April 30, 2025 • 44 mins
Giving birth is HARD! Don’t go it alone! In this episode, Gloria Hines takes you on an extraordinary journey through her work as a Christian midwife, revealing how spiritual transformation occurs in the birthing room.
Gloria's Website: https://glorybirth.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, welcome back to Honest Christian
Conversations.
I'm your host, anna Murby.
My guest is Gloria Hines.
She is a midwife, so if youaren't familiar with that, she
will explain what that is.
I know I didn't know what itwas until we talked.
This is not just a conversationfor women, so men don't tune
(00:21):
out now and say, oh well, Iguess I'm not watching this.
You will.
You have to watch, you have tolisten.
You're part of the wholebirthing process as well,
because it's your child too.
This is going to be a veryencouraging conversation.
Her story of how she got intoit is beautiful.
The story of her testimony isamazing and beautiful.
(00:41):
Her childhood is veryinteresting.
You're going to love hearingabout that.
I will say that, with the wholetalking about birthing, I know
that comes with some issues forsome women who have had births
or perhaps miscarriages.
So if that is you and this is asubject you aren't ready to
(01:03):
broach, I understand.
Maybe come back to it anothertime.
Trust me, you are at some pointgoing to want to hear this,
because her love for Jesus andfor the women she ministers to
through her midwifery is veryencouraging.
And I can't stress enough that,even though she shares a couple
stories, one of which is alittle sad to hear.
(01:24):
God gets the glory in the end,and you're going to want to hear
what she has to say.
So, without further ado, let'slisten to Gloria's story Before
the episode starts.
Make sure you follow the showso you never miss another
episode.
Hello, gloria, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast.
I am very excited to talk toyou because I have never needed
(01:48):
to use a midwife before for myfive kids, because I have had
five C-sections and obviouslythere was no real need for that.
I do have a lot of friends whothey're either they've had them
or they're becoming a doula.
(02:10):
I don't know if that's quitethe same thing, but it was very
interesting to hear that you areone and on top of that you are
a believer in Christ, which Idon't hear that too often, but I
feel like that's like anintegral part of it, or should
be anyways, because we are madein the image of God and it's
(02:30):
important to remember that heknew us before we were born.
He knit us together in the womb, as the verse says up there.
But I just I was really excitedto talk to you from a biblical
perspective.
I mean, I'm not I'm notexpecting to go into this topic,
but if you do want to jump intothis very controversial one
(02:53):
about abortion, it's veryimportant to have Christ in the
center of pregnancy.
I'm very curious to get intoall of that with you.
But before we do that, tell usyour testimony.
How did you become the personyou are today?
Were you always a Christian?
Is this something that happenedthroughout your life?
(03:14):
How did it happen and how didit bring you into the line of
work you have?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Hi Anna, first of all , I'm just so excited to be here
.
I have just heard so muchauthenticity and sincerity in
your previous podcasts and eventhe fact that you prayed with me
before the podcast started justshows the reality of your
relationship with the Lord, andso I feel very honored to be
here.
Thank you for having me.
(03:43):
Yeah, you'd think thatmidwifery would be a whole lot
more tied into believers, and Ikind of live in a bubble here in
Kansas City where there's a lotof Christian and believing
midwives, but in a lot of otherplaces it's very new agey.
It's very, because I think it'sstill the way that midwifery is
.
If you watch it unfold from aphysiological perspective and
(04:06):
without interfering, you see howdeeply spiritual it is.
And so if someone isn't readyto enter into how the Lord made
it and kind of ready to comeinto surrender and submission to
Christ, then they're going togo a different route with it and
you're going to go very newagey with it.
But yeah, to answer yourquestion about my testimony, no,
(04:26):
I wasn't just born a Christian,but I did grow up in a deeply
believing spiritual family.
Yeah, I have so much to owe tomy parents for leading us to
Christ really well, from a youngage I was not ashamed of the
gospel.
We grew up kind of in a badneighborhood, as some would say,
(04:50):
you know, and we were taking inhomeless and drug addicts and
all of that, like a lot of themwould live with us and we would
try to help restore them.
Yeah, a little bit sketchy,since there's 11 girls living in
this home 11 girls.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Wow, I did not see that coming.
That is crazy.
I have three daughters and I'mlike God.
What did you do?
I wanted six boys.
What is this?
I commend your parents.
My hat is off to them.
(05:26):
That is, that is awesome,really spectacular people.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I can't imagine I mean being around kids now is so
funny, like I absolutely adorekids, but I'm like there is a
threshold of like how muchtalking from a kid I can take.
I can't imagine 11 girls whoare great at communication
nonstop.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, I cannot imagine how was that for you
living in that kind ofenvironment, because I kind of
get it a little bit.
Not that my parents invitedpeople to live with us that way,
but I remember a couple timesas a mid-teenager I don't know
how old I was, maybe 16, 17, wecame across a homeless person, a
(06:11):
young guy, and my stepdad lethim stay the night in a
different part of our house,because at that time we were
living in a preschool buildingfor my grandpa's church, because
we were keeping it safe and wewere renovating it or something,
so that's where we lived.
So there was an extra areawhere someone could stay and we
(06:33):
had him stay the night there andmy stepdad gave him all the
blankets that we could, and bymorning the guy had taken off
with all of it, including one ofmy favorite blankets that I had
gotten from one of my othergrandparents.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I was not the nicest person the next morning.
It did not fill me with joy tosee that at least he was warm
and he had blankets Like thatwas my stepdad's point of view,
and I was like, no, no, but youknow, you're a teenager.
How did you handle living inthat situation?
You already had your big familyand on top of that there's new
(07:11):
people coming in and you don'tknow them.
You don't know what's going on.
Your parents didn't know whatthey could be capable of.
How did that make you feel atthat point?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
You know, it's so funny because I, when children's
brains are being formed, theycan be acclimated to believe
that anything is normal, and soit.
To me it was like this isnormal and I really thought
every believer did this.
I thought every believer tookin people because my parents
would just say, well, we're alight in the darkness, of course
we're going to take in people,and so it was just normal.
(07:44):
I kind of felt like we did itmore than most people because
it's like you know extendedfamily members.
I didn't really see them takingin people.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, raise your hand .
If you've done this before,ladies and gentlemen, write,
write a comment or something andlet us know if you, if she's
not alone, or if this is a veryunique situation, cause I have.
I have not heard of anyonereally doing that other than
missionaries overseas, butthat's awesome.
(08:11):
I love that they had thatperspective that we're the light
in the darkness.
Of course we're going to dothis.
A lot of people don't take theBible at its word sometimes with
certain things, and maybe weshould.
I mean, obviously, if you arelusting, you don't need to pluck
your eye out.
That might be an exception, butit's like there's certain
(08:31):
things.
We're supposed to be there forthe needy and to be the hands
and feet of Jesus.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And asking the Lord what capacity that is Like.
What does that mean for you?
What does he want you to do?
Because we all have differentcallings and different facets of
the Lord and what that means,and you can easily run yourself
into the ground.
And so, while I admire myparents and everything that they
did, I also can look at thatand be like they didn't have
boundaries and things weren'talways safe for us and you know
(08:58):
it could have been donedifferently or better.
And there's always kind of thatlike hand in hand of where does
it start, when does it end?
What's the Lord actuallycalling you to?
And are you sacrificing overbeing obedient, you know,
because he wants obedience, notsacrifice.
So I think a lot of times myparents were acting more as
(09:19):
martyrs and doing things for theduty of them and believing that
they were supposed to do it,versus for the joy set before
them or because the Lordactually told them to.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
There's definitely some give and take there and his
sheep hear his voice.
So just learning how to followthat still small voice yeah, so
that's a huge conversation.
So, yeah, I prayed when I wasthree or four.
I asked my older sister.
She was talking about churchand salvation and so I started
(09:51):
asking her about it and, um, shegot really excited and she's
five years older than me, so shewould have been about nine and
she said jesus is so good andhe's so nice and if you invite
him in your heart, he'll liveinside of you and then you go
get to be in heaven with himwhen you die.
And I was like that soundsgreat.
(10:13):
And so I remember we sat onsome dirty carpet in my living
room against the couch and weprayed together and I stood up
and I was jumping around and Itold my mom because I knew she
would be excited and she goesall of heaven is celebrating
with you right now.
They're all throwing a party.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And I was like that's so cool yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So yeah, that was my kind of earliest memory of
interaction with the Lord.
I would say it was a very bumpyroad after that, as many
Christians can attest.
And growing up in such acharismatic household.
Oh my gosh, I don't want to cryright now.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Oh, it's all right, it's called Honest Christian
Conversations.
