Katelyn Gannon

Isaiah 30:18 – 

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;

    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice.

    Blessed are all who wait for him!

We had a supernatural fast birth with Lily girl!

In the few weeks leading up to October 17th, I worked on preparing myself emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually for her birth. 

What this looked like for me was taking the proper supplements, moving my body (thanks to Pure Barre), routine chiropractic care, meditating on scripture, Epsom salt baths, refreshing myself on the stages of labor and the capabilities of the female body, listening to and reading other birth stories to encourage myself, and journaling and praying for the delivery and postpartum days! I also made some freezer meals with my friend Rachel – some thing I never got to with Zion. 

With his due date/delivery, I was so caught off guard. With your first baby, they tell you to prepare yourself to go late and be in the waiting for a bit. Well, Zion came 11 days early and I thought maybe that was a pattern our girl would follow.

So come October 1st, I wanted to be ready!

I prepped, cleaned, and organized the best I could. And I wanted time and space to just relax and soak in my time with Zion. 

I’m so thankful I took PTO the week leading up to Lily’s birth so I could be intentional with my time with Zion. We did fun things each day and he had my full attention (which he really always does ♥️).

Brett has been swamped with work over the past few weeks, so I had been praying Lily would come when he was home, rested, and mentally ready to assist with labor!

On Wednesday evening, I was out with my friend Elizabeth. We visited the Whispering Page and sipped on apple cider mocktails… such a charming new bookstore in Worthington! There I began having regular Braxton Hicks contractions every ten minutes. For me, that was so exciting to experience since I didn’t have any with Zion. I didn’t feel any contractions in my stomach with him; they were all in my legs. 

I thought maybe tonight is the night?? Well I went to bed, and nothing escalated. It was just my body preparing for birth.

Thursday, I had a fun day with Zion and we visited The Wagnalls Memorial Library with cousins.

Friday, Brett and I celebrated his belated birthday over lunch and I did some curb walking at Easton. Looking back, I’m even more grateful just the two of us were able to get out and spend some time together. I was having some Braxton Hicks contractions on our date and was feeling like this was the weekend for baby to make her debut. 

Later that evening, Brett went out to the movies with his cousin and I joked with him to enjoy this last fun thing before she comes!

I did some exercises on my birthing ball and felt like that definitely pushed some things along. I also got a good stretch in before bed. 

At 5:50 AM, I woke up to a contraction. I had one at 6 AM and again at 6:10 AM.

I nudged Brett awake and told him these contractions were different as they were a much deeper sensation in my pelvis. Today is the day for baby.

After several more contractions that were 10 minutes apart, I texted my midwife to let her know what I was feeling. By 7:15 AM, they were seven minutes apart and I was having to focus and breathe through them. The intensity had jumped. I told myself in for 4…. out for 7.

Shortly after that, I made my way to use the bathroom and had a very intense contraction on the toilet. I told Brett I either need to get in the bath tub right now or I’m going to make it back to the bed and likely just stay there. That’s when I lost my mucus plug (at 7:45 AM) and I knew things would ramp up even more. 

I made my way back to the bed, and my contractions then jumped to 3 minutes apart. My midwife was on her way!

Throughout my labor, I tried to just breathe through every contraction, relax my body the best I could, and tried to meditate on scripture. 

I had several birthing scriptures I planned to play throughout my labor but since I was texting my midwife and tracking contractions, I didn’t even think to play the app. That’s why committing scripture to memory is so important. Sometimes all you have is that to go on.  

Brett was filling up the bathtub as I planned to deliver in there. And then there was that moment… I called out for Brett. (And I think every momma who has been through labor knows what I’m talking about)

I wanted to get in the water asap!

I could feel something was different.

I was still laying in bed when I told Brett to get my underwear off as I could feel her. I rolled off the bed and onto the ground and honestly, the rest is a blur! 

The bathtub water was too hot and there was no time to even get there. Brett got behind me on all fours and then I birthed her head.   

Lily was in her amniotic sack, so with his fingers, Brett gently pulled it open. My water broke, and I paused and breathed while waiting for the next contraction. I was mindful of “breathing her out” rather than “pushing her out”. Her whole body slipped out with the next contraction and Brett delivered his baby girl at 8:08am. 

He sucked on her nose and mouth, making sure there was no fluid and she began to cry shortly after. He gently passed her to me under my right leg, and called our midwife to let her know: Lily Beth is here!! Our midwife was shocked. She arrived 15-20 minutes later and in time for the delivery of the placenta.

Brett and I will forever remember that moment of when our girl entered our arms and our world. Brett remained so calm and focused and I was so thankful to have a partner like him. We were so happy and overjoyed, and now there’s several little things we can laugh about… like birthing her on our bedroom floor🤪 and yelling, “what about the carpet?!” 

The entire day we just kept thanking God for His hand over the entire delivery. 

Things I had journaled, prayed for and believed for came to pass. Things that were important to me such as having a day birth and getting to rest the night before. Brett was home from his big overnight jobs. Zion slept in an hour later. I experienced no tearing. Lily was born in her sack… which is something I didn’t think to pray for but Zion was as well, so I’ll have to research a little more about the significance of that! Just other things I prayed, I saw the Lord answer. And throughout, I ultimately remained surrendered to His plan, whatever that looked like. He is good. He is kind. 

And I will forever thank Him for this birth story. 

I pray this encourages other women who are expecting and will soon deliver their own miracle! God is in the details and birthing a child is a beautiful time to press into the Lord and His character in a new way. I’ve found that Jesus loves to bless us and give us the desires of our hearts. We can be specific in our prayers and tell Him our fears, hopes, and dreams – and that most certainly includes our children and their births. 

If you’ve experienced a traumatic birth, know that redemption is available. I would encourage you not to give up hope and to remember that there is always another story that can be told.