Childbirth is a miracle, no matter how it comes about. As I sit and reflect on the weeks leading up to the birth of Ezekiel John, I am continuously reminded of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness. Throughout pregnancy, I had a list of specific prayers that I was asking God for. The biggest prayer request was that the environment at home would be tangibly filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Although my body was designed for childbirth, I knew I didn’t have the strength on my own to have a joy-filled birth…I needed the strength of God to empower me and I needed to surrender to God’s will for this birth.

These were my other specific prayer requests:

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Labor under 16 hours
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Pushing under one hour
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Whole birth process to be done at home
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No tearing
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No hemorrhaging or complications after birth

Healthy + joyful baby, alert without emergency care

Smooth afterbirth (birth of the placenta)

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Easy communication with Ben
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For the right people to make it to the birth, however God wanted to set up a peaceful and supportive environment that was right for me

Monday, April 24th:

 I spent time writing down my thoughts and talking with God. The anticipation I was feeling for this baby to be born was teaching me how our Heavenly Father feels while He anticipates us being born again into His family. My mind and body was feeling so ready to have this baby earthside.

Thursday, April 27th:

I woke up around 7:30 this morning and prepared to watch my 2 month old nephew for a few hours. Around 8am, I went to the bathroom and noticed what looked like my mucus plug. I knew that this could happen even a few weeks before birth so I took note but didn’t get my hopes up, as I was only 38 + 5 weeks along. Fifteen minutes later, I needed to use the restroom again (another sign of the body preparing for labor is looser stools and your body’s urge to clear the way). This time there was bloody show, telling me that my cervix was now preparing. I wasn’t feeling anything else at the time so I went about the normal plans to watch my nephew. My sister-in-law dropped him off around 8:30 am. Slowly, I started feeling Braxton Hicks contractions, which I had experienced on occasion for several weeks. This was a little different though, because they kept going and I was getting more of them than normal. At 9:15, I noted that the tightening of the Braxton Hicks contraction was paired with a very mild period-like cramp. I started writing down the time of each of these sensations out of curiosity. For the next hour, I was feeling them every 5-6 minutes.

Ben works from home but I was avoiding telling him because I wasn’t quite sure yet. But after seeing the consistency and slight increase in the period cramp feeling, I let him in on what was going on. I’ll never forget the excitement in his expression. We decided he should keep working, but let’s be honest, he couldn’t fully focus after hearing this could be the day we had been waiting for. I started getting a couple things cleaned around the house that I wanted done before labor really started.

Ben and I had picked up the birth tub a week prior, but still did not have the correct hose adapter for our shower. We planned to go pick that up once my sister-in-law got back. Gratefully, when she returned around 11:30, I let her know what was going on and she went to get the adapter for us. (Spoiler: I never even used the birth tub) I’m convinced my nephew released some kind of baby hormones to kick my body into gear.

While she was running that errand for us, I folded laundry. At this point I started focusing a little more on my breathing. It was not painful at this time, but I did notice the intensity rise slightly, telling me this was probably it. Ben said he wanted to get a workout in before things kicked in, so I told him if he wanted to do that, he better do it now. He left for a nearby park and 3 minutes later walked back in our door. He had apparently driven around the block and decided to come back to workout at home in case I needed him.

I sat down to eat some lunch and make sure I stayed fueled for what was to come. It was 12:50 when I texted my midwives and let them know. They said to call when I was 4-1-2 or 3-1-1. (Contractions 4 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for 2 hours, or contractions 3 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for 1 hour). I also called my mom. The plan was for her to fly in from Nashville on May 6th, the day before my estimated due date. She answered the phone and said “Please don’t tell me you’re in labor.” She has that mother’s intuition. I told her what was happening and she was able to hop on the soonest flight to arrive the next morning.

I decided to hop in the shower for a bit. Even though the contractions were not very intense at that point, it felt so nice to freshen up and work through a few waves with the water running down my back. I returned to the kitchen table and sat on the physio ball, moving my hips back and forth, and in circles. Ben sat with me and kept me company. We were feeling so much excitement and anticipation. We talked about the plan to call our midwives when the contractions were following the right patterns. A few contractions later, we looked at the last few hours of data from timing them and we were already at 3-1-1. Ben called our midwife at 2:42pm. She was there within an hour. Interestingly, when she walked in my contractions spread out to about 8 minutes apart for only a half hour or so. I wasn’t surprised because I knew this was a common reaction the innate systems of our body have when the environment changes in any way. It’s a protective response. I quickly got back on track and the waves would come every few minutes again.