You do what you got to doVulnerable Christian
Conversations.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yes, yeah, it was a bumpy road of just wondering why
the lord wasn't talking to melike we would read in these
stories and testimonies of thegreat heroes that had gone
before us.
And reading through the bible,and no one tells you like, oh
(11:23):
yeah, there's 50 years betweenthis time that the Lord spoke to
someone in the next time.
It's like it feels like it'severy day, you know, and it
feels like, oh, if God is notspeaking to me every day, if I'm
not seeing miracles every day,then I'm not his child.
And so, even though I wouldnever say that I didn't believe
that he loved me, there was thatlike inherent have I been
(11:44):
forgotten?
Am I unloved?
And I think there's some likemiddle child syndrome to that
too.
Right, yeah.
Where you already sort of feellike you get lost in the mix and
so you kind of layer that ontoyour relationship with your
heavenly father and go.
Well, then he must feel thesame about me.
So there was a lot of that.
I never stopped believing inthe Lord, although I would say I
(12:08):
fell away at different times asfar as walking with the Lord
and just not believing Hisfaithfulness or not trusting Him
.
I got married at 20.
That's a whole story in and ofitself.
He was almost 20 years olderthan me.
Um, he had known my family forquite some time, so I had known
(12:31):
him since I was nine years old.
And, um, yeah, he wanted tomarry me and I didn't really
feel that I had a choice and sowe got married and, um, I
actually tried to break thingsoff with him several times
beforehand and you know, ifsomeone's 20 years older than
(12:52):
you, I get it.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I, I get it.
I I'm on my third marriage andmy first one was very rocky.
We went into it the wrong way.
Well, I did cause I didn't wantto.
But yeah, so I, I get it.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah.
So we were married about 10years and I, I, I, you know, I
don't regret it because the waythat the Lord showed up for me
and telling me that he was myhusband and I didn't have to
find my identity and the thingsthat my earthly husband said
(13:29):
about me, because my, my father,my heavenly husband, has such a
clear identity of me and heknows me so much better, such a
clear identity of me and heknows me so much better.
And so the verbal abuse that Iwent through, it was like it
shaped me in such a way to notreceive the words of man, but to
then go to my father and knowwhat he says about me.
(13:50):
Yeah, so that was a biglearning to surrender and lean
into the Lord and go to him forall of my help.
And then one day it wasactually we were going to go on
a missions trip to Haiti and wehad just met with the missionary
that was going to take us there, and I just remember feeling so
(14:11):
distressed, like I cannot go toHaiti and share with these
people.
I am a mess.
What do I have to give them?
I am, I'm being abused.
I'm crying myself to sleepevery night, like how, how do I
go there and share the good news?
And so, um, I went into my likeour guest bedroom and was just
(14:34):
praying in there and crying outto the Lord.
It was eight at night,something about me you should
know.
I am in Talmiak, so I will stayup till like three in the
morning.
That's how late I was up lastnight.
My eldest is like that, yeah,and I cannot nap for the life of
me, I cannot nap.
For some reason I fell asleep atlike eight and it was like kind
(14:57):
of a supernatural sleep, Ithink the Lord put over me and I
have this dream where it feltso real, like I felt the weight,
that I was a murderer anddetectives were looking and just
trying to find me and I'm like,oh my gosh, I killed someone.
I can't believe I killedsomeone.
Who did I kill?
And I'm freaking out and I wakeup and I'm still kind of like
(15:18):
in the haze of believing thatthe dream is real and I'm like,
oh no, what do I do that Ikilled someone.
And then I heard the Lord sayyou are a murderer, because if
it's in your heart, then you,it's as if you've done it.
And I was like, oh my gosh, who, who have I murdered in my
heart?
And I immediately knew it wasmy husband, because there was
(15:40):
this hatred in my heart and justlike wishing that he.
I'm like, well, I don't believein divorce.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So he has to die.
I feel you there.
I was in that position with myfirst one too.
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
So then I got on the floor, Irepented and I'm like Lord, I'm
so sorry, you're right, I'm amurderer.
Like I have wished for hisdeath in my heart and, yeah,
that makes me know better.
And so I repented of that andthen somehow fell right back
asleep and I was like walking upto a desk and this office lady
(16:18):
hands me two papers and she goesyou're guilty on two counts of
murder.
And I was like wait, who couldthe other person be?
There's no one else I hate andshe flips it over and she's like
it's you.
And I was like oh, and theseriousness of that hit me in a
(16:39):
way that it's never hit me,because to me it had always felt
like oh, you know, you'reallowed to hate yourself, you're
allowed to have that kind ofself-pity.
It's kind of like thismartyrdom aspect of like, oh, I
should, less of me, more ofChrist.
I'm allowed to hate me and hateeverything about me.
I love everyone else and theLord is like I don't think
that's cute or funny and I don'tagree.
(17:01):
I love you and I died for youand you were worth it to me and
you're not allowed to hateyourself.
That's murderous.
And like the seriousness of theway that he loved me hit me,
yeah, and so I woke up and Irepented again, and this time I
(17:23):
start pacing my house and justbeing like the Lord has met me
in a really, really real way, ina way that I've never
encountered before, like theveil is thin, and so I I need to
spend time here.
I need to figure out what theLord's doing in this moment.
I need to spend time here.
I need to figure out what theLord's doing in this moment.
And then the Lord started likeweeding these lies out of me,
weeding the different beliefsthat I had, that I didn't even
(17:45):
know that I had in my heart, andso he was pulling these things
to the forefront, saying likeyou don't believe that I'm
faithful, you don't believe thatI've loved you deeply, you
believe that I've forgotten you,or you believe that I don't
have a calling for you, andpulling these lies out and then
replacing them with truths.
After that, it's been justnight and day difference that he
(18:08):
has grown these things out ofme, and everyone noticed the
difference.
They were just like who?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
are you?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And I have no glory to give myself because I know he
didn't do it.
I'm like he decided toencounter me that night, he
decided to lead these things andthen he decided to make me into
who he made me into, and that'show I know it's the Lord that,
like I, can't credit anything tomyself.
His goodness is just soapparent.
So, yeah, it's been very fun.
(18:37):
Yeah, but that's when I think Igot born of the spirit Nice.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That is an intense dream that I cannot imagine.
Waking up from that and justmoving on with your life, how
could you just?
That was like a weird dream.
Let's just go, let's just goback to sleep.
That was like a weird dream,let's just go, let's just go
back to sleep.
I don't see anyone being able todo that when you've had such a
(19:07):
visceral reaction, I guess, toit.
You really felt like you hadkilled somebody.
You woke up with that feelingof did I really do this?
What have I done?
I really do this, what have Idone?
So, whatever he was trying todo in you, it snapped you out of
it immediately, which I thoughtis very awesome and reminds me
(19:42):
a little of how he does thingswith me, because he has to go
and I feel it immediately, andthen I'm quick to understand
what he needs me to do in thatmoment.
I think that's great that youyou figured that out right away,
that there was something thatyou needed to do and you did it
and you've healed from that.
It's that's awesome.
I'm encouraged and I knowothers are encouraged.
Are you still with your husband?
(20:05):
Are things better?
Did he?
How did that?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
No, we were married for 10 years and the Lord
finally released me to divorcehim, which was, yeah, just a
year of torment, trying to hearthe voice of the Lord and just
being like I don't want to do itif you don't want me to divorce
him, which was, yeah, just ayear of torment, trying to hear
the voice of the Lord and justbeing like I don't want to do it
If you don't want me to.
If you tell me to press throughand that things will get better
or that this is my cross tobear, I'll do it.
(20:30):
And, um, that's not where myheart was initially, like I,
lord, just tell me I'm not goingto hell and I'm going to
divorce this man.
And slowly, my heart began,began to change and began to
become more surrendered in ouryear of separation, and where I
was just like, okay, lord, notmy will, but yours be done.
(20:51):
And I felt like he was like,good, yeah, finally, okay, yes,
Now you can leave him.
And that's a whole hour-longstory.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
No, you don't have to get into that.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
You don't have to get into that the lawyer is kind
and it really revealed to me howmuch a protector father he is,
because I felt like my ownfather in my life had not stood
up for me to know how to protectme.
In those moments of you youknow me getting married to this
man, he didn't know how to sayhey, no, it was a drug addict
(21:25):
and 20 years older than you, andblah, blah, blah Like no, you
don't just get to marry mydaughter.
So, seeing the Lord differently, as a protector, it's healed my
relationship with him in waysthat I didn't know were broken.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, hey, friends, have you joined the Honest
Christian Conversations onlinegroup yet?
