This birth story came to us with a wonderful message thanking the BWF Blog for all it does. We want to let YOU know – you mothers, you birth warriors, you inspiring women and families – is where this all comes from. We are blessed to share this story and the many others that come our way every day.
Ms. BWF,
First off, let me say that BWF is an amazing resource for women looking for information and support and I’m so glad I came across you on Facebook.
An ongoing topic on BWF has been “can you have a peaceful, natural, fearless birth in a hospital?” And I wanted to share my birth with you and your followers to say that YES! With the right team, some research and a lot of perseverance, you CAN!!
On Aug 28th, I gave birth to my son, Jaxon, at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. With the support of my midwife, my doula and my amazing husband I had a beautiful, peaceful, amazing birth. No drugs. No interventions. No pressure. No questions. Just love and support.
I know not every woman has access to such resources, and we’re the exception and not the rule, but I wanted to share my experience to show that it can be done!!
Thanks again for all you do! I hope our story can be more rule than exception someday.
Sincerely,
Sarah
We are blessed to have had two amazing, intervention-free hospital births with our two sons. We chose a birth team that we thought would help support us in our goal of having as natural and intervention free birth as possible – CNMs, Doulas, birth classes, etc. With our second child, we had the most peaceful, natural birth we could have hoped for!
I labored at home as long as possible, leaving for the hospital only when my body told me it was time to go. After getting to the hospital, we were pre-admitted by our amazing Midwife and got to skip triage and go straight to the birthing suite!
I labored the baby down on what our doula calls the “dilation station” (aka the toilet) before getting into the tub. I relaxed in the warm water and retreated inward while my body did the hard work of labor (to the point where I actually fell asleep between contractions while 9+ cm dilated).
I pushed for just 15-minutes after my water broke in the tub as our amazing doula guarded my birth space from interference by well-intentioned nurses. My wonderful husband guided our son, Jaxon, into the world just moments after our midwife walked into the room.
My husband snuggled him skin-to-skin as I got out of the water and soon after, I was tandem nursing my beautiful, healthy baby boy and his toddler brother in the blissful haze of an amazing, peaceful, natural hospital birth.
Photos are by Taryn Goodwin, Spirited Doula Services
Recommended Reading
Veda’s Birth Story
Happy Hospital Birth
The Birth of Scarlet Noelle
Birthing Hope
A Natural Hospital Birth, A Peaceful Miscarriage at Home, and A Future Homebirth Coming Soon
Rueger’s Birth: Learning to Give Into the Power of a Woman’s Body
One Woman’s Successful Frank Breech Vaginal Hospital Birth
Sticking Up for Myself and My Birth
My Fearless Birth {Home birth turned hospital}- Two Unplanned Unassisted Births
17 Comments
April
I love this story! Also, I’m having to transfer my care from Texas to the OU medical center for a VBAC and I am nervous. I LOVE hearing that this can happen here and I choose to believe it will happen for me!
Erica
TEARS!! Thank you so much for sharing. This is what I would call my dream hospital birth! You rocked it mama!!
DeAnna Marler
Tears for sure…love the reverent, respectful, watchful positions of the staff…standing there, hands crossed, as mom and dad work together to welcome their babe…amazing…
Misty
*tears* . . . this is SO beautiful!!! thank you so much for sharing 🙂 what an intensely beautiful and private birth! 🙂 LOVE IT!!!!
Momma Thomas
This was absolutely the most beautiful birth I have ever seen. And he is so gorgeous! Congrats and God Bless!
Cat
PLEASE REPLY !
I am planning a natural birth at this same hospital in August and am wondering who the Mom’s midwife was, and how she managed to have a water birth because my midwife told me they do NOT allow water births at this hospital. I would love to pick her brain! Thank you so much <3 You can email me at cathrynparton@gmail.com 🙂
Cat
Oops, watched the video and answered my questions lol. Congratulations! I am SO excited to see this at MY hospital!
Linda R.
36 weeks pregnant and this story has me in tears. I can’t wait to have my baby girl!
Good job Momma! I hope I have the same success in attempting an unmedicated birth.
Casey
Awesome Awesome Awesome!
Stacie L.
This was one of the most beautiful births I have seen! Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us!
Jason
Cat,
For liability the hospital or midwifes cant advertise or agree to a waterbirth…but they cant make you get out of the water. We talked to our midwife before and asked her feeling about “extended water labor”. She laughed and said, “I’m ok with it” and you can see from the video that she was.
kirsten
A birthday buddy for me 🙂
Congrats!
Amy
Beautiful! Your pics and video took me back to my own birthing experience at OU in OKC just one month after yours on September 24th of this last year. We had a wonderful experience with our midwife and the nurses there. Congratulations to you!
Jackie
Oh my. Thank you thank you thank you for sharing such a beautiful and honest representation of what birth can be! Fabulous!
Stephanie
Thank you for sharing this–so personal, and so intimate, so real. What a beautiful gift.
Stephanie
Beautiful!! I cannot watch these videos without crying. But it gives me strength and motivation. Thank you.
Birrd
Beautiful birth! Brought back so many good memories of Dawn delivering two of my babies. OU Children’s is the gold standard for hospitals that respect birth as a natural process. May all others look to their example and follow suit.