The Birth of Judah

Now that Judah is two months old, I wanted to share my story of labor and delivery and everything that led up to it, if only to encourage another mama to pray specifically and believe God for joy.

Before we even conceived, I was given the book Supernatural Childbirth by Terry & Jackie Mize. The book was a great resource for me to know how to pray before and during my pregnancy. (There are some things in this book that I don’t agree with 100%, BUT I found a lot of it to be helpful)

Pre-conception, I prayed over my body that I would get pregnant. I had been told by doctors prior that because of a thyroid disorder, conceiving would be a challenge. But the book helped me to pray against that and to reject the agreement that I had made that it would be difficult, and instead to believe God for miracles. I also prayed that we would have a son.

During the pregnancy, I prayed each day and week over a specific body part for Judah – his lungs, eyes, heart, stomach, brain, etc, as I believed that God was knitting him together perfectly in my womb.

Towards the end of the second trimester, I started to get anxious about delivery, as any new mom would, so I sat and wrote down a prayer, using Supernatural Childbirth as a guide, and prayed specific things over my labor and delivery, and stepped out in faith that God would answer my prayers exactly as He ordained them. I wrote the prayer in the notes app in my phone and read over it constantly. Here is that prayer:

Father, as I look forward to delivery of our sweet son, having enjoyed a pregnancy by your miraculous works, I thank you in advance for Your word, Your blessings, Your peace and Your presence and Your divine intervention. I pray and confess that my body and my baby will cooperate with a perfect, ordained and healthy delivery, that there will be no problems of any kind. I also believe and declare that my labor and delivery will be quick, short, easy and with minimal pain. I believe and declare that I will have time to get to the hospital, that there will be no stress with traffic, that James and I will be together when labor starts. I believe that He will arrive on time.  I pray that James and I will be rested and excited when labor begins. Not anxious. I pray for James that he would follow your Spirit’s guidance in supporting me. I pray for an instant, Holy bond between father and son. I pray against false labor and confusion – that you will bring certainty when the time is right. That the path will be obvious and clear and that you will bring peace with the process.

I pray that I will have your perfect peace to accompany me during delivery and I will not fear. I believe that at the proper time, my water will break and my uterus will do its job – the job that you have created it for and begin to contract with minimal pain and bring our baby into the world. I pray that my body will accommodate the birth of Judah, that I will not tear, and my recovery will be brief. I pray for no medical intervention needed – that I will have a short and easy delivery. I pray that my body will come in line with Your word and will. I pray for the doctor or midwife that will deliver me, that they will be a proponent of peace, and it will be perfectly ordained. I ask you for nurses who are calm and wise, I ask that You accompany them during our time with them and we would have the opportunity to share Jesus with them. I pray that labor and delivery will be a joyful, worship-filled experience and that I will remember it with gladness.

I ask in Jesus’ name, that Judah will latch well and that nursing would be pleasurable and satisfying for us both, that he will be a fantastic eater, and you will prepare my body to feed him, as you have always intended it to do.

I ask in Jesus’ name that Judah will be a peaceful, healthy baby, and sleep well. I pray against complications for Judah, that you will protect his body from sickness and disorder.

I pray against sickness in his first, fragile days, and that all three of us would be well protected and healthy.

Jesus I present all of these requests to you as the King of the universe, the ultimate authority over life, the author of our salvation. I present these prayers to you with thanksgiving, I praise you because Judah is fearfully and wonderfully made, and you have designed him from the beginning with intention. Thank you for your kindness throughout this pregnancy and I praise you for the chance to go through this and to see you in every detail.

We are open to you. Let Your will be done, so that we may have a better glimpse of heaven. Your will and your way are all that we want, so we come before you with confidence and faith, praising Jesus for making a way for us to approach your throne without hesitation or fear. We believe Your word that we have not because we ask not, so we ask all of these things in the name of above all names, the name of Jesus, the messiah. Amen.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalms 37:4 NLT

So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. Isaiah 30:18 NLT

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT

Here is Judah’s birth story, and the answers to our specific prayers:

Judah was born on Thursday, December 27 at 9:29 AM. He was due on December 29th.

December 25th –

On Christmas Day I was pretty uncomfortable the whole day. Judah was low, the pressure was intense and I spent most of the day with a heating pad. I had an elective induction scheduled for the 27th but would be going in the evening of the next day (the 26th) to get it started. On the way home from my in-law’s house on Christmas, I got emotional thinking about how it was the last night of just James and me. We did not have a lot of peace about the induction, but were also okay with going that route. We had wanted an elective induction for several reasons, but the main ones were the discomfort I was experiencing and the timing of James being able to be at Passion Conference. On the way home, we prayed that God would start my labor naturally and that we would not have to be induced. We got home, watched Avengers, and went to bed around midnight, asking God once more to start my labor naturally. At 1:30 AM, I had my first contraction.