If you haven't, you're missingout on a perfect opportunity to
grow your relationship withJesus Christ.
This is a community for thosewho want to go deeper in their
(22:02):
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You can do Bible studiestogether, ask the questions you
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You can leave your prayerrequests.
You can leave your praisereports.
This is a community.
This is what church is supposedto be, and I am so glad that I
(22:25):
finally took that step to makethis group so that people's
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Also, if you haven't signed upfor the mailing list, you're
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I send out a weekly emailchocked full of so much awesome
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(22:46):
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(23:07):
notes.
So how did you become a midwife?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yes, oh, my goodness.
So I think it goes back to youknow my whole life, back to you
know my whole life.
So my mom had had the firstfour of us in the hospital and
then all of my younger siblingswere born at home, but without a
midwife, because they weren'tlegal back then, and so there
was a lot of trauma around thehome births.
(23:35):
As far as just the big unknownand are we okay, are we not okay
?
Type of conversations alwayshappening.
And then her last birth, sheended up having to go to the
hospital afterwards due to bloodclots and she had lost too much
blood, and then, yeah, allkinds of issues there.
(23:56):
But so growing up, that wasalways kind of in my mind when
family would gather because itwas big family, that it also had
so many children and they werehome birth, so everyone was kind
of talking about birth.
When they would gather, thewomen would get together and say
things that you just don't hearin day-to-day life, like as
you're pregnant, you need toremove the leaven from your home
(24:16):
, from your heart, and like whatdoes that mean, you know?
And so it was this like act ofpurification, sanctification,
because the understanding isthat birth is so intricately
spiritual and it incorporates somuch of your mind, body and
soul into it.
There would be this preparatorything and knowing that if you
(24:40):
and your husband weren't unifiedby the time of birth, that it
could show up in complicationswith labor or be more painful,
and so none of that really hitme, except like the intensity of
birth culture and howinteresting it was, because no
one had ever had a midwife andso I didn't think about that
being an actual job.
But one of my friends who hadsix kids was actually just
(25:02):
talking to me about her birdsand she said, yeah, my midwife
was just so there for me body,soul and spirit and she would
ask me questions you know how ismy marriage doing?
And she would ask me where's myheart at and just guide me in
all things, not just like adialogue type of thing.
And so I was like that's what Iwant to do.
(25:25):
I want to be in that space.
I've always been interested inhealth, but to know that health
goes beyond the physical andthere's emotional health,
there's mental health, there'sspiritual health and to know how
to tie all of those in and helpwalk someone through the most
transformative journey of theirlife.
You know, yeah, it's.
It just feels very, very sacred, very, very rewarding, and I'm
(25:48):
someone who can quite easily getbored with something.
I'm like ah, did that Like, I'mover it.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Moving on.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
And this you just can never get bored of because it's
there's so much to learn and somany facets of it I'll never
know Probably a new experienceeach time too.
Yes, yes definitely that'sawesome.
So in that moment I knew and Iwas just like I'm going to do it
and she was like, okay, maybeyou should be a doula first.
So you kind of talked earlierabout not knowing the difference
(26:17):
.
A doula is kind of like youreducated friend, Like they've
maybe done some births, done athree-day training course, and
so they know a little bit abouthow to support you physically or
emotionally.
And then a midwife is in placeof your OB.
So more than medical trainingand years of education.
(26:37):
Okay, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Now I know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Now I know, that's why you do this right.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yes, I love to learn new things.
Whether I retain 100% of allthe knowledge that I learn, that
remains to be seen, for everytime I'm in the middle of a
conversation about whatever itis, but I do love soaking in
things and, you know, as theopportunity presents itself,
(27:05):
I'll be like, oh, I remember Ilearned about this, or whatever.
So so, yes, I now I know.
So if someone says midwife,I'll know the difference Get it,
you're a doula, I get it.
So yeah, cause I have somefriends who are doulas and I'm
like I don't know what thatmeans and I don't want to ask
them but I want to know, theywant to be asked.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
There's a lot of misunderstanding as far as that
goes.
So yeah, it's totally fine.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So I have a interesting question.
Okay, when you started helpingwomen deliver their babies the
first time, was it viscerallyhard for you?
Because I can pass out easilyover certain things, I have a
feeling that if I were to seethe business end of all that
(27:54):
going on, I probably would passout, and I've never watched any
of the videos that my husbandhas taken of my C-sections.
I just can't like the wholeidea.
I'm just like I don't think so,but did you have an issue the
first time that you helped awoman give birth?
Did it do anything to make youpass out nauseous or anything
(28:17):
like that?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
No, I, it's so funny Cause if I watch a C-section
video I would get nauseous too,and that's how I know.
The Lord did not call me tothat, but I actually.
My sisters all make fun of mebecause I have the worst gag
reflex ever, and like I wouldchange a diaper growing up and I
would puke all over the kidthat I was like wow, I have no
(28:42):
tolerance.
If someone starts gagging infront of me, I start gagging
Like I just can't.
And yet with birth it's likesupernatural.
Someone could just puke allover me and I'm like, yes, of
course, only God could make thata thing.
Yeah, there's like nothing inthat realm that gets to me.
(29:02):
There's been a few times whereit's been like, okay, started to
get tunnel vision there, butthose were more extraordinary
circumstances.
One and it's usually when Ihave more empathy for the person
, actually like they're a closefriend and I know, like how
sensitive they are.
Or there was one woman that sheknew from 20 weeks on that her
(29:26):
baby was going to beincompatible with life.
So the baby had anencephaly,which means no brain, and so
just like a tiny little head andskull.
They didn't know if the babywould be born dead alive, what
that scenario would look like,but they just wanted it in the
comfort of their own home.
And I was actually covering foranother midwife who had gone
(29:49):
out of town while this woman wasdelivering and I had met with
her beforehand.
We sat down at Chipotle and Ijust bawled.
She was just the most preciouswoman and my heart just went out
to her so much.
After she gave birth, the cordpopped when the baby came out,
because with more active babies,as they move the cord stretches
(30:12):
, but if you don't have brainactivity then they're not going
to be moving a lot, except forjostling around, sort of, and so
then the cord is very short andso baby came out, cord popped
and so you got to get thatplacenta.
But they're singing hymns overtheir baby and just praising the
Lord and loving on that sweetbaby, and so my heart is already
(30:34):
like wrecked and tender.
But I have to go up inside ofher and get a placenta, which is
not a very fun thing to do.
It's pretty like grotesque.
It's my least favorite thing inall of midwifery.
And so I remember going upthere and I like still had my
coat on because we were like weran in the door.
Basically it was happening.
So, so I am like going up thereand I'm like, ooh, I am hot, oh
(31:01):
my gosh, like I need to breathe.
And so I like came out, youknow, took my coat off and I was
like I'm going to take a secondhere before I do this because I
don't want to black out andpass out on her.
Yeah and so, anyway, that wasthe closest experience I had to
pass it.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, I definitely would not make it in this career
.
It's so bad.
I passed out once in highschool watching a video about
kidneys.
They did not show kidneys.
They did not show bloodykidneys, they were just talking
about kidneys.
I don't know what happened.
(31:39):
I don't know what happened.
I just passed out.
My friend sat next to me.
He thought I died.
I was just like maybe I wasjust bored, bored to to passing
out.
I don't know what happened.
They had some funny nicknamefor me at that point.
I don't remember what it was,but I laughed, even though I was
(31:59):
super embarrassed.
I laughed but yeah, I would not.
Would not make it in this lineof business, that's for sure.
It's not everyone's call to it.
Yeah, and the fact that you cando it and you don't have any
(32:21):
instances of that shows me.
And the fact that you have thatvisceral reaction to just
gagging shows me that God isdoing something supernatural
with this, that it's where yourheart is.
And yeah, that's an awesometestimony to when you're called,
god equips you to do whatyou're called to do, and that's
(32:41):
awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, I tell people all the time I am not naturally
talented or good at anything.
All the time I am not naturallytalented or good at anything.
I've never been my entire life.
And the way that I was able tojust pick up midwifery and run
with it, and the way that theLord has sustained me through it
, I know that this is the Lord'scalling for me and it's so
important to know that, becauseI think this is one of the
(33:03):
hardest jobs in the entire worldVery rewarding, but one of the
hardest jobs in the entire worldand so to know that you're
called to it and the Lord issustaining you and the Lord will
keep you and carry you, is soimportant.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, I can imagine it's hard in many different ways
.
Like you were just saying, youhad to deliver a baby you
weren't sure was going to bealive or dead, and I can't
imagine having to deal with that.
