Nellie’s birth story is long and personal, transparent and vulnerable. Our story fills my heart with the beauty of a little girl who wasn’t in a rush to leave the safest place she’ll ever be– mama’s womb, a healthy pregnancy, and a plan that mama had that would be needed to shift a little at the end, but still was beautiful in every single way.

Born: 8/7/22 at 12:55 am
7 lbs 12 oz and 20.75 in

The last few days leading up to Nellie’s birth were a test of patience, filled with lots and lots of getting to soak up extra moments of being pregnant with her and moments filled with tears as we approached a ‘deadline,’ A.K.A. 42 weeks, that I very much wasn’t expecting to reach and also hadn’t been prepared for at all.

With my son, Otto, we had a water birth at home, as was the plan for Nellie’s birth. I went into labor with him at 40 weeks + 3 days at 1 am in the morning on a Saturday and had him the next day, Sunday morning, at 40 weeks + 4 days. I never even felt a Braxton hicks contraction the whole time I was pregnant with him. Once my body powered on, I knew it was the real deal– labor!… Soon, we’d meet our sweet baby boy! I figured the same, or similar, would happen with Nellie, so I also knew from my past labor experience that it could and would likely just come on without warning. Always remember that baby comes when baby is ready! 

We hit Nellie’s estimated due date of July 24th…then 41 weeks…then 41+1, 41+2, 41+3, 41+4, 41+5…Oh boy– 41+5, and getting to the end of the 41st week was getting a little tough to tame the fret I had inside me. Not because I didn’t feel good, I felt really great, actually! Only because my midwife would need to legally transfer my care at 42 weeks, plus she didn’t think I would go as far as I did past my due date, and she was leaving on vacation on the day I was to hit 42 weeks.

As I mentioned above, this is the deadline I wasn’t expecting to reach. I was a little nervous about what would happen if I got down to the wire approaching 42 weeks, but I still kept room for peace. I was praying and pleading with Jesus. In order to keep my peace from morphing into anxiety, I felt like I needed to be in a constant state of focusing on the belief in my body and God’s plan.

That peace would shift to angst and inevitably slip through my fingers several times– but then I’d root myself again and go back to prayer, meditation, walking, listening to my labor playlist filled with songs I love– anything to find my calm and back to that peaceful mindset. 

You know that the baby will definitely come out, has to obviously, but it’s a bit of a mind game because you start to wonder why they aren’t…going to 42+ weeks can be completely and 100% normal and healthy– of course, the baby comes when baby is ready, but risks do slightly increase, and that’s something to respect and be cognizant of. Which we were. We had two different biophysical profiles in the 41st week, one at 41+2 days and one at 41+5 days, per the guidance and advice of my midwife and Dr. Lozovyy. Both profiles showed Nellie was healthy, happy, and thriving! All looked fabulous. Such a wonderful thing…we just needed labor to begin!

By 41+5, I’d literally done ALL the natural induction remedies except one that I was holding out until the end. Castor oil. Castor oil has been used for a long time, and it’s typically the last ‘hail mary’ type of natural induction technique. So 41+5, at 3:30 pm on Friday, August 5th, I decided to go for it. There are many different ways you can take it, so I tried one of the suggestions my midwife gave me, which was castor oil with scrambled eggs. Let’s just say I won’t be able to eat scrambled eggs with the same joy I once did for a very long time– maybe for the rest of my life, haha. It was gross, but I got them down. 

Note: The use of castor oil is something you definitely want to speak with your midwife or doctor about before doing it. 

My midwife, Margie Wallis, had me do a 3-hour circuit after taking the castor oil that included herbs and homeopathy paired with 20-minute increments of pumping, walking, and resting for the 3 hours. Castor oil is a stimulant laxative, so you can imagine what happens next. Multiple bathroom trips. It is meant to clear you out– it irritates your bowels, which sometimes will, and the purpose of trying it is to stimulate the uterus, which can sometimes turn into actual uterine contractions and, thus, start labor. After hour 2 of the circuit and a couple of bathroom trips under my belt, I’m feeling some contractions!

They weren’t intense or too regular, though. The confusing part is distinguishing between your intestinal system contracting or your actual uterus. It turns to even time– we get Otto down for bed and head upstairs to turn a show on and cuddle. I felt so relaxed and at ease…but all of the action that was generated stopped. It’s like once I started to relax and not be on my feet or moving around, any inkling of a contraction just fizzled out. Stubborn as a true Taurus, I was like, “Tonight may still be my night! I bet my body is just resting up after that castor oil!”

Next morning– 41+6. No signs of labor, no contractions even– but I felt okay about it. Still holding peace and convinced she was just waiting until ‘the last hour’ and not the type of gal to be rushed. I had already talked to my midwife about a plan for the morning (if no labor or baby), and we decided I would try the castor oil again along with the circuit. Here I go again, 7 am, this time in a smoothie– so much better than the eggs. 5 hours go by, I had finished the circuit… and nothing. No trips to the bathroom even! My midwife came and checked me and was happy that I was dilated to ~3/4cm, and my cervix felt a little softer but still longer than we wanted, so we had some work to do. She went ahead and did a membrane sweep (this was the third one since my ‘due date’), and baby girl felt a little more engaged, so this was great. We all sat and had a long chat about the next steps since our clock was very much ticking, and we ended the conversation by saying that if I weren’t having solid contractions by 6 pm—A.K.A. at least the beginning of active labor—then she would need to transfer my care. 

