This is a birth story, but I also want this to showcase how God is alive and active in the lives of those who love Him. He still speaks to us and this is an invitation for you to draw near to him. Faith without works is dead and I feel like that scripture captures what I experienced in this birth and leading up to it. As I came to learn what God‘s word actually says about childbirth and the promises that are actually laid out in His word for us as believers in the new covenant in Jesus Christ, it was hard NOT to partner with His promises in faith. And what resulted was truly so beautiful.
Desires For a Home Birth
I wanted a home birth badly after feeling like my previous birth resulted in an induction and 24 hours labor because of intervention-focused medical practices. Everything seemed to be lining up to have insurance cover the homebirth, but I kept getting a check in my spirit that this might not be what I was supposed to do. I wholeheartedly believe that this had less to do with where a person should and should not give birth and more to do with a trial of faith that the Lord wanted to bring me through. I had a lot of fear surrounding a hospital birth that it seemed the Lord wanted me to work through. Finally, after a big wrestling match with the Lord in prayer, I asked Him where He wanted me to deliver. He said in a hospital. I asked Him why, and His response was simply, “For my glory.” Despite still not wanting a hospital birth, I felt peace. I decided to trust that God was going to do something special through this birth.
Learning about Supernatural Childbirth
A few months later, I learned about Supernatural Childbirth, a book by Jackie Mize. After watching a few testimonies on YouTube, I ordered the book. The night I got it, I tore through it in a matter of hours! The foundation that she stood on for her supernatural childbirths (she had 4!) was that the curse God placed on Eve in Genesis 3:16, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children,” was fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross and the atonement that was made. In Galatians 3:13 it says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—”. She outlines through scripture how the curse has been broken, and that by faith we can experience childbirth the way God originally intended it to be – a joyful partaking in bringing forth new life.
My First Healing Miracle
My faith was so stirred that night that I prayed a brave prayer. I’d been dealing with severe lower back pain since the start of my pregnancy to the point that I was going to physical therapy twice a week. I needed to sit during worship on Sundays, and I struggled to lift my toddler into the car from the pain. So in faith, I prayed in faith that I would be healed and wake up pain free the next morning. If Jesus really broke off the curse of sickness, disease, and childbirth pain, surely my back pain would be no trouble for Him.
Sure enough, in the morning I had no back pain. I danced around the living room, my three year old on my back, praising the Lord with tears streaming down my cheeks. I had barely been I was overwhelmed by the love of God, that He still heals, and it felt like confirmation that He was going to show me His supernatural way of childbirth so long as I would give Him my faith. I went to my physical therapy appointment that week and my physical therapist confirmed that she could feel a difference in my body – the tight muscles had relaxed and my bones were properly aligned again. Praise the Lord! And I got to share this testimony with her as well!
Renewing My Mind in God's Truth
Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." I knew that it was critical during my pregnancy to renew my mind according to the truth of God's word and what I believed it promised. One of the best tools I came across was the Christian Hynobirthing app and courses. I was initially skeptical because of the term "hynobirthing" and didn't want to be mixing anything New Age into my birth prep. After doing some research, however, I found that what they actually teach is Romans 12:2, renewing your mind through mediation on God's truth. I was sold! While I didn't end up purchasing a course, I used their app and listened to the tracks every night before bed, as well as during my labor. The audio birth meditation tracks have faith building scriptures and affirmations based on God's word, and it was so powerful to have those reminders playing during the labor process. And because I had listened to them every night before falling asleep, I had built a positive association with rest and peace and it took me back to that centered place during my contractions.
If you use the links above with code CALEIGH at checkout, you'll get 20% off any course and I'll receive a small commission to support this ministry which won't cost you a thing. Learn more about Christian Hynobirthing at the end of the post!
