Surrendered Birth Stories: Your Christian Birth Story Podcast

If one unexpected pregnancy wasn’t enough, how about two? Sarah and her husband were very blessed to become pregnant in God’s perfect timing for them, although the pregnancy and labor and postpartum would have their challenges. Not knowing what she didn’t know yet, Sarah went straight to the hospital after her water broke, and a series of interventions would inevitably and immediately take place, ending with a quite unnecessary vacuum delivery that would go on to affect her baby’s first several months postpartum. The next time around, however, Sarah would learn SO much more about birth an...

God can teach us a lot during our present circumstances, but also reveal things to us after the fact that we couldn’t have seen while we were in it. Treva and Jeff had been married for several years and thought they would have kids right away, but the Lord shifted that desire almost instantly and instead they waited until God once again put it on both of their hearts. He has purpose for everything He does, and that included not getting pregnant for over a decade after getting married. Once they were pregnant though, even through the midst of...

God is constantly speaking. But are we listening? Are we asking? Bethany definitely is! When Matt and Bethany became pregnant with their fifth child, the Lord’s will was what was most important. He would use this pregnancy and labor to take Bethany through a new season of growth, to a deeper level of faith, and His presence would be undeniable through it all. He would speak to her in dreams and in prayer and make sure that although His plans may seem outlandish to unbelievers, Bethany knew that God knew exactly what He was doing, and that He wa...

From an early age, Abigail knew that she did not want to have her babies in the hospital, so when her and her husband became pregnant, she sought out a birth center and was delighted with her care. Unfortunately, a pre-eclampsia diagnosis at 37 weeks would have her being transferred to the hospital immediately for an induction, and upon delivery, she’d also gain an IUGR diagnosis. For her next pregnancy, she was determined to eliminate the possibility of pre-eclampsia through diet, exercise and prayer, and this time instead of transferring from a
birth center to the hospital, she tr...

Trusting the Lord in all areas of your life is a wise and peaceful way to live, but especially in the areas of pregnancy and childbirth. When Marcy and her husband first got pregnant, they would unfortunately miscarry and not get to raise that baby earth side-but God would use it for good, and it led them to the midwives who would go on to help them deliver their next baby. Her husband’s mantra during labor was prepare, prepare, prepare….while hers was to deny, deny, deny. This dynamic was quite comical but it all balanced out and in t...

When your mom had her baby three weeks early and your sister had her baby three weeks early, it must mean you’ll have your baby three weeks early too, right? Wrong! Jenna had to patiently wait for her baby girl to come when she was ready-but not before an OB would pressure her into a completely unnecessary induction for simply being 41 weeks pregnant, despite her and her baby’s impeccable health. Thankfully, Jenna knew to advocate for herself from all of the education she had from the research and preparation she had done, and avoided that scheduled medical indu...

When your mom had three C-sections herself, you don’t picture choosing home birth for your own baby’s birth, but then you fall in love with your high school sweetheart who happens to come from a very crunchy family and was born at home himself, and so you change your ways. Rachel was blessed to have a smooth conception, pregnancy, and labor-although it was long, she had prepared herself for that, and had a wonderfully supportive team surrounding her-most importantly the Lord, and the hope that He would give her throughout this entire journey, something she’d need to cli...

Would you describe suffering as a gift? Rachel is a woman of faith who understands that God has purpose in every part of our journeys. While her and her husband had to go through many trials and lots of waiting in order to hold their precious baby girl in their arms, she would tell you it was more than worth it! Listen to her epic journey today as she walks us through infertility, miscarriage, an MS diagnosis, and one heck of a birth story and postpartum! As her doula, I experienced a few “firsts” myself in her story. Some less...

Growing up Patricia said she would never get married and never have children. Living in the secular world she had bought into the enemy’s lies that childbirth was scary, that children were a burden, that they would hold you back, cost a lot of money and take up all of your time. But the Lord had a plan for her life that would not be derailed. After re-committing her life to Jesus and getting plugged in at a local church with a deep, Christian community, she could hear God speaking to her through His word, and her and he...

