions, and they werepretty regular at that point.
I think it was somewhere betweenfive minutes apart is what those
contractions were already at.
So eight o'clock my OB's officeopened up and I was like, if I'm
still having regularcontractions at that point, I'll
give'em a call and just let'emknow what's happening.
(11:37):
I call them at eight o'clock andI just get the nurse line and
I'm like, Hey, just wanna letyou guys know I'm having regular
contractions.
I'm already, a day past or twodays now past my due date.
When should I head into thehospital?
And so they call me back andthey're like, yeah, you can go
ahead and head here now.
And I was like, wait, what?
Because I fully anticipatedneeding to labor at home for
(12:01):
hours.
Like I, I just mentally preparedfor that to take.
A lot of time before they wouldhave me come in, during that
time I was definitely noticingthe contractions were picking
up.
I really needed to take, deepbreaths in through the nose, out
through the mouth.
I was vocalizing, moaning,making sounds.
(12:22):
Moving.
The most comfortable position Icould find was leaning over my
bed and kind of swaying side toside.
And I would even sometimes havesomebody do like double hip
squeezes.
So my sister my older sistercame over and she was helping me
pack up my bag because I didn'teven have my stuff all packed up
on my toiletries.
I had the basics packed away,but I didn't have any of my
(12:43):
toiletries, so she was helpingme pack all that up.
And so it was like I would havea contraction.
And then I would be like, okay,Kellie go and pack these things.
And I would tell her whereeverything was.
And so I only had that littlebreak in between the contraction
to tell people what to do andthen go back right back into
just working through thatcontraction.
So we got to the hospital aroundnine 15.
(13:06):
It's only like 10 minutes downthe road.
And they checked me and I wasalready five to six centimeters.
So even in just a couple ofhours of starting labor, I was
like in labor at for threehours.
At that point I was already,dilating.
So that was really encouraging.
And the nurse even said, is yourplan to get an epidural or are
you trying to go natural?
And I was like The goal, thehope is to go unmedicated.
(13:27):
And so she was like, I thinkyou're gonna do great.
So I was also very encouraged bythat.
And I continued to labor.
Just like the breathing, thevocalizing, moving swaying
leaning over the birth bed anddouble hip squeezes.
And they checked me again acouple hours later around noon,
and I was already eightcentimeters dilated.
(13:50):
And they were like, okay, yourwater bag is bulgy, so if you
want, we can break it and then,get things going.
But at that point I was like Iseem to be progressing on my own
let's not.
And so they were like totallyfine with that and I continued
to labor.
And then I had them check meagain, like close to four and
(14:11):
just to see what was happeningbecause I felt like the
contractions weren't progressingat that point.
Like they, they were stayingjust as consistent.
They were staying just asstrong, but like nothing was
picking up.
And when they checked me, sureenough, I had not made any sort
of change at that point.
And that was a little, notdiscouraging, but I was like,
yeah, I could tell like thingswere really manageable.
(14:32):
If I had to rate that intensityscale of zero to 10, they were
probably like a five or a six.
And so I, at that point whenthey checked me and said there
was no change, I was like yeah,let's go ahead and break my
water and just see if that kindof gets things going.
And sure enough, they broke thewater.
And oh my goodness, that firstcontraction after my water broke
(14:56):
was intense.
Like I, I got up out of the bedand started crying, like I, I
just was overcome with howintense it went from the
previous contractions to thatcontraction now.
And thankfully though, becausethings were much more intense, I
did completely dilate to 10centimeters within an hour and
(15:21):
started feeling that urge topush.
And I had given them a likechecklist of like my birth plan,
my birth preferences.
And one of the things I had puton there was a warm compress
during the pushing stage.
So when I started feeling thaturge to push, I got in the bed.
I was exhausted at that point.
(15:42):
'cause I had been laboring forlike 11, almost 11 hours.
And, standing up almost thatentire time because any time
someone suggested I sit down orlay down or do something, it was
like.
As soon as that contractionwould start, I would wanna stand
up again.
And I was exhausted by the timeit came to pushing and so I, I
did lay in the bed and startpushing and they, they did the
(16:05):
warm compress for me, which wassuch a help.
It really helped Knowing whereto push, but also just relaxing
that area and it helps withblood circulation there so that
reduce the risk of tearingduring the delivery.
So I pushed for about an hourand 15 minutes, and then she was
born at 6:09 PM which ishilarious because she was born
(16:28):
on six nine, June 9th.
At 6 0 9 and she weighed sixpounds, nine ounces.
And then she was born to thesong, Jesus.
I have my doubts, which is sofunny because it's a silly,
title, but it's actually abeautiful song.
By John Foreman, who's the leadsinger of Switchfoot, if you're
(16:51):
familiar with that band.
But yeah, so she was born tothat song and then throughout
the pregnancy I would sing toher a lot.
I'm a singer.
I went to an arts school forsinging, and so I sang to her a
lot during the pregnancy andit's really sweet because babies
obviously know and recognizeyour voice.
But they also love to hear yoursinging voice too.
(17:12):
And so I sing to her theBlessing by Bethel and it's the
verse, the Lord bless you andkeep you, make his face shine
upon you and be gracious to you,the Lord turn his face towards
you and give you peace.
