This fourth pregnancy and birth was a culminating step in a transformation that had been unfolding in my life for the past several years toward a more holistic and intuitive understanding of health and wellness. Once I began to see the body in this new light—the light of God’s design, discernible through human understanding and intuition—it was impossible for my view of birth to remain unchanged. I’d previously had three hospital births without an epidural, and by the third o

Our official due date was Christmas day. I fully expected he’d arrive a 1-2 weeks early or within 1-2 days before or after Christmas, as that was my previous pattern. Baby one came two days after her due date, baby two came one day before his due date, and baby three came two weeks before. So I truly expected this baby to come somewhere around 38 weeks through just a couple days past Christmas. When we made it through Christmas, I was actually relieved. We still had parties t

Prior to the birth of my sixth child, I had five hospital births. Three were unmedicated, two were medicated (rupture of membranes, pitocin, epidural), all vaginal deliveries with no complications. I've always loved and appreciated physiological labor and birth, so I had considered using a birth center before, but for some reason or another it never worked out. One thing I never really considered was a home birth. I think when you get into the groove with one kind of birth, y

For a long time I have struggled with the fear that surrendering and entrusting something to God will always lead to more pain and...

“I need you to get out of the water.” I looked up at my midwife, cradling one fresh, wrinkled wet baby on my stomach above where the...

I have heard before that the labor and birth of a baby deeply resembles the Passion, but I have never understood it so intimately until...