My Natural Birth Experience - Scratch to Scripture

My Natural Labor & Delivery Experience

The Raw & Unfiltered

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I didn’t fully understand what my body and faith were capable of until I went through natural labor. Leading up to it, I had expectations, fears, and a whole lot of “what ifs,” but nothing could have fully prepared me for what it actually felt like in the moment.

My natural labor and delivery experience didn’t go exactly how I imagined, but it taught me so much about strength, surrender, and the way God carries us through seasons we’ve never walked before. Looking back now, I see both the beautiful and the hard parts with so much gratitude.

Here’s my story—what happened, what I learned, and what I wish I had known before going into it.

The moment we found out

One afternoon at work, while walking a patient back, I suddenly got really lightheaded and my vision blurred for a couple of minutes. It honestly scared me—I had never felt anything like that before. I told my mom, who I work with and who used to be a nurse, what happened. Without missing a beat, she said, “Are you pregnant? You might be… you should take a test.” I brushed it off at first, thinking there was no way—but the more I thought about it, I realized I was a week late.

Also, for the past week or two, I would get off work, and my husband and I would cook dinner and eat together. By around 7 p.m., we’d be sitting on the couch watching TV, and I would already feel ready for bed. I was so exhausted and tired that I could barely keep my eyes open.

After a couple of days of feeling like that, I started to worry something might be wrong. I didn’t even mention it to my husband because I had never felt that way before and didn’t know what was going on. I would feel fine during the day, but around 5 p.m., toward the end of work, I would start yawning, and by 7 p.m. I was ready to be in bed.

When I got home that afternoon, I looked at my husband, told him what happened at work and said I’m going to Walmart to buy a pregnancy test. His eyes got so wide lol. I bought the two pack; one that says “PREGNANT” “NOT PREGNANT” and the ones that leaves lines to tell you.

I read the instructions very carefully making sure I didn’t mess this up. You know how it says “can take 5-10 minutes” well…within less than a minute the lines appeared pregnant. I take the digital one and again within less than a minute it says “PREGNANT”

I was shocked and excited, but also couldn’t quite believe it. So many emotions and thoughts were running through my head all at once. I told my husband, who was sitting on the couch, and he just smiled—completely shocked and speechless. Then he said, “It’s going to be a girl. I don’t know why, I just have a feeling.”

The next day, I went to Pregnancy Resources to get another test done so I could know for sure whether I was really pregnant or not. I had read online that they did blood tests, so I wasn’t expecting what happened. When I got there, I filled out paperwork and was taken back, only to be handed a cup to give a urine sample. I remember thinking, I already did this at home… how is theirs any more accurate than mine?

She dropped my urine onto the test with a small dropper right in front of me, set it down, and started taking off her gloves to wash her hands as she said, “This can take up to 10 minutes.” Before she even had a chance to dry her hands, she looked up and said, “You’re pregnant.” Tears immediately filled my eyes—out of joy, but also a little bit of fear.

All the emotions

I’m excited, nervous and scared but again also kind of freaking excited and if I’m being honest, I didn’t think my husband and I would ever have kids. We both didn’t plan on it, not that we didn’t like kids…just didn’t WANT kids like most couples do.

The first weeks weeks after finding out, I experienced my highs (this is going to be great, I’m going to be a great mom, ahhh what cute summer pregnancy clothes should I get) and then the lows…(I can’t do this, I’m gonna fail, our baby deserves better, we aren’t parent material..) the highs and the lows comes and goes but eventually I stuck with the highs. I focused on staying positive and honestly I prayed and talked to God a lot and I mean a lot.

I came to believe God wants us to have this baby, this is what he has in store for the next chapter of our lives and so I kept praying for a smooth and healthy pregnancy and labor. Over and over I just kept going to God with my fears, and my wishes.

My Weekly Doctors Appointment

To start the appointments as most moms know it goes; every 4 weeks the 2 weeks then weekly until labor. Appointments were smooth, and quick. Thankfully I had a very smooth pregnancy, if my belly wasn’t growing so much you wouldn’t know I was pregnant.

I chose a midwife that worked under a OBGYN. We discussed my natural birth plans. Weeks go by and you know how they do a urine sample every visit, well at one point my midwife said “Hey I noticed a little tiny bit of bacteria starting (UTI) I think we should start some antibiotics” I’m freaked out of course because I’m very holistic and didn’t want antibiotics but also worried about my baby.