And it's not like you get tojust walk out of the room
afterwards.
You're there for them, thewhole process, which means
you're grieving with them aswell, which I can imagine is
(33:39):
extremely hard to do.
But I'm sure you've also hadsome super wonderful joys as
well.
Is there one you'd like toshare with us?
That was an awesome experiencewhere you just really felt God's
presence in the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Oh gosh, actually, yeah, Probably so many of them.
And I think often the harder thebirth, the more intense the
presence of the Lord.
I mean, even just going back tothat anencephaly one, that was
probably one of the mostbeautiful births I've ever done
with a family, and rightly so.
They could have been like why,God, why would you do this?
(34:16):
And just mourning.
They were just praising theLord and everyone's just singing
and praying and thanking theLord for every moment they got
with their baby and we'relistening to that heartbeat.
We're listening to thatheartbeat.
We're listening to thatheartbeat and that baby is still
alive and she's her heart wouldbeat faster when she's skin to
skin with the mom and then itwould start slowing down when
(34:38):
she was moved away from the mom,and so you're seeing this like
syncing up with their bodies andeven that is just like the
design of the Lord.
You know that symbioticrelationship of being skin to
skin and how intensely spiritualthat is, you know.
Yeah, Out of 500 births I can'tsay that there's one that was
(34:59):
like not sacred or not beautiful.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I'm kind of the dumb midwife that cries at every
other birth, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
No, I don't think that's dumb.
I think they, I think theyappreciate and want somebody who
really cares, because you cantell when someone really cares
and when someone just is therebecause it's their job, and I
think that's one area of lifewhere you just really want
someone who cares, becausethey're walking with you through
the whole thing.
(35:30):
They have questions.
Yes, maybe it's their fifthchild and they're asking
questions and they should knowthis.
They've had four other childrenbut they're still asking
because each one is different.
I know with my children I hadso many different questions that
I would beat myself up and belike you should know this
(35:51):
already.
This is number three.
How do you not know this?
But I mentally was not presentfor my first child because there
was a lot of trauma going onwith that situation.
And during my second I wasstill going through all that
trauma, even though I was in anew relationship, but I was
going through new baggage that Iwas adding on to that as well.
(36:12):
It was not living for Christeither, so I didn't lean on him
during that.
So I had a lot of blockages, Iguess, during my first two
births.
So when I had my other threechildren with my husband, who
I'm with now, who is a goodChristian man.
It was all new to me.
I don't remember doing thiswith my other two children, or I
(36:33):
, you know, I don't know Wasthis how it went with the others
?
I don't remember.
And they need somebody to care.
You can call your doctor andthey're just going to give you
an answer and sometimes you cantell when they really don't care
.
So for you to be that empatheticand to be very involved in
every aspect of who you are, Ithink gives them that assurance
(36:57):
that they need so that they canrelax, because it's probably a
very scary thing to give birthat home, because we've been
programmed to believe that youcan only do it at a hospital
with a doctor who knows whatthey're doing, because what if
something happens and you needthis?
But if we just allow people tohave that, okay, let's relax.
(37:19):
We can make this experiencerelaxed, we can make the whole
pregnancy relaxed.
Then maybe an emergency,anything going to the hospital,
would not be a situation for you, because you've been at peace.
You've been at peace with God.
You've been at peace withthings or people in your life
that maybe you have troubleswith.
You do it all, you're puttingthem at a peace in a
(37:43):
supernatural way that you're notgoing to get from somebody who
doesn't care.
So I think it's very importantthat you have that strong tie to
who you're involved with atthat time, because they need it.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
And especially as women, and some people want it
and some people don't, you know,and I just had this talk with
the team last week where we'relike, yeah, let's really engage
with that individualized careaspect and figuring out what
people want.
You know, I think sometimes wejust assume, like we have this
mom that came in, that she's hadall home births, this is her
(38:19):
eighth baby, and so we can kindof just be like, yeah, you know
the deal and just kind of runeverything and she, like told us
this last week she goes.
You know, this is probably mylast baby and I'm just so
excited to fully engage withevery aspect of this process and
I'm just receiving this with somuch joy.
(38:40):
And we were like, oh yeah, yeah, this is special for you, even
though you know it can kind offeel like run of the mill and
you can get into this groove oflike this is just every day for
us.
But you know, for each of thesewomen it's a special,
transformative journey.
Each one of your, yourpregnancies and your births were
(39:01):
special in their own way andtransformative in their own way,
even if they were hard orsacrificial or whatever it was,
or even if you disassociatedtheir own way, even if they were
hard or sacrificial or whateverit was.
Or even if you disassociated insome way, there were things
being done in you and someonethat you were becoming in that
process and so learning how tofacilitate that.
Well, and not everybody wantsthat from us.
(39:23):
Some people are just hiring usto be their professionals and
that's totally fine.
So it's the level in which theywant to engage that we can jump
in and engage with.
You know, and I would say forthe people that are coming to us
, home birth is not a scarything.
Hospital is more scary for them.
They're like oh, please don'ttake me to the hospital, that's
so scary.
Yeah, they, um, they typicallyare just very comfortable and at
(39:46):
peace at home and theyunderstand the design of the
Lord and that the Lord made themwell, their body works, they're
not broken, and so they fullybelieve in the ability to give
birth peacefully at home.
And the Lord designed that.
He made us with beautiful,incredible, intricate bodies
(40:07):
that work very well.
But we live in a fallen worldand so there are things that
happen.
There are exceptions to therule, but largely we don't want
to treat everyone like theexception to the rule we want to
come in with the understandingthat if we support the body well
and we support the mind and thespirit well also, that your
body then will take care of youif we can take care of it well,
(40:29):
also that your body then willtake care of you if we can take
care of it.
So we try to come with thatapproach and bringing things as
closely back to design aspossible, for you created me in
my inmost being, you knit metogether in my mother's womb.
He did a good job and so tryingto bring things back as closely
as possible to what he did, sothat things go as normally as
possible.
And then, if things don't gonormally, then yeah, we go into
the hospital, where you knowwe're thankful that they are
(40:51):
there for the abnormal birthsfor sure.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So this might be kind of like aquestion, but do you work with
only believers or have you hadpeople come to you who are open
to you, doing it from a biblicalperspective, and have they had
a transforming moment wheremaybe they came to Christ during
that time, or just you can tellthat there was a difference,
(41:18):
even if they didn't?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
You know, I don't know.
I would say that most of ourclients are believers.
We're pretty open about it.
So it's on the website, it's onour bio.
I feel like birth is such anintimate experience.
You should know where your teamstands.
I would want to know who mymidwife is praying to if
something happened.
(41:40):
Yeah, I would want to know whatspiritual stuff is in the air.
We're very open about that.
We've had lots of people thatare not believers, but you know
they'll even come to us andthey'll say I actually really
like that.
You guys are believers, becausethat's.
That means you're going totreat me like my body isn't
broken.
You're not going to come fromthis from a perspective of fear,
and that's how I want mymidwives to act, from a place of
(42:03):
faith.
And so we're like great.
And you know some people willstill ask like, can we pray over
you after birth?
And sometimes they say yes andsometimes they're like no,
thanks.
We're like okay, fine, great,well, love you, see you in 24
hours and that's okay.
We've not had any moments oflike someone getting saved in
their prenatal appointment orsomething like that.
(42:24):
But I know that there are seedsbeing planted.
We speak to people from aperspective that the Lord is
chasing after them and that oneday they're going to be saved,
and so they're just apre-Christian in my opinion.
I'm like, oh, you will be, theLord will find you.
He's not.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
All right.
So anyways, nice, yeah, that'sawesome, it's very fun.
Nice, yeah, that's awesome,it's very fun.
Well, gloria, this has been asuper awesome conversation.
You're such a fun and sweetperson to talk to.
I can see how much you care,and that is definitely critical
in the type of work that you do.
(43:03):
Before we go, how can peopleget in touch with you if they
know somebody in the area whoneeds a wonderful midwife, or
they themselves maybe need amidwife?
Speaker 2 (43:12):
The website is glorybirthcom.
Yes, named after me howannoying.
But no, it really came from theheart of being like.
The Lord wants to make thisexperience truly glorious and so
, no matter how it turns out,the glory of the Lord can be
found in it and he will be named, glorified.
So, um, yeah, glorybirthcom.
(43:32):
Um, there's also just moreinformation, helpful blogs on
there and um differenteducational material to to look
into.
So, yeah, lots of fun, funstuff there.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me yeah.
Hello everyone, welcome back to Honest Christian
Conversations.
I'm your host, anna Murby.