December 26th –

I had fairly consistent contractions throughout the night but I was able to sleep through most of it. I told James at 6 that we were in labor, but that I could stay home a while longer. I didn’t want to get to the hospital and be turned away, so I waited until they got to be pretty unbearable then got in the car. The first few prayers were answered: we were rested, we were together, we were excited, and we got to the hospital with no traffic or hindrance. We got to the hospital at 11:45AM.  I was told I would labor on my own and they would periodically check me. I was honestly worried that it would be a boring day but through the contractions and napping and the Harry Potter marathon on TV it wasn’t terrible!

I walked the halls of Labor and Delivery several times, and did my best to smile and laugh through the contractions. At 5:45PM I was 3cm. When I checked in to the hospital, I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced.

7:20PM I was 80% and 4 cm. At this point, it has turned to solely back labor which had gotten hard but James was really encouraging and I was determined to stay as strong as I could. I also ate some McDonald’s french fries which were the best things I had ever eaten.

9:00PM I got one dose of Fetynal because the pain was getting pretty terrible. It was supposed to last an hour but 15 minutes into that I called for the epidural. I wanted to labor without the epidural as long as I could, mostly to prove to myself that I could do it!

10:00PM I got the epidural (which was a fascinatingly efficient process) at which point I texted some friends “Epidurals for President” It was amazing. Some family came by to say hey and we decided to get some sleep.

December 27th –

4AM – I was 8cm and my OB arrives to break my water. I was so grateful she was on call this week and could be there. I knew she would make it a laid back process and she did. (Another prayer answered) I had been worried towards the end that I would slow leak and not feel my water breaking. There is no denying when your water breaks. It was a wild sensation.

6AM – I was still at 8cm and when they check they realize it’s because there’s a half moon shape on the side of my cervix that won’t budge. So they lay me on my side with my leg hiked in the air to get baby to move down and open the cervix more. I eventually get 2 more doses of epidural because it keeps wearing off on one side. I also started a low dose of pitocin at this point since the epidural had all but stalled my contractions. Throughout the night, I had a set of AMAZING nurses that we fell in love with. We were really hoping that I would be ready to push during their shift, but we were all sad when I wasn’t ready when their shift was over.

7 AM – Complete and +1, but with the nurse shift change and as I learned later the wildness of the delivery floor (they delivered 5 babies in 90 minutes in my wing of L&D alone) it took a while to get everyone in the room for me to start pushing. This was honestly the hardest part. Knowing I could start pushing and not being able to. At this point, the epidural starts to wear off and I’m feeling the contractions in my belly way more, but it helped me to know when the contractions were coming!

The nurses tell me that I should let them know when the pressure is constant and I feel the need for a bowel movement but that never happens. Around 8AM James tells the nurses I’m feeling pressure even though I’m not :). When my OB comes in they’re like “feeling pressure now?” and I say “more like pain” so she checks me anyway and says we can start pushing!

8:40 AM – I start pushing. James had made a special playlist for labor and it was playing in the background. We were worshipping through the entire process.

I was ready to get him here and ready to prove to myself that I could do it! My delivery process was so chill and casual and exactly what I wanted. My dear friend Karli was there taking birth photos, so she was chatting with my OB. It was just me, my husband, my friend, the OB and the occasional nurse (see above for all the chaos of my L&D wing). I really loved pushing since the epidural was wearing off a bit and I could feel the contractions coming and it was really satisfying but not painful. I was determined for my delivery to be easy and quick so I pushed with all I had to get him engaged and once he was it was fun to watch everyone spring into action to get him here.

Pushed 3 times once he was engaged and he was here! Another answer to prayer.

9:29 AM Judah Michael made his arrival. They laid him on my chest and I looked at him and listened to him cry and held him close and wept.  I was completely overwhelmed with God. He had done a miracle, created this human inside of me, and now he was here, in my arms, and perfect. The best part of his delivery was looking up at James, and falling more and more in love with him as he supported me and championed me.

Judah was born to the song, Spirit Break Out, by Kim Walker-Smith and I don’t think we could have planned anything more perfect.

He got skin to skin with James almost immediately, which we were not expected, but in retrospect, was God’s way of answering our prayer for an instant bond between father and son.

During Golden Hour, Judah latched almost immediately to my instant relief and our breastfeeding journey has been so sweet and wonderful, just as I had prayed.

I didn’t tear at all, which was another answer to prayer, and my recovery was brief. I am so grateful to Jesus for that.

Our labor was filled with joy. It was a holy experience, bringing life into the world, and I celebrate every day the miracle that Jesus gave us in Judah.

Judah is the light of our worlds, but the first two months have been some of the most challenging of our lives. If I am honest, there have been times that I have wanted to run away and hide, but God constantly reminds me that he has equipped me to be Judah’s mama, he has ordained his days in advance, and that I have everything I need in him. It is hard to not fear the future, or doubt, but God has shown me that I have what I need for the moment right in front of me.