Caleb’s Birth Story

It brings me tremendous joy to be able to write this blog and share this incredible birth of our rainbow baby. How can I not get tears in my eyes every time I get the honor and privilege of writing a new birth story blog?  God has been so good, in the midst of so much pain we experienced the year before, there is still joy on the other side. The events leading up to this birth speak volumes, so I thought I’d give you the full picture…

 

Wednesday 8/14

I did the bed time routine with Major & Amari. While it was hard to do at 39 weeks pregnant, it also felt so right and so serene. This was unusual because usually it is a struggle and quite chaotic to say the least. This was my first sign that things were coming to a close and that baby was near…

Me and the boys laughed so much, we played this night peacefully, we had silly fun when my belly accidentally bumped Major in the face. It was the perfect final evening with just me & my first boys. 

That night when getting ready for bed, I noticed a tiny gush. I thought it was odd, as I’ve never felt that before with my others. I told my midwife & my doula, and we proceeded with daily life! 

 

Thursday 8/15

My husband worked from home, as I continued to feel different…like my body was preparing and prepping. I had some Braxton hicks and cramping on and off, a little more gushing but barely any fluid came out. So I rested, I did the Miles Circuit, and went about the day. 

 

Friday 8/16

I knew this day felt different and I can’t sit here and say “oh I knew it was happening” because I truly didn’t. Unlike my first birth with Major, where I truly did know it was happening the next day…this was not the same. I didn’t know but I had this comforting peace in my spirit from the Lord about the birth itself. 

I woke up moving very slow that morning, and started actually feeling a little fluid leakage as I started moving about but no contractions. I went about my day, did some skincare, sat outside with my family went to the chiropractor for the best adjustment, picked up groceries, did the Miles Circuit and curb walking up the stairs. 

It’s funny because while I was at the chiropractor, I said to someone there, “I bet if I had 10 really good strong contractions, he’d come right now” LOL and I wasn’t wrong but we’ll get there 😉 …

Around 4:30PM I made some chicken fajitas for dinner and I started feeling much heavier in my pelvis. I ate dinner with my family, and decided to go back to resting while Austin did bedtime with the boys that evening. 

7:30PM 

I went to go take a shower and when I turned the faucet, no water came out. I laughed out loud and legit said to myself omg now I’m definitely going to go into labor since the shower isn’t working LOL (the warm shower/tub is a great comfort measure and I usually enjoying being in there in early/early active labor).

Austin went out to get some parts to fix the shower shortly after. Poor guy was drenched in sweat but he did it! While I still wasn’t having any contractions or any more labor signs, yet…there was this cool, calming spirit…The Holy Spirit filled that bathroom with joy between me and my husband, even in the midst of what could have been a sheer panic and uproar situation that the shower was broken and needed fixing.  We laughed, we hugged, we smiled at one another and made jokes. It was beautiful. 

8:00 -10:30pm

I made some red raspberry leaf tea and a tart cherry juice with magnesium. I made my way back to the bathroom, looked down and noticed some blood. I thought it was fake I couldn’t believe my eyes. I wiped and more blood came and I sat and reflected and knew the time was near. 

This time was so different. I didn’t have any contractions yet, still. Just a slow leak and some bloody show. I was excited but also just in awe and a bit confused what my body was doing because this was all so backwards compared to my previous births. I felt out of control of what was to come next…but that was the point of it all! God wanted me to relinquish what I knew, what I expected, and give me something MORE. 

One of my best friends and my former doula sent me a voice message earlier that day that I finally got a chance to listen to that evening as all this was happening…she encouraged me to read the book “Supernatural Childbirth” so naturally I downloaded it on my kindle and read the entire book that night before bed.