My guest is Gloria Hines.
She is a midwife, so if youaren't familiar with that, she
will explain what that is.
I know I didn't know what itwas until we talked.
This is not just a conversationfor women, so men don't tune
(00:21):
out now and say, oh well, Iguess I'm not watching this.
You will.
You have to watch, you have tolisten.
You're part of the wholebirthing process as well,
because it's your child too.
This is going to be a veryencouraging conversation.
Her story of how she got intoit is beautiful.
The story of her testimony isamazing and beautiful.
(00:41):
Her childhood is veryinteresting.
You're going to love hearingabout that.
I will say that, with the wholetalking about birthing, I know
that comes with some issues forsome women who have had births
or perhaps miscarriages.
So if that is you and this is asubject you aren't ready to
(01:03):
broach, I understand.
Maybe come back to it anothertime.
Trust me, you are at some pointgoing to want to hear this,
because her love for Jesus andfor the women she ministers to
through her midwifery is veryencouraging.
And I can't stress enough that,even though she shares a couple
stories, one of which is alittle sad to hear.
(01:24):
God gets the glory in the end,and you're going to want to hear
what she has to say.
So, without further ado, let'slisten to Gloria's story Before
the episode starts.
Make sure you follow the showso you never miss another
episode.
Hello, gloria, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast.
I am very excited to talk toyou because I have never needed
(01:48):
to use a midwife before for myfive kids, because I have had
five C-sections and obviouslythere was no real need for that.
I do have a lot of friends whothey're either they've had them
or they're becoming a doula.
(02:10):
I don't know if that's quitethe same thing, but it was very
interesting to hear that you areone and on top of that you are
a believer in Christ, which Idon't hear that too often, but I
feel like that's like anintegral part of it, or should
be anyways, because we are madein the image of God and it's
(02:30):
important to remember that heknew us before we were born.
He knit us together in the womb, as the verse says up there.
But I just I was really excitedto talk to you from a biblical
perspective.
I mean, I'm not I'm notexpecting to go into this topic,
but if you do want to jump intothis very controversial one
(02:53):
about abortion, it's veryimportant to have Christ in the
center of pregnancy.
I'm very curious to get intoall of that with you.
But before we do that, tell usyour testimony.
How did you become the personyou are today?
Were you always a Christian?
Is this something that happenedthroughout your life?
(03:14):
How did it happen and how didit bring you into the line of
work you have?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Hi Anna, first of all , I'm just so excited to be here
.
I have just heard so muchauthenticity and sincerity in
your previous podcasts and eventhe fact that you prayed with me
before the podcast started justshows the reality of your
relationship with the Lord, andso I feel very honored to be
here.
Thank you for having me.
(03:43):
Yeah, you'd think thatmidwifery would be a whole lot
more tied into believers, and Ikind of live in a bubble here in
Kansas City where there's a lotof Christian and believing
midwives, but in a lot of otherplaces it's very new agey.
It's very, because I think it'sstill the way that midwifery is
.
If you watch it unfold from aphysiological perspective and
(04:06):
without interfering, you see howdeeply spiritual it is.
And so if someone isn't readyto enter into how the Lord made
it and kind of ready to comeinto surrender and submission to
Christ, then they're going togo a different route with it and
you're going to go very newagey with it.
But yeah, to answer yourquestion about my testimony, no,
(04:26):
I wasn't just born a Christian,but I did grow up in a deeply
believing spiritual family.
Yeah, I have so much to owe tomy parents for leading us to
Christ really well, from a youngage I was not ashamed of the
gospel.
We grew up kind of in a badneighborhood, as some would say,
(04:50):
you know, and we were taking inhomeless and drug addicts and
all of that, like a lot of themwould live with us and we would
try to help restore them.
Yeah, a little bit sketchy,since there's 11 girls living in
this home 11 girls.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Wow, I did not see that coming.
That is crazy.
I have three daughters and I'mlike God.
What did you do?
I wanted six boys.
What is this?
I commend your parents.
My hat is off to them.
(05:26):
That is, that is awesome,really spectacular people.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I can't imagine I mean being around kids now is so
funny, like I absolutely adorekids, but I'm like there is a
threshold of like how muchtalking from a kid I can take.
I can't imagine 11 girls whoare great at communication
nonstop.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, I cannot imagine how was that for you
living in that kind ofenvironment, because I kind of
get it a little bit.
Not that my parents invitedpeople to live with us that way,
but I remember a couple timesas a mid-teenager I don't know
how old I was, maybe 16, 17, wecame across a homeless person, a
(06:11):
young guy, and my stepdad lethim stay the night in a
different part of our house,because at that time we were
living in a preschool buildingfor my grandpa's church, because
we were keeping it safe and wewere renovating it or something,
so that's where we lived.
So there was an extra areawhere someone could stay and we
(06:33):
had him stay the night there andmy stepdad gave him all the
blankets that we could, and bymorning the guy had taken off
with all of it, including one ofmy favorite blankets that I had
gotten from one of my othergrandparents.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
And.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I was not the nicest person the next morning.
It did not fill me with joy tosee that at least he was warm
and he had blankets Like thatwas my stepdad's point of view,
and I was like, no, no, but youknow, you're a teenager.
How did you handle living inthat situation?
You already had your big familyand on top of that there's new
(07:11):
people coming in and you don'tknow them.
You don't know what's going on.
Your parents didn't know whatthey could be capable of.
How did that make you feel atthat point?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
You know, it's so funny because I, when children's
brains are being formed, theycan be acclimated to believe
that anything is normal, and soit.
To me it was like this isnormal and I really thought
every believer did this.
I thought every believer tookin people because my parents
would just say, well, we're alight in the darkness, of course
we're going to take in people,and so it was just normal.
(07:44):
I kind of felt like we did itmore than most people because
it's like you know extendedfamily members.
I didn't really see them takingin people.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, raise your hand .
If you've done this before,ladies and gentlemen, write,
write a comment or something andlet us know if you, if she's
not alone, or if this is a veryunique situation, cause I have.
I have not heard of anyonereally doing that other than
missionaries overseas, butthat's awesome.
(08:11):
I love that they had thatperspective that we're the light
in the darkness.
Of course we're going to dothis.
A lot of people don't take theBible at its word sometimes with
certain things, and maybe weshould.
I mean, obviously, if you arelusting, you don't need to pluck
your eye out.
That might be an exception, butit's like there's certain
(08:31):
things.
We're supposed to be there forthe needy and to be the hands
and feet of Jesus.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And asking the Lord what capacity that is Like.
What does that mean for you?
What does he want you to do?
Because we all have differentcallings and different facets of
the Lord and what that means,and you can easily run yourself
into the ground.
And so, while I admire myparents and everything that they
did, I also can look at thatand be like they didn't have
boundaries and things weren'talways safe for us and you know
(08:58):
it could have been donedifferently or better.
And there's always kind of thatlike hand in hand of where does
it start, when does it end?
What's the Lord actuallycalling you to?
And are you sacrificing overbeing obedient, you know,
because he wants obedience, notsacrifice.
So I think a lot of times myparents were acting more as
(09:19):
martyrs and doing things for theduty of them and believing that
they were supposed to do it,versus for the joy set before
them or because the Lordactually told them to.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
There's definitely some give and take there and his
sheep hear his voice.
So just learning how to followthat still small voice yeah, so
that's a huge conversation.
So, yeah, I prayed when I wasthree or four.
I asked my older sister.
She was talking about churchand salvation and so I started
(09:51):
asking her about it and, um, shegot really excited and she's
five years older than me, so shewould have been about nine and
she said jesus is so good andhe's so nice and if you invite
him in your heart, he'll liveinside of you and then you go
get to be in heaven with himwhen you die.
And I was like that soundsgreat.
(10:13):
And so I remember we sat onsome dirty carpet in my living
room against the couch and weprayed together and I stood up
and I was jumping around and Itold my mom because I knew she
would be excited and she goesall of heaven is celebrating
with you right now.
They're all throwing a party.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And I was like that's so cool yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So yeah, that was my kind of earliest memory of
interaction with the Lord.
I would say it was a very bumpyroad after that, as many
Christians can attest.
And growing up in such acharismatic household.
Oh my gosh, I don't want to cryright now.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Oh, it's all right, it's called Honest Christian
Conversations.
You do what you got to doVulnerable Christian
Conversations.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yes, yeah, it was a bumpy road of just wondering why
the lord wasn't talking to melike we would read in these
stories and testimonies of thegreat heroes that had gone
before us.
And reading through the bible,and no one tells you like, oh
(11:23):
yeah, there's 50 years betweenthis time that the Lord spoke to
someone in the next time.
