Khandra's Story

My daughter, Emery’s birth at The Birth Center was not only magical but blessed. I woke up with some “Braxton Hicks” pain accompanied by some mild back pain on Sunday morning of Jan. 5th. I wasn’t due for another two weeks, although I had kept telling myself she was coming on Jan. 7th I didn’t believe it. I got myself ready and went to church. Before service started my pastor had stopped to chat with me and ask when I was due. They had a gift for me when she was born and wanted to set up a meal train for me. I let him know I wasn’t due for another 2 weeks and that I appreciated everything. Worship started and my pain began to mildly increase. I ignored it and the sermon began. 

Just a few minutes into my pastor speaking the pain ramped up more. I started timing the contractions with an app. I don’t think I heard a word of the sermon that morning. I had about eight contractions within 45 minutes. Still, I just thought this was Braxton Hicks pain that was mildly unpleasant. After the sermon ended and everyone began mingling, I sat through a couple more contractions thinking it would fade. It didn’t and a few women began to notice that I was in obvious pain. One asked me if I was okay and I showed her my contraction timer. She told me she couldn’t say for sure if it was true labor but it certainly looked like it to her. Then she asked me the most important question and that was if I could drive myself home. 

In that moment I realized that I was in enough pain that it didn’t feel safe for me to drive home. I pulled my pastor from a conversation and showed him the contractions I’d had throughout service and said, “I think I might be in labor.” His eyes turned in flying saucers and he asked what I needed in that moment. I told him I needed someone to take me home. I’ve never seen him run but he ran. More people began to notice what was happening and the women of the church gathered around and prayed over me, my baby, and the delivery. 

The youth pastor’s wife looked at me and said, “You were made for this. God designed you to be able to do this. You can do it.” And I believed her. I was brought home and in a whirlwind woke up my husband (he was on night shift) to go get the car. When he came back, we called the midwife line and Courtney answered. She let me know I needed to labor at home until my contractions were a minimum of 3 minutes apart and lasted a minute each. Long story short my contractions never lined up. Because I was still in denial, I told my husband to go back to sleep so he could go to work and a friend came over with her 2 month old son. She stayed with me until 9:30pm and helped me labor at home. We did some counter pressure, yoga ball exercises, and curb walking. 

I labored alone the rest of the night until around 6:30am. It was very hard being alone, as my contractions became more and more painful. Despite the pain, I was still in denial that I was in active labor. When my husband got in I cried and he held me while I labored a little longer. Because my phone was on silent I missed the phone call from midwife, Katy. She left me a voice message to which I replied via text that we were on the way. My contractions never lined up—I just thought I was being over dramatic about the pain. We arrived at The Birth Center Monday morning around 9:30am. I’d never been so happy to see Katy than I was in that moment. She performed a cervical check and announced I was 5cm dilated. I felt so much relief finally being there that I was able to relax into my contractions with more ease. 

Birth Assistant Grayson attended my labor and delivery. Kristin was also present towards the end. I was in and out of the shower several times. The heat from the water and movement helped with the pain. I used the peanut ball on the bed. At first it was comfortable until I had to do it on the other side too. That wasn’t so fun. I moved around the room swaying, singing and listening to my worship playlist. Around 1pm, Katy did another cervical check and announced I was 9cm dilated and could get in the water. My husband called our new friend, Paige who photographed the birth of our daughter. She was absolutely incredible and helped me throughout the rest of my labor and captured the most precious moments. 

When I was in the water I was able to relax more fully which I believe stalled my labor a little, but I was still grateful to have that experience. While I was in the water, the song Hosanna played—it wasn’t on my playlist. I began to worship and felt the Holy Spirit wash over me. I prayed aloud in my heavenly language. I’ve never felt so much peace than I did in that moment. I didn’t feel pain for what felt like an hour. I felt as if it was our Heavenly Father giving me more rest & strength to bring my daughter into the world. 

Eventually, Katy suggested I get out of the tub because we wanted to keep my labor moving. I got onto the bed and pushed on my back for a bit until we decided that wasn’t working. I struggled to push because I didn’t understand how to push correctly and needed Katy to coach me. It was all hands on deck at this point. I was on my side and Paige, Kristin, Grayson and my husband all held my hands or my legs while Katy broke my water for me. I pushed my daughter out until about her eyebrows. When they struggled to hear her heartbeat Katy looked at me and said, “This is your last push. Give it all you got.” It certainly was not my best push, given that I was losing my strength. 

Katy being the rockstar that she is, did the rest of the pushing for me. My daughter’s head came out and then Katy pulled out her body. On Jan. 6th  4:24pm, after 30 hours of labor, 5lb and 13oz of perfection laid on my chest. My husband cried and I cried as we welcomed our daughter, Emery, into the world.

Giving birth at The Birth Center was the most beautiful and empowering experience of my life. I knew before I was even pregnant how I wanted to give birth and I am so glad that I trusted my instincts. I had such an incredible care team throughout my pregnancy and delivery. Everyone present at my daughter’s birth was hand-picked by God. The Birth Center is truly anointed and these midwives are doing God’s work! When it’s time for baby #2 I’ll definitely be back!