After lots of prayers, we took a leap of faith and transferred my care to the Birth Center of Baton Rouge around 20 weeks. After touring it, I felt it deeply in my heart that it was the right decision and never looked back. Since then, I truly looked forward to every appointment and spending time learning all of the midwives. They weren’t just interested in my pregnancy, they took time to learn about me and my family.
At 41 weeks + 1 I started feeling mild contractions around 12:30am that were 7 minutes apart. My husband, Ryan, decided it would be best to try to rest even though we weren’t tired at all. About 40 minutes later I woke up to a much more intense contraction and decided to go take a bath. At that point contractions were 2-3 minutes apart lasting about minute. I was still talking through them, but they were getting more intense. We contacted our doula and she arrived around 5 am to help us labor at home as much as possible. We used the yoga ball, laid in bed together, and used my Christian Hypnobirthing app to relax and get in the right mindset. Around 8:15 we decided we’d head to the Birth Center soon to get checked. The next contraction I felt my water break and decided to get up and get dressed.

After getting checked by the midwife, I was 5 cm and was told I could stay and labor there, which was great because I did NOT want to get back in the car! I switched to my worship playlist and that was a game changer for me. Everyone made sure my phone was close by so that I could hear the music the entire time. Singing the songs helped keep my mind off the contractions and made the whole experience just so beautiful. I had Ryan by my side through every contraction just speaking affirmations over me, my mom holding a cold rag over my face, and my doula coaching us through different positions to labor in and keeping me hydrated🙌🏻
At 12 pm I got checked for the second time and was told I could start pushing when it felt right. I tried pushing on all fours on the bed for a while. I got out of bed to try to use the bathroom and had to stop because the urges to push got super intense and I couldn’t ignore it. I remember grabbing on to the bed frame and had my arm wrapped around Ryan’s neck (LOL) and leaned into every contraction pushing as hard as I could. My amazing birth team cheered me on every single push, which was so helpful and let me know the pushes were effective. After an hour of pushing, I pushed one last time with everything I had in me and she came flying out (or at least it felt like that she did.)
I will never forget the feeling of hearing “it’s a girl!” and the midwife handing her to me immediately. I cannot talk about the amazing care we received at the Birth Center without getting emotional. They accommodate to what you want to do and how you want to birth your baby. I truly felt so safe being in their hands. My whole pregnancy I prayed and envisioned the birth I wanted daily. Because of my amazing birth team, it was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined and I am forever changed!