It's like it feels like it'severy day, you know, and it
feels like, oh, if God is notspeaking to me every day, if I'm
not seeing miracles every day,then I'm not his child.
And so, even though I wouldnever say that I didn't believe
that he loved me, there was thatlike inherent have I been
(11:44):
forgotten?
Am I unloved?
And I think there's some likemiddle child syndrome to that
too.
Right, yeah.
Where you already sort of feellike you get lost in the mix and
so you kind of layer that ontoyour relationship with your
heavenly father and go.
Well, then he must feel thesame about me.
So there was a lot of that.
I never stopped believing inthe Lord, although I would say I
(12:08):
fell away at different times asfar as walking with the Lord
and just not believing Hisfaithfulness or not trusting Him
.
I got married at 20.
That's a whole story in and ofitself.
He was almost 20 years olderthan me.
Um, he had known my family forquite some time, so I had known
(12:31):
him since I was nine years old.
And, um, yeah, he wanted tomarry me and I didn't really
feel that I had a choice and sowe got married and, um, I
actually tried to break thingsoff with him several times
beforehand and you know, ifsomeone's 20 years older than
(12:52):
you, I get it.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I, I get it.
I I'm on my third marriage andmy first one was very rocky.
We went into it the wrong way.
Well, I did cause I didn't wantto.
But yeah, so I, I get it.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah.
So we were married about 10years and I, I, I, you know, I
don't regret it because the waythat the Lord showed up for me
and telling me that he was myhusband and I didn't have to
find my identity and the thingsthat my earthly husband said
(13:29):
about me, because my, my father,my heavenly husband, has such a
clear identity of me and heknows me so much better, such a
clear identity of me and heknows me so much better.
And so the verbal abuse that Iwent through, it was like it
shaped me in such a way to notreceive the words of man, but to
then go to my father and knowwhat he says about me.
(13:50):
Yeah, so that was a biglearning to surrender and lean
into the Lord and go to him forall of my help.
And then one day it wasactually we were going to go on
a missions trip to Haiti and wehad just met with the missionary
that was going to take us there, and I just remember feeling so
(14:11):
distressed, like I cannot go toHaiti and share with these
people.
I am a mess.
What do I have to give them?
I am, I'm being abused.
I'm crying myself to sleepevery night, like how, how do I
go there and share the good news?
And so, um, I went into my likeour guest bedroom and was just
(14:34):
praying in there and crying outto the Lord.
It was eight at night,something about me you should
know.
I am in Talmiak, so I will stayup till like three in the
morning.
That's how late I was up lastnight.
My eldest is like that, yeah,and I cannot nap for the life of
me, I cannot nap.
For some reason I fell asleep atlike eight and it was like kind
(14:57):
of a supernatural sleep, Ithink the Lord put over me and I
have this dream where it feltso real, like I felt the weight,
that I was a murderer anddetectives were looking and just
trying to find me and I'm like,oh my gosh, I killed someone.
I can't believe I killedsomeone.
Who did I kill?
And I'm freaking out and I wakeup and I'm still kind of like
(15:18):
in the haze of believing thatthe dream is real and I'm like,
oh no, what do I do that Ikilled someone.
And then I heard the Lord sayyou are a murderer, because if
it's in your heart, then you,it's as if you've done it.
And I was like, oh my gosh, who, who have I murdered in my
heart?
And I immediately knew it wasmy husband, because there was
(15:40):
this hatred in my heart and justlike wishing that he.
I'm like, well, I don't believein divorce.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So he has to die.
I feel you there.
I was in that position with myfirst one too.
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
So then I got on the floor, Irepented and I'm like Lord, I'm
so sorry, you're right, I'm amurderer.
Like I have wished for hisdeath in my heart and, yeah,
that makes me know better.
And so I repented of that andthen somehow fell right back
asleep and I was like walking upto a desk and this office lady
(16:18):
hands me two papers and she goesyou're guilty on two counts of
murder.
And I was like wait, who couldthe other person be?
There's no one else I hate andshe flips it over and she's like
it's you.
And I was like oh, and theseriousness of that hit me in a
(16:39):
way that it's never hit me,because to me it had always felt
like oh, you know, you'reallowed to hate yourself, you're
allowed to have that kind ofself-pity.
It's kind of like thismartyrdom aspect of like, oh, I
should, less of me, more ofChrist.
I'm allowed to hate me and hateeverything about me.
I love everyone else and theLord is like I don't think
that's cute or funny and I don'tagree.
(17:01):
I love you and I died for youand you were worth it to me and
you're not allowed to hateyourself.
That's murderous.
And like the seriousness of theway that he loved me hit me,
yeah, and so I woke up and Irepented again, and this time I
(17:23):
start pacing my house and justbeing like the Lord has met me
in a really, really real way, ina way that I've never
encountered before, like theveil is thin, and so I I need to
spend time here.
I need to figure out what theLord's doing in this moment.
I need to spend time here.
I need to figure out what theLord's doing in this moment.
And then the Lord started likeweeding these lies out of me,
weeding the different beliefsthat I had, that I didn't even
(17:45):
know that I had in my heart, andso he was pulling these things
to the forefront, saying likeyou don't believe that I'm
faithful, you don't believe thatI've loved you deeply, you
believe that I've forgotten you,or you believe that I don't
have a calling for you, andpulling these lies out and then
replacing them with truths.
After that, it's been justnight and day difference that he
(18:08):
has grown these things out ofme, and everyone noticed the
difference.
They were just like who?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
are you?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And I have no glory to give myself because I know he
didn't do it.
I'm like he decided toencounter me that night, he
decided to lead these things andthen he decided to make me into
who he made me into, and that'show I know it's the Lord that,
like I, can't credit anything tomyself.
His goodness is just soapparent.
So, yeah, it's been very fun.
(18:37):
Yeah, but that's when I think Igot born of the spirit Nice.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That is an intense dream that I cannot imagine.
Waking up from that and justmoving on with your life, how
could you just?
That was like a weird dream.
Let's just go, let's just goback to sleep.
That was like a weird dream,let's just go, let's just go
back to sleep.
I don't see anyone being able todo that when you've had such a
(19:07):
visceral reaction, I guess, toit.
You really felt like you hadkilled somebody.
You woke up with that feelingof did I really do this?
What have I done?
I really do this, what have Idone?
So, whatever he was trying todo in you, it snapped you out of
it immediately, which I thoughtis very awesome and reminds me
(19:42):
a little of how he does thingswith me, because he has to go
and I feel it immediately, andthen I'm quick to understand
what he needs me to do in thatmoment.
I think that's great that youyou figured that out right away,
that there was something thatyou needed to do and you did it
and you've healed from that.
It's that's awesome.
I'm encouraged and I knowothers are encouraged.
Are you still with your husband?
(20:05):
Are things better?
Did he?
How did that?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
No, we were married for 10 years and the Lord
finally released me to divorcehim, which was, yeah, just a
year of torment, trying to hearthe voice of the Lord and just
being like I don't want to do itif you don't want me to divorce
him, which was, yeah, just ayear of torment, trying to hear
the voice of the Lord and justbeing like I don't want to do it
If you don't want me to.
If you tell me to press throughand that things will get better
or that this is my cross tobear, I'll do it.
(20:30):
And, um, that's not where myheart was initially, like I,
lord, just tell me I'm not goingto hell and I'm going to
divorce this man.
And slowly, my heart began,began to change and began to
become more surrendered in ouryear of separation, and where I
was just like, okay, lord, notmy will, but yours be done.
(20:51):
And I felt like he was like,good, yeah, finally, okay, yes,
Now you can leave him.
And that's a whole hour-longstory.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
No, you don't have to get into that.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
You don't have to get into that the lawyer is kind
and it really revealed to me howmuch a protector father he is,
because I felt like my ownfather in my life had not stood
up for me to know how to protectme.
In those moments of you youknow me getting married to this
man, he didn't know how to sayhey, no, it was a drug addict
(21:25):
and 20 years older than you, andblah, blah, blah Like no, you
don't just get to marry mydaughter.
So, seeing the Lord differently, as a protector, it's healed my
relationship with him in waysthat I didn't know were broken.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, hey, friends, have you joined the Honest
Christian Conversations onlinegroup yet?
If you haven't, you're missingout on a perfect opportunity to
grow your relationship withJesus Christ.
This is a community for thosewho want to go deeper in their
(22:02):
relationship.
You can do Bible studiestogether, ask the questions you
have biblically and get theanswers that you might need or
maybe you're somebody who hasanswers to somebody else's
questions.