Wow. It was as if every word was written specifically to me. Have you ever read a book or a scripture like that and felt, ‘Wow God, I hear you!’ Because that’s exactly how I felt after finishing that book. I closed my kindle around 10:30PM, spoke to God and said “I surrender to your perfect will and perfect way”

10:34PM 

The on & off slight cramping I had the last few days leading up to this, started to increase a bit. It was still SO LIGHT compared to what I have known in my previous births. Not quite contractions or at least not like any contraction I’ve ever known, but at this point I still thought maybe the next day when I woke up in the morning, that things would kick up. I was VERY wrong…I proceeded to text my birth team just letting them know I thought tomorrow (Saturday, my due date) was the day based on the bloody show and fluid leakage. But a few hours later…

Saturday 8/17

the big day

1:26AM-3:00am

Around 1:26am, I went to the bathroom, as usual during pregnancy in the night and the signs just kept progressing…loose stool, more bloody show, more drops of fluid, but it wasn’t until I sat on the toilet again this time that I felt a contraction. Its amazing because they were there but still so light I just knew it was “only the start” of early labor. So in my mind I thought, okay I need to go back to bed…I must rest because labor will be a lot of work and I’ll probably have hours to go when the sun came up. I proceeded to text my doula and update her…she said she was coming right away and started packing up her things. 

It was this point when I decided to wake Austin up. I usually try to let him sleep during early labor, especially since my early labors have always begun or previously showed signs of beginning in the night. So I always like to let him rest up and then wake in the morning. But this time was different. I woke him up (pretty nonchalantly I’m sure he’d say) and let him know that contractions had started and Morgan (our doula) was on her way. He got up and was ready for action but I encouraged him to rest. Again, thinking this would be many more hours.

(I really thought I was about to use that birth stool and birth tub LOL but we were prepared!)

 

3:00- 3:30am

It was around 3am right when my doula was about to arrive that I had the first BIG contraction, Austin had to start supporting me at this point. He was walking me from the bathroom to the guest room where all the birth items were set up (birth tub, birth stool, bed, etc). I stopped mid-hallway and gasped because this contraction was different. This no longer felt like “early labor” but again, I was confused because I know the progressions of labor and what they typically feel like and this was not what I had previously known.

I also, for the first time ever did not have back labor, which was a great sign! I knew baby was in a good position the last few weeks and could truly feel that he was locked into my pelvis and engaged. So not feeling the back labor definitely intensified the front contractions, but allowed me to feel so much more able to focus during the contractions and breathe. I was able to get back to the guest room from the bathroom and lay down between the contractions. 

My doula, Morgan arrived, and when she walked through that door I couldn’t even believe that I was actually in labor. I’ve made it beyond 40 weeks before, but for some reason this time I felt like I was still going to have another week left. 

About 10 min after my doula arrived, the contractions started getting stronger, I was still able to talk and the contractions were all over the place, but still in denial, I proceeded to tell Austin to “go rest we certainly have more hours ahead and I want you to be well rested”….

HA! That didn’t last long because about 25 min later Austin heard the intensity of how things were going and came back. (From his perspective, he said he knew I was close to giving birth because he had seen the progressions of my labor experiences before and he could tell we were at the end.) 

I kept saying “I just want to lay and rest, I just need to rest so I have energy later” but my body would not rest, it was ready and it was progressing from early labor to what felt like straight to transition quicker than I had time to mentally process. 

 

3:30AM-3:55AM

As I was trying to “rest” by laying down during a contraction, my water broke. I knew this feeling. If you’ve read my previous birth stories you know, I knew this feeling and that sound very well and what it meant…

My babies always come shortly after that feeling and that loud pop of water bursting.

The contractions got much more intense. Much lower. And this time it was all in the front, NO BACK LABOR! So I was able to feel baby moving down much easier than I had ever experienced. 

Austin & Morgan helped me to the bathroom a few moments after my water broke. There was more bloody show and as I sat on the toilet I knew I wasn’t making it that much longer but the contractions were so intense and my body started shaking that I couldn’t verbally communicate what I wanted to, to Austin & Morgan. But I did get the words out “Call Sam” (the midwife) lol unfortunately I think I uttered those words a little too late, as the rest of my birth team lives an hour from us and we were much closer to birth than that. 