As a first time mom, Mackenzie’s pregnancy and labor were relatively smooth. A long early labor, yes, and a later gestation, but a quick active labor and a very quick pushing stage, although that part was forced upon her. For Makenzie and John, pregnancy and labor would be the easy part. It was postpartum that things would get hard. After getting home from a hospital transfer for meconium aspiration, they thought the postpartum drama was over, but unfortunately, it was just getting started. Little did they know they’d be spending their next few days in the hospital, and...

After a very poor experience at the hospital with her first baby, Rebekah would be choosing home birth from this point on. She did not want a repeat of her first birth and especially her first postpartum. Thankfully, she was able to find a home birth midwife in her area that she jived with and would go on to have two beautiful home births, while also having to address the anxieties from her first birth head on when it came to pushing! But what did she learn? God will meet you where you are. God answers prayers! God is...

When your husband is a paramedic and you watch lots of birth videos, what else is there to need going into your first unmedicated birth, and a hospital birth at that? Well, while Rebekah’s first labor went quickly and smoothly, the actual delivery did not. A supposed shoulder dystocia and then a quick cutting of the cord and whisking away of her baby would leave her traumatized and completely alone. If that wasn’t enough, she would practically be held hostage at the hospital for the next several days with NICU policies and threats of rare and dangerous dise...

Have you ever experienced a miscarriage or know somebody who has? What do you do? What practical support options are out there? Today, we talk about just that! Unfortunately, in this day and age, miscarriage is a common occurrence, over 1 in 4 pregnancies result in miscarriage but what do you do when that happens, whether it’s yourself or somebody you know? How can you prepare for it physically, tangibly, practically, and spiritually? How can you honor the life of your baby and let them be put to rest with dignity? The Lord planted the idea for Precious Life Pod in...

When your mom has had six natural births, five of which were in the hospital, and one home birth that wasn’t actually a great experience, it’s only natural that you’d want to have a hospital birth. SO when Miriam got pregnant with her first, that’s just what she chose, and thankfully, this specific hospital was actually quite accommodating for a hospital and she had a great midwife team and amazing volunteer doula! As her births continued and as she became more and more educated, she realized her deep desire for a home birth, but she would ha...

Kelli was anticipating a beautiful, unmedicated hospital birth for her first, but an assumed diagnosis of cholestasis would have her being induced on pitocin and change all of her plans. Next time she was anticipating the same outcome, but thankfully had the birth she had planned the first time, but realized that she no longer wanted to fight the battle of trying to have a natural birth in the hospital and being questioned about every decision she was making. So when she got pregnant with twins, she and her husband landed on having a home birth! This didn’t me...

A lot of second time moms think they have a longer labor ahead of them than they actually do…and it was no different for Scotlyn when her labor zoomed by and nobody made it to the labor and delivery room before her daughter was born, not even Scotlyn! But a dream birth doesn’t always make for a dream postpartum. When Scotlyn’s daughter, Winnie, was two weeks old, her and her husband would face a challenge harder than birth itself as their daughter was rushed to the ER with vitals that wouldn’t stabilize, and eventually taken to Duke’...

When you’re planning on getting pregnant in advance, making sure your body is healthy and nourished can truly be to your advantage. That’s what Susan did before attempting to conceive her son, and the Lord blessed her with a quick conception and a very smooth pregnancy. She also did her part in preparation for labor through classes, books, podcasts, and hiring a doula. All of this was so beneficial to Susan and her husband Brian, and although she knew God’s will was better than her own and she held her plans with open hands of surrender, He sti...

What did you listen to when you were in labor? What calmed you down? Or...what pumped you up?! Also...today we dive into a story of the ridiculousness of some OB's, but also the supernatural power of God! And lastly, inductions. So many of them are completely unnecessary, and so many of them can be prevented by proper birth education! All this and more on today's episode of Doula Diaries!

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Can you praise God in the storm? Can you praise God when thing after thing after thing is going wrong, or not going how we wanted or thought it would go? Will you still praise Him? Will you trust Him? Be inspired in your faith as you listen to David and Tesia share the story of their first birth, which is honestly so much more than a birth story. It’s a story of their faith and God’s faithfulness, of their weakness and His strength, of their frustration and His peace, from conception to pregnancy to labor to post...

When you get to marry a chiropractor…you’re going to want to have a home birth! And that’s just what happened for Angeline when she married Mitch. Thankfully she didn’t have to convince him to get on board with a home birth like a lot of other wives out there, instead he was already made aware of the risks to mom and baby that come along with choosing a hospital birth, so much so that whenever any doubts would arise in her mind, he was the one to remind her that everything was going to work out just...