You can leave your prayerrequests.
You can leave your praisereports.
This is a community.
This is what church is supposedto be, and I am so glad that I
(22:25):
finally took that step to makethis group so that people's
lives can flourish in Jesus'name.
Also, if you haven't signed upfor the mailing list, you're
missing out on an opportunitythere as well.
I send out a weekly emailchocked full of so much awesome
content that I don't have timeright now to share it all with
(22:46):
you.
But when you do sign up forthat mailing list, you get my
seven-day free devotional that Icreated just for those who sign
up for the mailing list.
If you haven't joined either ofthese, you can go to my website
,honestchristianconversationscom
and sign up there, or you canuse the links for it in the show
(23:07):
notes.
So how did you become a midwife?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yes, oh, my goodness.
So I think it goes back to youknow my whole life, back to you
know my whole life.
So my mom had had the firstfour of us in the hospital and
then all of my younger siblingswere born at home, but without a
midwife, because they weren'tlegal back then, and so there
was a lot of trauma around thehome births.
(23:35):
As far as just the big unknownand are we okay, are we not okay
?
Type of conversations alwayshappening.
And then her last birth, sheended up having to go to the
hospital afterwards due to bloodclots and she had lost too much
blood, and then, yeah, allkinds of issues there.
(23:56):
But so growing up, that wasalways kind of in my mind when
family would gather because itwas big family, that it also had
so many children and they werehome birth, so everyone was kind
of talking about birth.
When they would gather, thewomen would get together and say
things that you just don't hearin day-to-day life, like as
you're pregnant, you need toremove the leaven from your home
(24:16):
, from your heart, and like whatdoes that mean, you know?
And so it was this like act ofpurification, sanctification,
because the understanding isthat birth is so intricately
spiritual and it incorporates somuch of your mind, body and
soul into it.
There would be this preparatorything and knowing that if you
(24:40):
and your husband weren't unifiedby the time of birth, that it
could show up in complicationswith labor or be more painful,
and so none of that really hitme, except like the intensity of
birth culture and howinteresting it was, because no
one had ever had a midwife andso I didn't think about that
being an actual job.
But one of my friends who hadsix kids was actually just
(25:02):
talking to me about her birdsand she said, yeah, my midwife
was just so there for me body,soul and spirit and she would
ask me questions you know how ismy marriage doing?
And she would ask me where's myheart at and just guide me in
all things, not just like adialogue type of thing.
And so I was like that's what Iwant to do.
(25:25):
I want to be in that space.
I've always been interested inhealth, but to know that health
goes beyond the physical andthere's emotional health,
there's mental health, there'sspiritual health and to know how
to tie all of those in and helpwalk someone through the most
transformative journey of theirlife.
You know, yeah, it's.
It just feels very, very sacred, very, very rewarding, and I'm
(25:48):
someone who can quite easily getbored with something.
I'm like ah, did that Like, I'mover it.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Moving on.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
And this you just can never get bored of because it's
there's so much to learn and somany facets of it I'll never
know Probably a new experienceeach time too.
Yes, yes definitely that'sawesome.
So in that moment I knew and Iwas just like I'm going to do it
and she was like, okay, maybeyou should be a doula first.
So you kind of talked earlierabout not knowing the difference
(26:17):
.
A doula is kind of like youreducated friend, Like they've
maybe done some births, done athree-day training course, and
so they know a little bit abouthow to support you physically or
emotionally.
And then a midwife is in placeof your OB.
So more than medical trainingand years of education.
(26:37):
Okay, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Now I know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Now I know, that's why you do this right.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yes, I love to learn new things.
Whether I retain 100% of allthe knowledge that I learn, that
remains to be seen, for everytime I'm in the middle of a
conversation about whatever itis, but I do love soaking in
things and, you know, as theopportunity presents itself,
(27:05):
I'll be like, oh, I remember Ilearned about this, or whatever.
So so, yes, I now I know.
So if someone says midwife,I'll know the difference Get it,
you're a doula, I get it.
So yeah, cause I have somefriends who are doulas and I'm
like I don't know what thatmeans and I don't want to ask
them but I want to know, theywant to be asked.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
There's a lot of misunderstanding as far as that
goes.
So yeah, it's totally fine.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So I have a interesting question.
Okay, when you started helpingwomen deliver their babies the
first time, was it viscerallyhard for you?
Because I can pass out easilyover certain things, I have a
feeling that if I were to seethe business end of all that
(27:54):
going on, I probably would passout, and I've never watched any
of the videos that my husbandhas taken of my C-sections.
I just can't like the wholeidea.
I'm just like I don't think so,but did you have an issue the
first time that you helped awoman give birth?
Did it do anything to make youpass out nauseous or anything
(28:17):
like that?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
No, I, it's so funny Cause if I watch a C-section
video I would get nauseous too,and that's how I know.
The Lord did not call me tothat, but I actually.
My sisters all make fun of mebecause I have the worst gag
reflex ever, and like I wouldchange a diaper growing up and I
would puke all over the kidthat I was like wow, I have no
(28:42):
tolerance.
If someone starts gagging infront of me, I start gagging
Like I just can't.
And yet with birth it's likesupernatural.
Someone could just puke allover me and I'm like, yes, of
course, only God could make thata thing.
Yeah, there's like nothing inthat realm that gets to me.
(29:02):
There's been a few times whereit's been like, okay, started to
get tunnel vision there, butthose were more extraordinary
circumstances.
One and it's usually when Ihave more empathy for the person
, actually like they're a closefriend and I know, like how
sensitive they are.
Or there was one woman that sheknew from 20 weeks on that her
(29:26):
baby was going to beincompatible with life.
So the baby had anencephaly,which means no brain, and so
just like a tiny little head andskull.
They didn't know if the babywould be born dead alive, what
that scenario would look like,but they just wanted it in the
comfort of their own home.
And I was actually covering foranother midwife who had gone
(29:49):
out of town while this woman wasdelivering and I had met with
her beforehand.
We sat down at Chipotle and Ijust bawled.
She was just the most preciouswoman and my heart just went out
to her so much.
After she gave birth, the cordpopped when the baby came out,
because with more active babies,as they move the cord stretches
(30:12):
, but if you don't have brainactivity then they're not going
to be moving a lot, except forjostling around, sort of, and so
then the cord is very short andso baby came out, cord popped
and so you got to get thatplacenta.
But they're singing hymns overtheir baby and just praising the
Lord and loving on that sweetbaby, and so my heart is already
(30:34):
like wrecked and tender.
But I have to go up inside ofher and get a placenta, which is
not a very fun thing to do.
It's pretty like grotesque.
It's my least favorite thing inall of midwifery.
And so I remember going upthere and I like still had my
coat on because we were like weran in the door.
Basically it was happening.
So, so I am like going up thereand I'm like, ooh, I am hot, oh
(31:01):
my gosh, like I need to breathe.
And so I like came out, youknow, took my coat off and I was
like I'm going to take a secondhere before I do this because I
don't want to black out andpass out on her.
Yeah and so, anyway, that wasthe closest experience I had to
pass it.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, I definitely would not make it in this career
.
It's so bad.
I passed out once in highschool watching a video about
kidneys.
They did not show kidneys.
They did not show bloodykidneys, they were just talking
about kidneys.
I don't know what happened.
(31:39):
I don't know what happened.
I just passed out.
My friend sat next to me.
He thought I died.
I was just like maybe I wasjust bored, bored to to passing
out.
I don't know what happened.
They had some funny nicknamefor me at that point.
I don't remember what it was,but I laughed, even though I was
(31:59):
super embarrassed.
I laughed but yeah, I would not.
Would not make it in this lineof business, that's for sure.
It's not everyone's call to it.
Yeah, and the fact that you cando it and you don't have any
(32:21):
instances of that shows me.
And the fact that you have thatvisceral reaction to just
gagging shows me that God isdoing something supernatural
with this, that it's where yourheart is.
And yeah, that's an awesometestimony to when you're called,
god equips you to do whatyou're called to do, and that's
(32:41):
awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, I tell people all the time I am not naturally
talented or good at anything.
All the time I am not naturallytalented or good at anything.
I've never been my entire life.
And the way that I was able tojust pick up midwifery and run
with it, and the way that theLord has sustained me through it
, I know that this is the Lord'scalling for me and it's so
important to know that, becauseI think this is one of the
(33:03):
hardest jobs in the entire worldVery rewarding, but one of the
hardest jobs in the entire worldand so to know that you're
called to it and the Lord issustaining you and the Lord will
keep you and carry you, is soimportant.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, I can imagine it's hard in many different ways
.