Supernatural Naming of Our Baby
About halfway through my pregnancy, we still hadn’t picked out a name. There was something so special about this baby, and naming him seemed too significant to do without God’s help. So I prayed and asked the Lord to give us the name for the baby. About a week later, I was sick and running a fever, so I called my husband to see if I should go to the ER. He said I should go back to sleep and we would see how things were in the morning. I asked him to pray over me, and then I went back to sleep. In the morning, he shared with me that once we got off the phone, he felt led to keep praying and worshipping. This turned into several hours of prayer and worship, during which he felt the Lord drop into his spirit the name Asher. Asher means happiness and blessing, and couldn’t be more suitable for this sweet baby, and at the time it felt so special for so many reasons.
Due Date, Supernatural Confirmation
Fast forward to the end of pregnancy, I’m 8 months pregnant and I feel a prompting in my spirit to be specific in my requests to God. Have you ever prayed a prayer that sounded like surrender “God, whenever you want to, however you want to” but in your heart you knew you were leaving room for the disappointment of him not showing up at all? I knew He wanted to grow my faith. So I asked the Lord for a specific due date. 7/23. God often speaks to me through numbers which take me to places in his word or in the Strongs concordance. The Strongs reference G723 is the word “plow”. It only appears one time in Luke 9:62 “But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” My due date was 7/19, so 7/23 would be after I knew the baby would be ready, and this was a number the Lord had shown me so many times to direct my steps. It held a lot of significance so that’s what I prayed for. Only a few days later in my reading time, I got confirmation from Him.
The bible reading plan I was on had me reading from three different tabs I’d placed in my bible, cutting it into equal thirds. My first tab landed me in Genesis 30 where Asher, one of the sons of Jacob (aka Israel) is born to Leah, Jacob’s unloved wife. Before this, I knew Asher was one of the sons of Jacob, but I’d never known which wife he was born to. My husband and I got pregnant during our separation, which is still ongoing at the time this was published, so reading this felt like one of those moments when you know beyond a doubt that God sees you. In Genesis 30:13 it says, “And Leah said, "Happy am I! For women have called me happy." So she called his name Asher." My next reading tab took me to 2 Chronicles 7, where Solomon dedicates the newly built temple to the Lord. After his prayer, the glory of the Lord falls and burns up the offering and His glory fills the temple.
AND THEN. I almost fell out of my chair. Verse 10 says “Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy in heart because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, to Solomon, and to His people Israel.” 7/23.
Supernatural Birth Story
So a couple of weeks before my due date, I started having strong contractions. Because this was my second pregnancy, I knew what labor contractions felt like, but I was induced with my first son, so I didn’t really know what the pattern of contractions would look like if I went into labor naturally. I had several false alarms where I knew my body was preparing for birth but things would taper off by the evening time.
Then, on July 22, I woke up around 4am to contractions that felt different. I laid in bed noting the timing and they were coming pretty consistently and under 10 minutes apart. I felt prompted to text my husband but I didn’t want it to be another false alarm. I got up, went to the bathroom, and in prayer asked the Lord for a word. Because I’d been praying for the 23rd to be the due date, I wasn’t sure if labor really was happening. But I heard “Jeremiah 13:11”, so I looked it up. It says, “For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that they might be My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.” It spoke straight to my heart. He had said many months prior that this birth would be for his glory. And this is all that He was asking of me - to cling to Him. The sermon that Sunday, just the day before, was also speaking about obedience, so I was getting the picture loud and clear. I needed to cling to the Lord, to listen to His voice, and obey, and I would see His glory.
I went back to bed and texted my husband. He later shared that he had woken up on his own at 4am and realized his phone was completely dead. Right after it turned back on, he got the text from me that I wanted him to come over. I felt the Lord prompt me to take communion and to ask him to join me. Shortly after he arrived, around 5:30, we prayed and blessed this delivery and remembered all that Jesus did on the cross, through the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood. Somehow, 2 more hours quickly passed while I labored around the house and slowly packed the last bits for my hospital bag. There was no rush, my contractions were strong and a bit crampy but not painful, and I had complete peace. By 7:30, I felt the nudge that it was time to go to the hospital. I had been praying for a pain-free labor, so I knew I couldn’t rely on pain levels to determine when I should go to the hospital, but I had asked the Lord to have my water break as the sign that it was time. I’m glad that I listened to that nudge, because if I would have waited for my water to break, Asher would have been delivered at home. But I had prayed that no spirit but the Holy Spirit would be with me, and so I trusted that God was telling me it was time. We woke up our son to say goodbye to him, something I had hoped to get to do.
