This story begins when I first found out I was pregnant and went back to the OB. I was TERRIFIED of giving birth in the hospital. I did not want an epidural, the idea of a c-section was terrifying and I had heard many stories of babies being given shots without permission or taken out of their mom’s room while she was sleeping to do tests on them. But, I was caught up in the middle of the typical OB model, showing up to see my dr when I found out as I was pregnant and just going through the motions.  In my second trimester, I was told to register at Women’s and Children’s and even at 33 weeks I just could not bring myself to do it. The final straw for me though was when I went in for our ultrasound and the OB told me he was measuring so big that she would not let me go past my due date (4/17) and would induce me if I didn’t go into labor by then. That scared me as well. I was already concerned with the treatment I was getting by my OB because she left my hypothyroidism untreated, did not do a follow-up test after I failed my blood glucose screening, and left my bladder infection untreated, so an induction was the final straw in terms of fears for me!

Thankfully, a friend of mine recommended the Natural BirthHouse, so I did a phone consultation and went in to see the BirthHouse and spoke with Kira. I immediately felt at peace when I walked in. Our phone consultation alone convinced me that natural birth was not only an option, but that it could be peaceful, so beautiful, and perfectly safe. In our first appointment with Kira at 35 weeks pregnant, my husband and I felt completely at ease and learned more in that one-hour-and-a-half initial appointment than we learned the whole time we had been cared for by an OB! It was so in-depth! Thankfully Kira re-checked my thyroid levels and blood sugar levels and got me on thyroid medication. We then carefully began planning for a natural birth. I was excited and believed that everything would go right and to plan because I felt that God had guided us over to the Natural BirthHouse, and because our baby boy had already been healed once (During his anatomy scan, some things had been seen to be possibly wrong with him, but I spoke faith and told my boy every day “you’re perfect, you’re whole, you’re loved,” and I believed and prayed for a miracle. We got prayed over at church, and I went to a specialist not long after for an ultrasound. She told us that not only was nothing wrong, but she could not see where they had seen anything that could have been wrong in the first place! This majorly boosted my faith!)

Fast forward to 4/17/24—my due date! I had been having strong contractions for several days, but not steady. I woke up at 7:45 AM and turned onto my side in bed. I felt a trickle come out of me and thought maybe – just maybe – my water broke. I had an appointment that afternoon, but I texted the midwives to check and Jamie called me and said we would test it when I came in. I got to my appointment and Jamie confirmed that yes, my water had broken. This was at 2 PM, so she told me to go eat, walk, be active, take a nap, and try to get myself into active labor. I did all of that, and I got a text from Jamie around 11 PM checking on my contractions. I was still not in active labor, so she said that I could come in at midnight and we would try to kick me into active labor.

We worked with every trick in the book to get my body into active labor…. then around 6 AM I took a nap and slept for almost an hour so I knew something was wrong- the contractions had gotten softer. I was still only about 3 cm. My husband and I went walking and walking and walking to get things moving. At this point my contractions had become stronger again so I was hopeful things would only pick up from here! I bounced on the ball again and walked more and the plan was to recheck me at 7:45. I knew everything would be fine, but when she came in and checked, it wasn’t. I was still at 3 cm and unfortunately still not officially in active labor. Jamie told me I would have to transfer to the hospital and I broke down crying. I was so scared and upset and felt that I had failed my baby.

We transferred over to Lafayette General. The doctor came in, punctured my water bag more and started Pitocin. The nurses were so supportive of me still wanting to have a natural birth, so we all worked as a team to try to get me into active labor while I continued to labor without an epidural.  Around noon, I was 4cm finally – officially active labor, yay! But unfortunately, my baby boy wouldn’t move into the birth canal. I was so exhausted now. I could not keep tolerating the pain of contractions and was worried I would not be able to push when it came time if I didn’t rest. This meant I had to get an epidural so I could rest some so I could hopefully still have a vaginal birth. So I did.

Pitocin was running strong and by 6 PM or so, I was at 6 cm. I got so excited about this progress! Around that time Kira came up after her clinic hours, on her off time, and tried everything she could repositioning me so that baby would move into the canal. It seemed to work some because he would occasionally dip deeper into my pelvis, but then he would have some serious decelerations and we had to discontinue the exercise and he would float back out. In fact, at one point they put oxygen on me because his heart rate crashed for about 7 minutes, and they had a hard time recovering him. This happened a few times actually, but I was out of it because my blood pressure was very low and I was just so exhausted. Even still, I worked with my nurses and midwife to try to get baby down as best I could for hours.

I was finally napping well around midnight on the 19th when baby boy had another deceleration and this time not because he had moved into the canal. My cervix was still 6cm, which meant no cervical change for hours now and on top of all of this he was still staying high in my pelvis. The nurses came in to work with his deceleration and thankfully he recovered, again. At this point, I had to ask my nurse if he was ok, and she was so honest and told me he was ok “for now”, but he was not doing well really and we were getting close to a danger zone. She was so supportive of me and my birth plans and I loved that she allowed me to bring up the C Section as an option instead of pushing it on me. I asked her honest opinion, and she said she would get one now before things got worse.

At 1:09 AM on 4/19, after almost 42 hours of labor, sweet Harvey Sloan was born weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz, 20.5 inches long. He was perfection. I was so grateful. His name means “Battleworthy Warrior,” and I would say it fits perfectly. He fought through so much to be here. My previous OB care had left many things untreated and unfortunately, everything I feared ended up happening in my birth plan. But, Kira and Jamie were incredibly supportive, assuring me that I was making the right decisions and empowering me to know that as a mother I was making the right decisions to keep our baby safe.

When I went into the hospital, I had so much peace, and the peace lasted throughout the process and the C Section. I am so grateful that, in the end, it was completely opposite of what I wanted or thought would happen, but God proved Himself – He kept me through everything I was afraid of, and He gave me peace. He also blessed me with the best treatment team during labor and delivery – in Jamie and Tamara at the BirthHouse, in Kira at the hospital, and with the best nurses I could have hoped for! I learned that while we plan out things, sometimes they do not go as planned, but that can be totally ok too. Everything was orchestrated perfectly, and I had an incredible experience in the hospital. I am eternally grateful for the midwives at Natural BirthHouse for their knowledge, kindness, support, and love. They made me feel back in control of my experience during pregnancy and labor and they guided me through a very scary situation. They are very trustworthy, and my husband and I are so thankful we found them when we did!