Callan Michael's Birth Story

Our sweet baby boy arrived quickly and unexpectedly in the early morning hours of Father's Day - Sunday, June 21st - in an unplanned home birth. So much of his birth was redemptive and an answer to many different prayers throughout my pregnancy. I experienced the fullness of my Father's faithful love and His abundant goodness. But before I get ahead of myself, I want to share some context from the birth of my daughter, my firstborn, to really set the stage before telling you about my second birth experience.

My precious Claire was born in November of 2020. Throughout my pregnancy with her, I believed that a faith-filled birth was possible, but looking back I realize I wasn't fully confident how my birth would unfold. My labor began in the early morning of the 16th with what felt to be menstrual cramping. It ended up stalling mid-day and then picked up again around 10:00 pm that night with consistent contractions. By 7 am the next morning, I was convinced that I was in active labor only to arrive at the hospital to be told that I was only 1 cm and sent home. I left feeling defeated and fearful. During this time, my contractions were very painful and I couldn't hold any food down. I returned to the hospital around 5 pm that evening and was told I had (finally!!) reached 5 cm dilated and could be admitted. I was so fatigued from long labor, no sleep, and little sustenance. I decided to get an epidural a few hours later when I was close to being 7 cm dilated. Even with the epidural, I still had a few "hot spots" of excruciating pain during contractions. At 3:32 am on November 18th, she finally arrived! Thankfully, there were no post-birth complications for her or myself, except stitches in my perineum from tearing.

Although my first labor began spontaneously and required no further interventions (except for the elective epidural), I walked away from that birth experience feeling a bit disappointed and fearful of delivering another baby in the future. However, I also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not God's will for my life to feel paralyzed by fear. He does not want His daughters being bound and enslaved by anxiety concerning childbearing. Childbirth is His design and when we actively choose to renew our minds to His truth, we can be set free to live out His purpose and calling in pregnancy, childbirth, motherhood, and beyond.

One of the most important things I did to prepare for my second birth was to take the time to really discover what God's Word says about childbirth. This involved receiving a heart revelation of God's love for me as my Father, meditating on Scriptures that spoke about His goodness, faithfulness, and tender care, and renewing my mind to the finished work of the cross (which includes all the blessings and promises Jesus secured for us through His death and resurrection). I worked through certain strongholds of fear that had gripped my heart for far too long. I spent time listening to teachings on God's healing nature and experiencing the surety of the New Covenant which is the "better" covenant. I honestly believe that you can't bypass this process of renewing your mind if you want to walk forth in a supernatural pregnancy/childbirth. It aligns you with His Spirit and His Truth.

I took an amazing birth course by my friend, Nissa Andrews, who is a Spirit-filled Doula located in California. Her birth course, Birthing from the Secret Place, was a comprehensive course that embodied all three parts of spirit, soul (mind), and body. Her course touches on every area from Scriptural truths surrounding God's design for childbirth to practical tips for relaxation, breathing techniques, and labor positions. I highly recommend taking her course at the beginning of your pregnancy.

So, let's jump into my second birth story. The plan for baby boy's arrival was for me to labor at home as long as possible and then head over to the birth center to deliver him there. I planned on utilizing the birthing tub to have a water birth. On the way there, we would stop by my sister's house to drop off Claire. Our birth center was located across the street from a large hospital so I felt comfortable with it being a safe option if a transfer was necessary. On Saturday, June 20th I turned 39 weeks. We spent the day with my in-laws at their community pool and then headed out for an early Father's Day dinner together. During this time, I felt some Braxton Hicks, but nothing out of the ordinary from what I had been experiencing for weeks up to this point. Once we got home and started getting ready for bed, I took note that it seemed like my Braxton Hicks were getting a little stronger. By midnight I couldn’t sleep so I decided to use my Braxton Hicks as practice for breathing through contractions for actual labor (I was still in denial that I was in fact in labor). As I laid in bed, I just tried to relax and remove all tension from my body with each contraction. I quickly discovered that I started needing to fully concentrate on breathing through each one and decided to wake my hubby up. We called my midwife just to give her a heads up that my Braxton Hicks were starting to get more intense, but I let her know that I hadn't been timing them. She advised me to lay down and rest and by morning the contractions would most likely be stronger. She told me that I could time some of them before I laid down if I wanted to.

Once I hung up with her, I downloaded a contraction timer. It was now 1:30 am. When I first started timing them, they were lasting for about 60 seconds within a 5-minute interval. After about 40 minutes, they were at a 4-minute interval. Around 3 am, they were at a 3-minute interval and lasting for 60-90 seconds each. Around 3:15 am, my hubby decided it was time to call my midwife back and tell her to meet us at the Birth Center.

He left to load our bags into the car and get Claire buckled in. Before he left, I remember telling him how much pressure I felt in my butt and that I needed to poop (sorry for the tmi). I moved to the bathroom where I had an intense contraction and immediately felt the urge to bear down and push for the first time. I was on all fours and noticed that a few drops of pinkish blood came out during that contraction. I tried to make it downstairs and into the car, but every contraction brought a fierce and intense urge to push. Whereas before I could breathe through contractions, I now needed to grunt and vocalize. It felt like this pushing reflex completely took over during each contraction. As my hubby was backing out of the driveway with my midwife on the phone, an executive decision was made to stay home and have her come meet us there. She promised that she was only 20 mins away and would stay on the phone with us until she arrived.