Another thing I’d been praying for was that I would have enough time to get to the hospital and get settled in without rushing before the baby came. So we packed up in the car, drove to the hospital, got to triage, and I was 6cm dilated. In my first labor, I had stalled out at 6cm in so much pain and got an epidural after laboring for nearly 20 hours, so I started crying tears of joy at this news. I wasn’t in pain, though contractions were intense and somewhat uncomfortable, and my body was opening up easily and getting ready for the birth. What a praise! They checked us into our room and got us all set up, and by this time, it’s around 9:30. My nurse tells us she’ll be back in a bit to check on me. Her parting words were, “You seem to be progressing quickly, so we’ll probably have a baby by noon!” Little did she know just how quickly things were progressing. As soon as she closed the door, I had a contraction that was very different from the ones before, and I felt burning, like the ring of fire burning. It seemed impossible that I’d be at that stage so quickly, but I knew from the training videos I’d seen that it meant things were happening. So I told my husband to call the nurse back in and waddled to the bathroom to see about getting in the shower for some pain relief. Shortly after, I had another contraction with the craziest urge to push, and my body pushed down so hard my water broke. I heard a massive splash and panicked thinking the baby might be in the toilet.
By this point, the pain is strong, and I have no idea how close I am. In my mind, I’m telling the Lord that I thought it wasn’t supposed to hurt and I didn’t know how long I could handle it. I try to stand up and get back to the bed but the urge to push is so strong with each contraction and everyone is a little panicked and telling me not to push until the doctor is there. After a couple minutes of shuffling, the nurse and my husband practically carried me to the bed where I got on all fours. The doctor arrived and wanted me on my back and wanted to check me, but I had my hand down there and could feel that his head was there. In the moment, I didn’t know if that meant that I was fully dilated, so I was afraid to push and tear. The doctor insisted that I push and that within 2-3 pushes he would be out. With the next contraction, as they were trying to reposition me, my body bore down strongly and I felt his head come out. The next surge came shortly after, and out came his shoulders, and then his body. They handed him to me and I pulled him to my chest, a beautiful, healthy boy with strong lungs. My sweet Asher was here.
From the moment my water broke to the time of his delivery was 8 minutes. While I would not count my birth as completely, 100% pain-free, I would say that only experiencing 8 minutes of pain is supernatural by most standards. God was so so good, and his design for birth is so good. I look forward to future births, Lord willing, where I can experience even more of His supernatural power. My encouragement is this: have faith. Dream big with God and stand on His promises. You’ll be amazed what God can do when we choose to trust him and take a leap of faith.
Ps. While I may have been “wrong” about the due date, his birth lined up perfectly with what the verse actually said. On July 23, 7/23, we went back to our "tent" rejoicing and happy in heart because of the goodness of the Lord.
About Christian Hypnobirthing
When we feel relaxed and connected to God, and our baby, birth truly can be a wonderful and spiritual experience.
Creator of the five-star rated app 'Christian Hypnobirthing', Tara Menzies, brings you the Faith-Filled Childbirth Course, an in-depth antenatal training course, to work alongside the Christian Hypnobirthing relaxation tracks, to help you feel confident and informed about birth. This includes:
Over 4 hours of childbirth educational video content
BONUS 1 Month Free Subscription to the Christian Hypnobirthing App
BONUS Christian Hypnobirthing Printable Birth Affirmation Cards
BONUS 3 hours of interviews with birth professionals including midwife Nancy Pol from Emergence Midwifery, physical therapist Dr Laura Gordey from Plus One Physical Therapy and CEO of the FASTer Way nutritionist and personal trainer Amanda Tress!
Christian Hypnobirthing app links: Apple & Google Play
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