Like you were just saying, youhad to deliver a baby you
weren't sure was going to bealive or dead, and I can't
imagine having to deal with that.
And it's not like you get tojust walk out of the room
afterwards.
You're there for them, thewhole process, which means
you're grieving with them aswell, which I can imagine is
(33:39):
extremely hard to do.
But I'm sure you've also hadsome super wonderful joys as
well.
Is there one you'd like toshare with us?
That was an awesome experiencewhere you just really felt God's
presence in the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Oh gosh, actually, yeah, Probably so many of them.
And I think often the harder thebirth, the more intense the
presence of the Lord.
I mean, even just going back tothat anencephaly one, that was
probably one of the mostbeautiful births I've ever done
with a family, and rightly so.
They could have been like why,God, why would you do this?
(34:16):
And just mourning.
They were just praising theLord and everyone's just singing
and praying and thanking theLord for every moment they got
with their baby and we'relistening to that heartbeat.
We're listening to thatheartbeat.
We're listening to thatheartbeat and that baby is still
alive and she's her heart wouldbeat faster when she's skin to
skin with the mom and then itwould start slowing down when
(34:38):
she was moved away from the mom,and so you're seeing this like
syncing up with their bodies andeven that is just like the
design of the Lord.
You know that symbioticrelationship of being skin to
skin and how intensely spiritualthat is, you know.
Yeah, Out of 500 births I can'tsay that there's one that was
(34:59):
like not sacred or not beautiful.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I'm kind of the dumb midwife that cries at every
other birth, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
No, I don't think that's dumb.
I think they, I think theyappreciate and want somebody who
really cares, because you cantell when someone really cares
and when someone just is therebecause it's their job, and I
think that's one area of lifewhere you just really want
someone who cares, becausethey're walking with you through
the whole thing.
(35:30):
They have questions.
Yes, maybe it's their fifthchild and they're asking
questions and they should knowthis.
They've had four other childrenbut they're still asking
because each one is different.
I know with my children I hadso many different questions that
I would beat myself up and belike you should know this
(35:51):
already.
This is number three.
How do you not know this?
But I mentally was not presentfor my first child because there
was a lot of trauma going onwith that situation.
And during my second I wasstill going through all that
trauma, even though I was in anew relationship, but I was
going through new baggage that Iwas adding on to that as well.
(36:12):
It was not living for Christeither, so I didn't lean on him
during that.
So I had a lot of blockages, Iguess, during my first two
births.
So when I had my other threechildren with my husband, who
I'm with now, who is a goodChristian man.
It was all new to me.
I don't remember doing thiswith my other two children, or I
(36:33):
, you know, I don't know Wasthis how it went with the others
?
I don't remember.
And they need somebody to care.
You can call your doctor andthey're just going to give you
an answer and sometimes you cantell when they really don't care
.
So for you to be that empatheticand to be very involved in
every aspect of who you are, Ithink gives them that assurance
(36:57):
that they need so that they canrelax, because it's probably a
very scary thing to give birthat home, because we've been
programmed to believe that youcan only do it at a hospital
with a doctor who knows whatthey're doing, because what if
something happens and you needthis?
But if we just allow people tohave that, okay, let's relax.
(37:19):
We can make this experiencerelaxed, we can make the whole
pregnancy relaxed.
Then maybe an emergency,anything going to the hospital,
would not be a situation for you, because you've been at peace.
You've been at peace with God.
You've been at peace withthings or people in your life
that maybe you have troubleswith.
You do it all, you're puttingthem at a peace in a
(37:43):
supernatural way that you're notgoing to get from somebody who
doesn't care.
So I think it's very importantthat you have that strong tie to
who you're involved with atthat time, because they need it.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
And especially as women, and some people want it
and some people don't, you know,and I just had this talk with
the team last week where we'relike, yeah, let's really engage
with that individualized careaspect and figuring out what
people want.
You know, I think sometimes wejust assume, like we have this
mom that came in, that she's hadall home births, this is her
(38:19):
eighth baby, and so we can kindof just be like, yeah, you know
the deal and just kind of runeverything and she, like told us
this last week she goes.
You know, this is probably mylast baby and I'm just so
excited to fully engage withevery aspect of this process and
I'm just receiving this with somuch joy.
(38:40):
And we were like, oh yeah, yeah, this is special for you, even
though you know it can kind offeel like run of the mill and
you can get into this groove oflike this is just every day for
us.
But you know, for each of thesewomen it's a special,
transformative journey.
Each one of your, yourpregnancies and your births were
(39:01):
special in their own way andtransformative in their own way,
even if they were hard orsacrificial or whatever it was,
or even if you disassociatedtheir own way, even if they were
hard or sacrificial or whateverit was.
Or even if you disassociated insome way, there were things
being done in you and someonethat you were becoming in that
process and so learning how tofacilitate that.
Well, and not everybody wantsthat from us.
(39:23):
Some people are just hiring usto be their professionals and
that's totally fine.
So it's the level in which theywant to engage that we can jump
in and engage with.
You know, and I would say forthe people that are coming to us
, home birth is not a scarything.
Hospital is more scary for them.
They're like oh, please don'ttake me to the hospital, that's
so scary.
Yeah, they, um, they typicallyare just very comfortable and at
(39:46):
peace at home and theyunderstand the design of the
Lord and that the Lord made themwell, their body works, they're
not broken, and so they fullybelieve in the ability to give
birth peacefully at home.
And the Lord designed that.
He made us with beautiful,incredible, intricate bodies
(40:07):
that work very well.
But we live in a fallen worldand so there are things that
happen.
There are exceptions to therule, but largely we don't want
to treat everyone like theexception to the rule we want to
come in with the understandingthat if we support the body well
and we support the mind and thespirit well also, that your
body then will take care of youif we can take care of it well,
(40:29):
also that your body then willtake care of you if we can take
care of it.
So we try to come with thatapproach and bringing things as
closely back to design aspossible, for you created me in
my inmost being, you knit metogether in my mother's womb.
He did a good job and so tryingto bring things back as closely
as possible to what he did, sothat things go as normally as
possible.
And then, if things don't gonormally, then yeah, we go into
the hospital, where you knowwe're thankful that they are
(40:51):
there for the abnormal birthsfor sure.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So this might be kind of like aquestion, but do you work with
only believers or have you hadpeople come to you who are open
to you, doing it from a biblicalperspective, and have they had
a transforming moment wheremaybe they came to Christ during
that time, or just you can tellthat there was a difference,
(41:18):
even if they didn't?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
You know, I don't know.
I would say that most of ourclients are believers.
We're pretty open about it.
So it's on the website, it's onour bio.
I feel like birth is such anintimate experience.
You should know where your teamstands.
I would want to know who mymidwife is praying to if
something happened.
(41:40):
Yeah, I would want to know whatspiritual stuff is in the air.
We're very open about that.
We've had lots of people thatare not believers, but you know
they'll even come to us andthey'll say I actually really
like that.
You guys are believers, becausethat's.
That means you're going totreat me like my body isn't
broken.
You're not going to come fromthis from a perspective of fear,
and that's how I want mymidwives to act, from a place of
(42:03):
faith.
And so we're like great.
And you know some people willstill ask like, can we pray over
you after birth?
And sometimes they say yes andsometimes they're like no,
thanks.
We're like okay, fine, great,well, love you, see you in 24
hours and that's okay.
We've not had any moments oflike someone getting saved in
their prenatal appointment orsomething like that.
(42:24):
But I know that there are seedsbeing planted.
We speak to people from aperspective that the Lord is
chasing after them and that oneday they're going to be saved,
and so they're just apre-Christian in my opinion.
I'm like, oh, you will be, theLord will find you.
He's not.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
All right.
So anyways, nice, yeah, that'sawesome, it's very fun.
Nice, yeah, that's awesome,it's very fun.
Well, gloria, this has been asuper awesome conversation.
You're such a fun and sweetperson to talk to.
I can see how much you care,and that is definitely critical
in the type of work that you do.
(43:03):
Before we go, how can peopleget in touch with you if they
know somebody in the area whoneeds a wonderful midwife, or
they themselves maybe need amidwife?
Speaker 2 (43:12):
The website is glorybirthcom.
Yes, named after me howannoying.
But no, it really came from theheart of being like.
The Lord wants to make thisexperience truly glorious and so
, no matter how it turns out,the glory of the Lord can be
found in it and he will be named, glorified.
So, um, yeah, glorybirthcom.
(43:32):
Um, there's also just moreinformation, helpful blogs on
there and um differenteducational material to to look
into.
So, yeah, lots of fun, funstuff there.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me yeah.
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