I made it back inside the house, but only to our kitchen before another contraction hit. I dropped to all fours again between our island and dining table. Victoria strongly urged me from the phone to lay on my side until she arrived because she didn't want the baby to come and hit his head on the floor on the way out. I laid on my side and the next contraction brought a huge pop and a warm gush of my water all over the kitchen floor. At this very moment, my midwife walked in the door right around 4 am.

The next hour brought an intense pushing phase. With every contraction that came, I tried to focus on Jesus. Wave after wave. My body shook with the physical exertion of pushing and sweat poured over my face. As his head descended, I could feel more pressure building. My midwife urged me to sit on the toilet and try to pee because she could feel that my bladder was full. I dreaded getting up and sitting because the pressure was so intense. I couldn’t pee, unfortunately, but the position change helped his head descend even further. I came out of the bathroom and stood once again between the island and dining table. I used the chair backs to support me while I beared down and pushed. At this point, I could really feel his head descending deeper into my pelvis. When it was time for his head to be delivered, I was in a supported squat position with my husband. I remembered to slow down and do some panting breath work to help stretch the skin in hopes that I wouldn't tear again. I felt the sting and burn of the “ring of fire" sensation, but I knew he was almost here! His head was delivered at 5:10 am, but suddenly, I didn't feel a subsequent contraction to deliver the remainder of his body. After a minute or two of waiting, my midwife instructed me to return to all fours and push without a contraction. She needed to get him out. She calmly began to work his shoulder (which was a bit stuck) loose with her fingers and I could feel some tugging behind me. He finally arrived at 5:15 am, all 9 lbs and 4 oz of him right there between the island and dining table (with no tearing)! I was able to hold him, while she rubbed his back to get him to take his first breath. I started violently shaking from the adrenaline dump which lasted for about 30 minutes or so. My placenta was delivered within 5 minutes of baby boy's birth.

Unfortunately, I had more blood loss than expected, so my midwife administered a shot of Pitocin into my thigh to help my uterus contract and slow the bleeding. Once my placenta was delivered, I was able to move to the couch in the living room to rest and start nursing my baby.

My entire labor lasted from about 1:30 am to 5:15 am, with the most intense part lasting for about 2 hours total (3:15-5:15 am). It was the most intense thing I have ever experienced. Although we had an unplanned home birth, my loving Father answered so many prayers during it.

I had worried about how leaving my home would disrupt or stall my birth flow. I had worried about leaving Claire because she's never been away from us overnight. I briefly considered how a medical complication or emergency at the birth center could mean being transferred to the hospital. I also had secretly wanted a home birth all along, but didn't feel confident enough to have one. I had prayed that I wouldn't tear again like I had with Claire. The list goes on, but the Lord worked out each of these details in my birth story as only He can - answered prayer upon answered prayer.

I truly believe that my ability to breathe through my early contractions and be fully surrendered to His Spirit allowed my labor to progress so quickly this time around. I desired to have a fast labor filled with vitality (strength and endurance) and even meditated on the verse from Exodus which talks about the Hebrew women giving birth before the midwives could arrive! Oops! 🤭

I trusted that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13-14) and He would satisfy me with length of days (Psalm 91:6). That I would be sozo'd (Greek word used for saved/salvation/deliverance) through childbirth - that His wholeness, peace, and health would sustain me and my baby (1 Timothy 2:15). He was my Defender, my Protector, and my Help (Psalm 18:1-3). He guarded me and my baby from all evil and calamity (Psalm 121:5-8). These truths kept me steadfast and grounded.

I made a carousel on Instagram that includes all of the Scriptures I mediated on during pregnancy to prepare for a faith-filled childbirth. Head over to my Instagram page by clicking here to save it for your upcoming birth!

If, like me, you're believing for redemption in your birth story, my prayer for you is that you would allow the love of your Father to permeate your heart, renew your mind, and strengthen your body. You were designed to birth in strength, blessing, and peace.

Meet our sweet boy, Callan...

His name is special because it came in a dream I had the night before our anatomy scan before we knew he was a little boy. My hubby's mom passed back in 2019. In the dream I had, I found myself in a dark ultrasound room as we found out our baby was a boy, I could hear Kathleen, Brett’s mom, call our son, Cullen. By the end of my dream, Cullen had morphed into the name Callan. I had never heard of that name before. I didn't tell my hubby about the dream and the next morning, we headed to our anatomy scan. Once we discovered we were in fact having a little boy, I decided to google the two names - Cullen and Callan. What I discovered is that they're both of Irish origin, which is significant because Brett's mom was of Irish descent. She lovingly called my hubby, "Handsome" as a nickname and I was shocked to discover that Cullen means "handsome." It definitely felt like a "God-wink." I then googled Callan, also of Irish origin, and found that it meant "Powerful in Battle." We decided on the middle name, Michael, to honor Brett's maternal grandfather and we loved that it means "Who is like our God."

We pray that this little boy will be a mighty warrior for the Kingdom of God. He is already so loved and adored by his family. 🤍

With love from my home to yours,

Kate

Please comment and let me know if my birth story has encouraged you. I’d also love to hear your experiences surrounding childbirth. If you have a story of redemption, tell us about it below! Let’s give our Heavenly Father all the glory!

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