And so that's the song, theMessage.
And so Brian and I sang that toher right after she was born.
And it was like, honestlysurreal, giving birth to her.
(17:35):
Just the intensity that happenedwhen she was born and then just
that immediate joy of her beingput on my chest and just seeing
her.
And she was just so beautifuland I was in disbelief that I
had actually done it.
And I had put on my birth planto have that golden hour where I
got uninterrupted skin to skintime with her.
(17:58):
And that was such a sweet timeof again, just getting to know
her, singing to her.
I got to nurse her.
The only thing that really wasnot fun about that time.
Was I did tear.
I did have a first degree tearand when you have a tear and you
are going unmedicated, they'llgive you lidocaine to help, numb
the area before they startstitching you.
(18:18):
But she did not numb me wellenough, and so I could like,
feel her stitching me up andthat was very painful, very
uncomfortable.
I know, for next time if I haveto go through that, I will just
say, please numb me a little bitmore please.
But yeah, so I was verydistracted during all of that.
But then after just everythinggot done and settled down and I
(18:39):
was nursing, Ellie.
I just remember looking down ather and just being overcome with
joy and just feeling like I wason a high, like I could not
believe that I had just givenbirth to her, that the labor was
just so beautiful and like Ijust felt the Lord's presence
there and that he had gotten methrough that challenge.
(19:02):
it was a worship experience ofand experiencing the Lord's
goodness in that.
So that was so beautiful.
And then yeah, so that was mybirth experience with her.
It was so transformative and I,I just felt like I couldn't get
enough of the birth.
World.
Like I, I just continued to justwant to learn more about it.
(19:24):
It was like almost after I hadthat experience, I was like even
more intrigued about birthbecause it was just such an
empowering and beautifulexperience that I had just had.
And I was talking with a friendwho was newly pregnant and she
was like why don't you become adoula?
And that's, that was like thefirst time it had really hit me
that could maybe be an optionfor me because I had heard about
(19:47):
a doula some of the podcasts andbirth stories that I had heard
about, talked about doulas.
And, with COVID and everythinggoing on I didn't know if I
could have other people in theroom with me for the delivery,
and so I decided to not lookinto a doula, which I really
wish I had.
But I was doing some researchabout doulas and came across
(20:09):
DONA, which is the number one,like largest.
Doula certifying organization inthe world and started to pursue
that route.
I did get my DONA certification.
I also decided to become a BodyReady Method Pro which was very
complimentary to my doulacertification.
(20:29):
And then I also became achildbirth educator.
Like all of this happened withinthat first year of me becoming a
doula.
And then started taking onclients and.
And it was so sweet because Ijust was in awe that people
would would trust me to be apart of their birth experiences.
And the feedback that I got andjust how much it, it helped them
(20:50):
get through that experience andencourage them, it really did
feel like such a calling thatthe Lord had on my life and just
absolutely have fallen in lovewith birth ever since then.
what I find just so strikingabout it is.
How, yes, of course birth is avery physical experience, but it
is extremely spiritual and theramifications and the
(21:14):
implications and the parallelsof the gospel, like it is insane
to me.
And I'll share more about thataspect of birth as we, explore
more on this podcast.
But it just was so striking tome just how much the Lord's.
Just goodness and his beauty indesigning birth and the birth
(21:36):
experience is, so that was mybirth experience with Ellie.
It was so amazing.
But I hope that was inspiringand encouraging to you having,
hearing about an unmedicatedhospital birth experience.
Something that I would love toleave you with is a verse from
(21:57):
Proverbs and it's from Proverbs16, nine.
And it says, the heart of manplans his way, but the Lord
establishes his steps.
And I love this verse because itreally has, been the meditation
of my heart that I would, planmy steps that I, like I said, am
such a planner.
I love to know what to do, feelprepared, feel equipped, but I
(22:22):
also.
Value and see the importance oftrusting in the Lord that he
will establish my steps.
Like I can make these plans, butultimately it's up to the Lord
and his will and his sovereigntyto see those things come about.
And so I would love to pray foryou and just leave you with a
(22:42):
very short prayer so that youcan also feel that encouragement
from that verse.
Father God, I just, I thank youfor this sweet sister of mine
that's listening right now.
I pray that you would stir up inher wherever she's at, whether
she is hoping to becomepregnant, whether she is
(23:03):
currently pregnant or already amama.
I pray that you would meet herwherever she is, Lord, and I
pray that you would just stir upin her, a stewardship mentality
of taking the beautiful thingsthat you've given her and just
to leverage those for your gloryand your goodness.
And I pray that you would justestablish her steps, honor her
(23:26):
preparation, honor her plans,Lord Jesus.
But I pray that you would justultimately help her trust in you
more deeply and just love youwith trust and surrender.
We love you Jesus.
It's in your name we pray.
Amen.
So that's it, that's my birthstory, and I hope that you will
(23:46):
stay tuned for the next episodewhere I'll be sharing about my
second pregnancy and birthstory.
And that was actually a homebirth, so it'll be a different
setting.
But stay tuned for that.
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