4:00am-ish 

I made it back to the guest room from the bathroom once more, with lots of low low contractions and pressure that I could no longer talk through and were quite honestly taking my breath away. At this point I was so in the zone. I had my Christian Hypnobirthing on in my headphones, I was locked in. 

The next big contraction, that was accompanied by tremendous shaking, I made my way down to the floor and rocked my upper body over the birth ball while Austin & my Doula supported me. Being in this position brought me comfort for a moment and it was here in this position, where I remembered everything I had just read not even 12 hours ago in the SuperNatural ChildBirth book..

It was time to let go. Let go of what I knew birth to be. Let go of what I thought “was & wasn’t possible” and let go of what I knew the textbook in my trainings said about birth. Through this intense contraction on the floor, through the increase in shaking, I felt this freeing and this lightness come over me. With what little strength I had left on my own, I uttered the words “bathroom” and as we took the short walk there, I felt my body begin to release and open.

4:20am- ish

My doula recommended sitting on the toilet backwards, facing the wall and as I slowly got into this position, I immediately felt the urge to push. There was no “pain” as I had known it before. But it was more pressure and power. I spoke loudly, “I’m pushing” and I remember a large roar coming out of me and as I started pushing, in the background my husband encouraged me and held my left hand, while I pressed my right hand on the top of the toilet in a hovered squat position, my forehead against the wall. My doula on the phone with the midwife and walking me through breathing. 

It was just about 2 contractions later where I reached my right hand down and felt his full head of hair, crowning and coming through quickly. I knew the next contraction his head was coming out. I exclaimed “I feel his head!” with a relieving smile across my face as I prepped for that next contraction..

When it came, I felt that power again, that roar came out of me, and it just happened…his head came out. I didn’t feel the ring of fire. I didn’t feel the pain I knew before, during the crowning phase. And my doula and Austin shouted “we’ve got his head, he’s almost out!” and as I sat there for less than a min waiting for that next contraction to push the rest of his body out, I felt such peace come over me. The midwife was not there, and normally I would’ve been nervous or scared, but there was no fear and no worry at all. I was content. In my heart and my spirit, I knew he was fine and I knew my body was ready to do this. 

The next two contractions that power came over me and as my body made that last push, I felt the Lord stripping away the anxiety I had been experiencing for the last year since our loss. I felt the freeing of God saying “go my child and continue to live a life of faith” 

That last push I felt his body come out into my husbands arms and my doula passed him through to hand him to me. My husband, as always after delivering our babies, said “you did it babe, he’s here” as he rubbed my back. I love hearing him say that every time.  

Caleb Austin Medley ~

Our sweet rainbow baby was born on 8/17/24 his exact due date around 4:32AM into his daddy’s arms and doulas hands, weighing a perfect 9lbs

Hearing Caleb’s sweet cry was the most relieving sound. This birth was redemptive to me. After losing our last baby at just 12 weeks on the toilet, to now having our rainbow baby on the toilet, it just did something to me emotionally I don’t think I’ll ever be able to put into words. The only way I can describe it is redemptive, freeing, and supernatural. 

 

God is miraculous. He uses all things for our good. And He is faithful! 

Since Caleb was born early in the morning, Major & Amari were still home and sleeping peacefully in their beds. They didn’t wake at all during the birth. But the best was them waking up in the morning and seeing baby brother earth side in mommy’s arms! 

It was a day Austin and I will always remember.. 

Though the rest of our birth team was unable to be at the physical birth, aside from our doula, Morgan, who truly was a blessing, they arrived after and supported us. I am grateful for the preparation and the resources that I had for this beautiful, supernatural home birth experience (all are linked below). 

 

Resources & Birth Prep: 

Birth Body Prenatal Course – pelvic floor & core prep for birth

Christian Hypnobirthing Course & App – Discount Code: JEMILA for 20% off

Southern NJ Prenatal Chiropractor

Doula – Morgan Sorg {@morgan.sorg on IG}

Magpi Midwifery

Photographer