I asked my midwife if I could try for 1 week my natural remedies and if they don’t work, I’ll start the antibiotics. She said no… I picked up the antibiotics…contemplated for the rest of the day …thousands of side effects were listed even says if 37 weeks pregnant don’t take. But oh, okay just cause I’m 24 weeks it’s okay. Like really? At the end fear got in my head, I was worried for the safety of my first unborn baby… I didn’t know how seriously this UTI problem could be (never even had a UTI before that I know of)

Ultimately I started to take them because they scared me into thinking my baby was going to get sick if I wasn’t going to take the antibiotics, I had only taken 2 pills – 12 hours apart, I ended up having a terrifying dream the first night that I couldn’t completely remember but when I woke up I told my husband it was scary and I felt like God was telling me to stop taking the antibiotics. That morning I threw them in the trash can- I said NO MORE…

That day I did start my natural remedies to try and keep the UTI at bay or lower the bacteria amount. I started to drink 8oz of cranberry juice every day, tons of water, and was eating raw garlic daily.

I ended up going to natural grocers, they have a health coach and I told her everything I just told you guys; she recommended a pro and a pre-biotic so I started taking that, after I finished the one she recommended I switched to another brand because she said your body can get used to the bacteria in it so switching it helps. I’ll list those below!! Then she went on to saying the cranberry juice for sure, what I read is it makes your bladder slippery so the bacteria from the UTI can’t hold on it or grow so drinking tons of water flushes it out. Raw garlic is a natural antibiotic (raw not cooked) cooking garlic takes away the benefit to it.

I have a friend I was telling all this to, and she introduced me to black garlic. She said it is 1000x more powerful than regular garlic and that you can never take too much garlic, it won’t hurt you. So that day I went and bought black garlic capsules, and I swear I took 4 a day (I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to keep my baby safe)

It’s time for my next doctor’s appointment; my midwife asks, “so I know you were reluctant on taking the antibiotics, but did you finally take them?” Can you imagine the look on her face when I said No, I didn’t …well I did 2 pills then stopped because I had a scary dream and I felt like God was telling me to stop taking them so no I didn’t…

The look on her face…she was irritated. You could tell she was trying not to get too upset. She then goes on to say that the number of bacteria was lower than when she would normally prescribe antibiotics but wanted to because it was slowing getting higher… seriously she was over here making me scared thinking who knows what… She asked what I was doing instead; I told her my plan, and she said we are testing your urine today and if the bacteria is higher you need to start antibiotics.

I just looked at her and said if the bacteria levels are the same (since you said you normally wouldn’t even give antibiotics at this low) or lower then I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, and she said okay that’s fine. You could tell she wasn’t happy but understood.

My next appointment I knew the test results of my urine sample the bacteria levels were lower than originally, they posted the results on our portal website, so I knew going into the appointment my midwife wasn’t going to try to convince me to take anymore antibiotics, but I wasn’t expecting her to not say a word about it…

I mean she didn’t even say “hey your test results were lower than before, so I guess what you are doing is working” not one word…like she was salty, which if I undermined her, I’m sorry but she’s a midwife and she knew I was wanting a natural pregnancy and birth. Even working under the (doc) she might have HAD to try to get me to, but I wouldn’t think she would be upset with me not doing it and that the natural way was working she should have been happy I would think?

My water braking

I wanted my water to break at work; I wanted to text my husband an “the office” meme where Michael Scott is pretending to have a baby… cause my husband wouldn’t know whether I sent it to be funny or if that meant it’s GO time lol.

I was told my water breaking would feel like I peed myself, except hot! So that’s what I was waiting for.

This is what happened instead, 4 days before my due date; it’s 4am and I had to pee so I got up and went to the bathroom, got in bed; trying to fall back asleep then about 30 minutes later I felt pee coming out of me so I jump up so fast because I was afraid I was peeing myself and I didn’t want to pee all over the bed, but once I was standing up right it was only enough to trickle a little down my leg. It wasn’t warm at all and wasn’t a lot so I thought it couldn’t be my water breaking right? Didn’t give it much thought cleaned up and got back in bed.

About 30 minutes later again same thing happened…I was like okay let’s check this a little better. I felt the pee on my leg and my vagina and nope wasn’t warm just a little amount like the first time, so I thought okay guess not. Cleaned up, back in bed.

30 minutes again…same thing, but again not warm and not a lot. I definitely was getting suspicious my water had broken but never read anything like this or heard of anyone’s water slowing breaking so I cleaned up and got in bed.

Once again ..same thing small trickle not warm. It’s 6am now and it was about time for me to get up and get ready for work. I’m slowing getting ready and it happens again, this time though it was WARM !! And I thought it’s happened every 30 minutes for the past 2 hours. We should go to the hospital to check. So I text my boss to let him know and he agreed I should go in.

I didn’t want to head straight to the hospital because I’ve heard of people who do and they won’t let them eat or drink anything …so I made sure I was ready ready ! I showered, blow dried my hair. We went and got some breakfast, then headed to the hospital lol.