As a first-time mom, things were going very smoothly for Emily. After getting pregnant quickly, she wanted and planned and prepared for an unmedicated hospital birth. She took a great in-depth class, read books and hired a doula. Then during a prenatal, she met a doctor who liked to focus on the fact that C-Sections=Safety. Not something a mom planning a vaginal birth needs to be focusing on. Then, when she went into labor, out of all of the providers at her office, who happened to be on call? The C-Section-happy doctor. You won’t believe some of th...

Sometimes it takes several births to learn what God has been trying to teach you all along-that His ways are above our ways, that His plans are better than our plans, and that if we would just sink into that promise and let go of the reigns, that we could trust Him to know and do what’s best. Inara finally had this revelation after her fourth birth, after a long and complicated fertility journey, and after several pregnancies and losses that left her incredibly sick. While she’s now found contentment living in the present, she’s excited for a...

Have you ever been anxious about having a miscarriage once conceiving? What about the results of an ultrasound that said something other than what you expected to hear? Have you ever been anxious approaching labor, unsure how you were going to get through it? And postpartum-what happens when your hormones are all over the place, it’s nighttime, you’re alone, and awake AGAIN with a crying newborn who’s struggling to breastfeed? What do you do? Who do you turn to in order to battle this feeling of anxiousness? My best friend, Taylor Hayes, who has walked this road f...

At 18 years old, before you’re ready to start a family, you’re told that you have cancer and that you’ll have a very hard time getting pregnant one day so you should just plan on doing IVF. Then, you find out that your test results got mixed up with somebody else's and that none of those things are true! Would you be able to fully trust the medical establishment after that? At 36 weeks into her first pregnancy, Aileeah decided to switch to a home birth, a place where she knew she could relax and trust not only the pr...

What would it be like to hold your baby girl in your arms for the first time after 6+ years of struggling with infertility? Nothing short of a miracle! While Morgan and her husband were so incredibly grateful for God’s gift of their daughter, there were still some less than desirable events that occurred during and shortly after her birth that you'll have to hear to believe! Thankfully, the Lord has grown Morgan’s faith, patience and trust in Him through this entire journey and now her relationship with Him is stronger than ever!

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Most first-time moms who are planning a hospital birth arrive at the hospital too early, and some of them even get sent home, which can be incredibly defeating as a laboring woman wanting so badly to meet her baby. Thankfully, Emily made some really good choices during her pregnancy to prioritize childbirth education and hire a birth doula so she wouldn’t be one of those women. She arrived in active labor at a whopping 9cm and was able to get in the tub right away. Now that’s how it’s done! Emily and her husband George share with u...

When you’ve already had 3 babies and 2 home births, you plan to have your next baby at home as well. But what do you do when your water unexpectedly breaks and there’s thick meconium in it? You have a decision to make. Do you decide to stay at home where you prefer and had planned to birth with the small risk of meconium aspiration, or do you decide to go to your least desirable location, the hospital, just in case? Which decision is God giving you peace about? Find out as Jennifer shares her fourth birth story today and...

This episode is dedicated to my husband, Chris Heeter. He's legitimately the GOAT (and he also taught me what the GOAT meant)! He turned 40 this weekend and I wanted to take the time to celebrate HIM! So this episode is all about how amazing of a husband he is through pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding and fatherhood in general. This episode could have easily been 40 hours long, but I tried to keep it to around 40 minutes or so and just give you the tip of the iceberg. We'll be back to our regular birth stories next week, but after 140...

How do you know you’re pregnant without taking a pregnancy test? How about God simply tells you that you are. That’s the kind of trust and faith that Kayla had with the Lord from the start of her pregnancy, and it would carry her throughout the entire 9 months, from a subchorionic hemorrhage to a last minute change in her birth plan and location, He would carry her. Your perspective on your birth and your choice to surrender holds so much more weight in your experience than whether or not your birth plan unfolds the way you thought it w...

Sometimes all it takes is one person’s recommendation and you taking it to change your perspective on everything. That’s what happened to Amelia when she read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. So she went on to hire a doula and plan a natural childbirth, but unfortunately, her care providers would bully her into an induction, and one that lasted three days. Between a nasty tooth abscess and root canal a mere few days before she would be induced, to a long induction process, Amelia was exhausted. But when her baby finally came, she would be overjoyed, and al...