At this point, I was really focusing on breathing through contractions. My goal was to relax every muscle and imagine my body opening and releasing. I would envision the motion that the uterus muscle was making and hold close the knowledge that each contraction was progressing me towards meeting my baby. Going into labor, one weird insecurity I had was being too vocal. In the moment though, it was what came naturally. Around this time, I started to be vocal and let out deep moans/groans with each contraction. It helped me relax my muscles and released energy in a way that otherwise would have been building tension in my body.

While still at the kitchen table on the birth ball, Ben played my worship playlist I had made specifically for labor. He also read me the affirmations and verses I had written down in preparation for this time. I remember focusing on calming every muscle and letting God’s truth seep into every part of me. I don’t remember many specific songs except for “In Christ Alone / Cornerstone / The Solid Rock” by Caleb and Kelsey. The words spoke to my soul in that moment:

"When fears are stilled, when strivings cease,

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand."

So much of my prep work going into labor was preparing my mind by learning the physiology of birth and removing any fear. I knew I had to surrender control and trust God was bringing about the most precious miracle. Instead of fighting my body and being in a protective fight or flight mode, I allowed myself to feel the work my body was doing. I allowed myself to rejoice in the situation rather than fear it. I’m so thankful I did all this preparation because the next phase really ramped things up.

Ben asked me if I wanted to go lie on my side in bed. I said “No, that hurts.” (I had tried previously and it was NOT comfortable.) My midwife said that was a good thing and it would help progress me. I agreed to give it a try. I spent the next two and a half hours in bed on my side, squeezing Ben’s hand and trap muscle with each contraction. I’d like to think I gave him a great massage. We tried counter pressure, but in the moment, I didn’t want anyone touching me. I pressed on my own back occasionally as I was feeling the contractions in my low back. It was getting very warm in the bedroom so I came out to switch positions and stand in front of the AC. I tried the birth ball again. I remember evaluating and being in tune to where my body was at. I don’t know if I could tell you exactly what stage I was in at this point, but I was very confident that I was getting close and the baby was descending.

That is why, around 7:30pm when my midwife said “If it’s okay with you, I’ll go ahead and check you and we can come up with a night plan,” I was a little confused. (Side note: I did not have any cervical checks up to this point so no one had told me how far along I was. I was just following my intuition.) After she said that, I was thinking “Night plan…I don’t think we are going to need a night plan.”

She checked me and said “You’re 10cm. You’re there, there.” Although I wasn’t surprised, I felt relief. At this point, my water had not broken yet, so she suggested sitting on the toilet and pushing with the contractions as I felt my body push. This was one of my goals before labor, to have a physiological pushing phase without anyone coaching me. The first contraction on the toilet, I felt my body feeling a little ‘pushy.’ I worked with it and on that first contraction there was a “pop” and my water broke right into the toilet, avoiding my husband’s main concern of our apartment’s carpets getting destroyed lol. During the pushing phase, I dismissed any creeping fear of what was happening and intentionally worked as hard as I could to make each contraction count. I wanted this baby out! After 30 minutes on the toilet, we decided to switch up positions as that was not an ideal spot to have a baby. Ben sat on the end of our bed, supporting me in a deep squat. I knew we were close. The first contraction there, we could see the head. The next contraction, the head came part of the way out. And let me tell you, I know why they call this the ring of fire! I had to wait until the next contraction to push again. When the next wave came, the head came out and with another two pushes, the body came out…spread eagle. Ben and I both exclaimed, “It’s a boy!” as my groans turned to rejoicing and happy tears. I couldn’t stop marveling at how beautiful and perfect he was. 8:43pm, our son, Ezekiel John Wood was born, changing our lives forever. I will never forget the relief and joy I felt in that moment.

My midwife and Ben helped me lie down in bed and we enjoyed the golden hour with our son. That hour was filled with helping him breastfeed, counting his fingers and toes, and staring in awe at what had just happened.

The afterbirth was smooth and I had very minor tears with no need for stitches. Ben and I reflected on the experience over the next few days and praised God for all the answered prayers. Labor was at home for 12 hours from start to finish, I pushed for only 40 minutes, had a smooth afterbirth, had no complications and we were sitting there bonding with our perfectly healthy and alert baby.

Although it was not easy by any means, I thank God for allowing me to enjoy the process that He so perfectly designed. John 16:21 rings true, “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” Birth does not have to be a fear-filled, dreaded experience. Our sweet Ezekiel John is my daily reminder of God’s faithfulness, protection, and goodness in my life.

The Birth Story of Ezekiel John

Preparing for Second Baby

Second Trimester Recap