They have a room where they check to see if your water broke before putting you into your own private room. So, they had me pee in a cup to run a test (I guess to see if there’s water breaking fluid) in the urine. And then the nurse tested herself…felt up there and she said she couldn’t “feel” any fluid and I’m wondering how do you feel fluid…??? But she said that doesn’t mean it didn’t. She said the test can take 20 minutes.

My husband and I are sitting there waiting and I’m telling him I’m worried I’m the girl who cried wolf and we came here for no reason; he’s trying to calm me down and not be embarrassed when all we hear is “YOU READY TO HAVE A BABY” I said really? And the nurse pops her head around the curtain and says “YES; your water broke”

After my water broke

A WAVE of emotions was happening, they started to admit me in now and I had to sign a lot of forms; they were asking all kinds of questions, and I am so emotional everything felt like it was going in one ear and out the other.

We get into our own personal room and yet once again tons of questions and lots of information coming at us, I felt like I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. Once we got all paperwork signed and questions answered, we were sitting there like soooo what now lol

It was like the high wore off and it was a waiting game lol. It was about lunch time and we were hungry, thankfully since I was doing a natural birth, they said I can eat and drink anything I want as long as I don’t get an epidural. So, my husband went and got some Subway so delicious at the moment!!

They said we needed to be moving/ trying something new every 15 minutes for a natural birth to help induce labor. So we went from pumping/ bouncing on ball/ squats to pumping, bouncing and all kinds of things.

Dinner rolls around it’s about 6pm, mom and dad bring lasagna (delicious) I ate so much: they hooked up a Bluetooth monitor to my belly to monitor the baby and my contractions which I really didn’t want but again my first and it was a fear tactic they said they would have no other way to know the baby was okay. So I said yes. You could see when the contractions were happening on the screen and my mom and dad go that’s a big one could you not feel it. I couldn’t but knew it would get worse.

About 10 pm boy oh boy did the pain start… I don’t even know how to describe it (kind of like period pain x1000) The pain was in my lower back and hips, I felt nauseous. I tried swaying my hips with my hands on the bed…I couldn’t tell how much it was really helping. The lower back pain was horrible; I remember the nurse would press on my lower back while I was swaying during the contraction and that seemed to help a little. The only thing had seemed to help me withstand the pain the most was knowing when the contraction was at its peak and when it was starting to go down and when it was over. I don’t know why but know every single one of those levels helped me a lot!! Even though the contractions only last a minute or so …it felt way longer.

I got so nauseous I ended up throwing up twice..there goes dinner. I remember my face leaded into the bag thinking this smelling exactly like lasagna lol.

The night nurse we had was nice…but she couldn’t handle seeing me in pain. She asked if I wanted some (pain medicine) to give me a couple hours of rest so I could sleep cause by now it’s about 1 am. I said no because it’s against my birth plan, an hour or two go by and she asked again saying I would still be going natural and nothing wrong with it; you could even do a half dose smaller and in my head, I’m thinking no no no no stop asking me!!!!! I wanted to say all that, but I knew if I started a-lot of energy would be burnt trying to stand my ground.

But then she hits me with “you could get some sleep and your husband could get some sleep” and I could care less about me getting sleep I knew that I would be experiencing EXTREME pain, but her saying my husband made me look over at him and he looked so exhausted, and what made me feel worse is he wasn’t doing anything, not that he didn’t want to but there was literally not 1 thing he could do for me that would help. He was just sitting there 2-3 am in the morning and has been watching me be in the worse pain I’ve ever been in for hours and couldn’t help me, exhausted and watching his love in pain.

And I felt bad as if I could help it; so I said yes…I took the half dose so that ultimately my husband could get some sleep, and I will say within minutes of her giving that to me the pain was gone and I remember telling my husband goodnight and seeing him lay there blanket pulled to his face (the hospital was probably freezing for him) not me lol. I’m looking at him; honestly happy I could give him however long the pain medication would last to rest. And I feel asleep.

Woke up within 30 minutes with a contraction, shortly after the nurse walks in and she said are you okay? I said yep…just having a contraction and I don’t want to wake my husband up, so I was trying to handle the pain quietly. She asked if I wanted another half dose, I said no but asked if she would stay and talk. For about an hour she sat there talking to me; we talked about God; our husbands, and who knows what else. I ask her if my midwife could fully break my water since it was only trickling and she goes if it hadn’t fully broken, she would have done it. And I’m thinking “uhhh I don’t think it has” but I’m in pain I didn’t want to waste my energy picking a fight with everyone.

My midwife came to check on me and I consulted with her about taking another dose, she convinced me I needed the rest to push later…even if it was for only an hour (took a full dose this time) and back again with handling the contractions.