When Kathleen was pregnant for the second time, she was understandably anxious about the impending delivery, but this time, per her therapist’s recommendation, decided to hire a doula and went to a different hospital to deliver, and her journey was redeemed in every way. Postpartum became challenging though, not because of her newborn, but because of her toddler who was recently discovered to be on the spectrum, and figuring out how to juggle the two would be difficult for anybody. But God has given Kathleen the perspective of joy amidst it all!

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When you get sent home from the hospital during your first labor because you're only 1.5cm dilated and told you’re in early labor, it can be quite confusing to know when to come back. Poor Kathleen ended up laboring all alone, all night long, thinking she was just in early labor, then shows up to the hospital the next morning, begging for an epidural, only to find out she was actually fully dilated and ready to push. This all sounded great, until her delivery experience was decided for her from the hospital staff in the room, which lead to...

Today we'll dive into three more birth stories from my time as a doula. I'll walk you through what it was like for me to support these moms during their labors. First up is the story of the very first birth I ever attended as a doula in training, and the old school doctor whose routines I found absurd. Next, a long labor of a long gestation pregnancy that could have easily ended in a C-Section had this mama chose an OB for her provider, but thankfully her midwives were trying to keep their C-Section rate low, but I...

When you're wanting a more holistic birth but decide to go to the hospital with an OB care team, things may not turn out how you envisioned. So for your second birth you hire hospital midwives, thinking that will be better, but then realize they’re not that much better than the OB’s. But then in the midst of your labor, you accidentally have your baby on the side of the road, just you and your husband, and you realize that you never needed the hospital anyways, only God and His angels, so you land on a planned home...

When you’ve only ever given birth outside of the hospital and with midwives…what would it be like to have to birth in the hospital with high risk OB’s? In the state of California, where Breanna lives, midwives are not permitted to deliver twins outside of the hospital setting, and must work alongside an OB. So when Breanna found out she was having twins, she realized she’d be having a different kind of experience than her first two babies who were delivered at a birth center and at home. She still wanted to have a natural, unmedica...

After having her first two babies in Tennessee, where home birth was more affordable, Lycie and her husband had since moved out to northern California where midwifery was not only way more expensive, but the midwives were also not in line with her faith in Jesus. This led her to feeling obligated to plan a hospital birth, something she never dreamed of doing! But this time around she was committed to surrendering all of her birth plans to God, and she was pleasantly surprised that by putting her faith and trust in Him, He had planned a birth even...

When you grow up with a midwife as your mother, and you and your siblings were all born at home, planning a home birth for your first doesn’t seem strange at all. And it wasn’t for Lycie and her husband. While it was long, all was going well until the midwife realized how badly she had torn, and felt better about sending her to the hospital for her repair. That’s where the trauma started, the moment they called 911. From the EMT staff to the nursing staff to the OB staff, she was met with unpleasant encounter after...

So you just had a home birth...what do you do next? 

If it isn't obvious already, home birth is starkly and vastly different than a hospital or birth center birth. But is it any different immediately following the birth?

In today's topical episode, Kayla discusses the following topics regarding home birth:

- What to do when the birth is over

- The legality of home birth (Is home birth legal?)

- Providing proof of pregnancy

- Processes for getting birth certificates and social security cards. (NC s...

The twists and turns that can take place in our lives as God leads us from one season to another are astounding. From leaving religious cults, and trying to find healing through other churches that then turn around and treat you similarly, even though they’re supposed to be different, that in and of itself is incredibly difficult, especially as you’re trying to seek a deeper relationship with the Lord, but add several pregnancies and children into the mix, and the emotions just get deeper. Then, just when you think you’ve got it all, a great property, great...

How do you react when you never planned on having children of your own, never planned on having the title “mom” or “dad” but then the Lord changes those plans drastically…and little did you know you’d gain three daughters in a 24-hour period? The message here is that God is good, His plans are better than ours, and that we’re able to more fully realize His goodness and mercies when things don’t go according to our original plans. Join us today as we hear Bess’ story of becoming a mother, through adoption and through pregnancy and birth!

S...