Once the night nurse switched into the day nurse, I remember telling my morning nurse…my lower back hurts so bad; she goes how long I said all night and she’s like uh why haven’t you said anything???? I did, to the night nurse she didn’t do anything but press on my lower back during contractions. The morning nurse then started saying that means your baby is facing the wrong direction (her face was facing my back and needed to be facing my stomach) and she should have known that we need to flip your baby to face the right way.

She had me on my knees with my hands over the bed, she was on her knees behind me with a towel under my belly holding each side and when the contractions started she had me squat, then she would pull the towel side to side (she goes; this is going to be very painful but bear with me) YES it was very painful, and I remember thinking I’m butt naked because I’m hot and she’s right up behind me. I was a little embarrassed, but I was in so much pain I could care less lol… after 5 times or so of doing that the pain seems to be less on my lower back. We stopped assuming baby flipped.

At one point the midwife came in to check me; she’s checking and says the sack hasn’t fully broken and asked if I’m okay with her doing it? I’m thinking uh yes…that’s what I was asking for hours ago!! Basically, my water broke but my baby’s head was blocking it, so every time she moved her head a little would come out. She goes okay…this is going to hurt and my goodness I actually cried…and I could see the pain on my nurse and midwife’s face…

Around 11 o’clock I remember being in so much pain; I had the hospital bed up vertical, and the foot petals were out so I could stand on them but lean back on the bed. And my mom came in and I opened my eyes because she was trying to talk to me, I could barely open them; just enough to see it was her and I just remember saying it hurts so bad; And I just see tears in her face…and I’m thinking, I’ve got look that bad in pain for her to be crying.

My midwife came in and said hey it’s been 30 hours ..we like to have baby out in 24 hours. We should start you on antibiotics so you or the baby doesn’t get an infection, it’s higher risk past 24 hours. I said no; she goes your 100% effaced but a 9 dilated and wanted me a 10. She said she would wait another hour and check again.

It was the same, she goes we really need to either do antibiotics or pitocin. I told her I don’t want either one. They said if we do the pitocin we can start slow and very low and the moment you are dilated to a 10 we will turn it off.

I don’t even know where to began to explain the kind of pain I was feeling..no epidural, I’m crying, can’t open my eyes. Having to try and decide this…I told my midwife I just care about my baby…idk what to do. And she said that she would do the pitocin because they can control how much to give and they will start low low and slow, and would monitor it. So I went with it.

I remember my nurse saying, if you feel like you are involuntary pushing tell me. 10-20 minutes go by honestly idk 😂 I’m in excruciating pain and cannot tell time. I just remember looking at my nurse saying “I’m involuntary pushing” and she goes “ well don’t “ I said …”lady I can’t help it, you told me to tell you when I can’t help it and I can’t help it that’s what involuntary means !! “ and she goes okay it’s time call the midwife get everything ready.

Go Time

It felt like 100 people were rushing to get everything ready in the room. It was so stressful seeing all that I had to close my eyes. The nurse was so nervous she would have to deliver this baby cause I couldn’t help but push.. lucky my midwife showed up what felt like in 5 minutes.

I remember them telling me to breath, I was in pain and pushing/breathing was hard. I remember my nurse singing a Christian song trying to calm me down.

They wanted me to hold my breath and then push…I remember thinking in my head “yeah no that’s not happening how do I do that?” so when it was time to push while contractions started, I tried my own breathing/pushing. I remember thinking while doing all this “ring of fire, I don’t feel a ring of fire; maybe I won’t” in the middle of a contraction while “pushing” I said “yep…. that’s it that’s the ring of fire, I understand why they call it that…”

My midwife goes “do you want to feel her head ? Sometimes that helps encourage women.” I just said no but was thinking “lady I have encouragement, I want this pain to stop lol

Not that I didn’t care about my baby, but doing a natural birth…maybe everyone else is different but when they are asking me questions like would you like us to video the birth or take pictures ? Or feel your babies head ? Hold a mirror so you can see ? I’m thinking no no no stop and just help me get through this pain.

When I felt my babies head pop out, I honestly thought I was done. I thought her whole body just slipped on out lol. The midwife goes okay one more push and I looked at my husband and said “we aren’t done? “And he goes “no, that was only her head” I keep pushing and finally she’s out.

Since I had no pain medication, I felt everything. And once she was out, she felt like a box of worms down there; strange feeling lol

They immediately throw her onto me, since I wanted skin to skin, I remember feeling so exhausted I just laid back and held her as best as I could. I looked at my husband and said how long did that take. He goes 20 minutes. It felt like an hour or more. I hear the nurses say I have never seen someone do that so well. Your a rockstar lol

That’s my labor and delivery story. It was one of the best and most painful day of my life, but I am so grateful that she’s here and healthy !!

If you feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear your experience too. What was your pregnancy or birth journey like?

Did anything surprise you most about your experience?

And if you haven’t given birth yet, what part of pregnancy/birth are you most curious or nervous about?