So, here’s where the story may need a little focus to follow. Providing a little background on how we met the doctor, we inevitably transferred to…

In February of 2021, shortly after Otto had just turned two, we found out we were pregnant and were so excited. My HCG levels were rising appropriately; nothing seemed off. My midwife, Margie, referred us to get an ultrasound with a local doctor. At this point, I was 8 weeks pregnant, and directly after this appointment, we also had our first prenatal appointment scheduled with my Midwife, Margie, at her birth center. 

We go for the ultrasound, excited and nervous but hopeful to hear a heartbeat. Almost instantaneously, that excitement was crushed with being told we were experiencing a ‘missed miscarriage,’ as there was no heartbeat. So tough. Hard. Heartbreaking. Lots of different emotions.

My husband and I decided to go to lunch and process some of our feelings and thoughts– take a breather. Ultimately, if you are a believer, keeping your Faith in Him and not knowing why means holding peace and discomfort together in one, which is challenging to do, but you have to. We leave and go to my midwife’s birth center for our prenatal appointment, which became an appointment to grieve and talk about what was next. 

With a missed miscarriage, once your HCG level starts to lower to a certain point, that triggers the cascade of events to come next, and your body has a natural process to pass the pregnancy. At our ultrasound appointment, the doctor commented she believed if there had been a heartbeat, it had likely stopped sometime in the 6th week based on the development she saw. So, we are sitting at week 8, almost 9, and I obviously didn’t feel ‘off’ at all. I hated this. I hated not feeling in tune or intuition that something was off. 

My midwife gave me some herbs that would hopefully help my body along, and she also drew labs that day. Long story short, the herbs didn’t facilitate anything, and her drawing labs were a saving grace. A couple of days later, the next thing I know, my midwife called me while I was at work to tell me my labs had returned, and my HCG was at ~218,000, which is abnormally high and cause for concern. When you have a ‘normal’ miscarriage, HCG should continually decrease. Mine was continually increasing even though we miscarried. That day, she referred me to another local doctor’s office, Dr. Lozovyy, of High-Risk Pregnancy Doctors. Right when Dr. Lozovyy did the ultrasound, she almost instantly discovered that it was a partial molar pregnancy (that the other doctor completely missed). 

I have a previous post about what it is, so for this birth story of Nellie’s, I’ll just reiterate that a partial molar pregnancy will not pass on its own entirely. You’d either start bleeding and continually bleed, still not passing all the molar tissue, which could lead to bleeding out and is obviously very dangerous. Or, if that didn’t happen and you didn’t bleed at all or stopped bleeding, the molar cells that have overtaken the placenta and fetus can cause a specific type of cancer in a matter of months if not completely removed, and your levels tracked back down to zero to make certain all the cells are gone. Basically, it, unfortunately, required intervention. Dr. Lozovyy advised us to have a d&c surgery immediately the following day, so we did that. 

All of this to give context to the fact that she instantly got to the bottom of what was truly going on– explained herself, educated us, and felt for us in a way that created trust and rapport. We went the next day to the hospital and had the procedure. I lost a lot of blood, but it all went smoothly, and she took great care of us. I had to continue monitoring my HCG at Dr. Lozovyy’s office for months until I reached zero after the surgery. I reached zero/negative at the end of June and was so grateful! Months of weekly blood draws to track my levels down to zero (ensuring all the molar tissue was, in fact, gone) were over. 

In July 2021, we got pregnant again. Of course, excited, as it had been so desired after the heartache we went through and the continued wait after the fact to track my levels. But it wasn’t in God’s plan. We miscarried again after a few weeks. Although disappointed and sad again, I felt a renewed sense of relief after going through our partial molar pregnancy experience, to feel back in tune with my body as my body naturally carried out the process of miscarrying on its own. 

 

 

November 2021

Fast forward to November 2021. We found out we were pregnant again! This time, with our beautiful rainbow baby, Nellie Rose! From the beginning, I knew I wanted to have another water birth at home like with Otto, and I chose Margie as my Midwife again.

I decided to do a couple of ultrasounds and some of my blood work with Dr. Lozovyy to rule out any potential of another partial molar pregnancy, as the chances increase very slightly of having another one, and to make sure that, hopefully, all was great this time around. Dr. Lozovyy was very supportive of my choice for a home birth. She and Midwife Margie often collaborate with their patients/clients.

What a blessing that all looked wonderful with our sweet Nellie girl!

After talking with our midwife about a few different options regarding the potential transfer, we decided we’d comply with going in that evening and to be transferred to Dr. Lozovyy’s care as our delivering doctor if I wasn’t progressing enough by 6 pm. I so badly wanted to wait until our true deadline of midnight, making it officially ‘42 weeks,’ but in order to at least get to stay with a provider we knew and trusted (Dr. Lozovyy), which personally made us feel the most comfortable, we needed to go in sooner rather than later because she had to go out of town 24 hours later. My midwife left and said she’d return to check on us at 6 pm.

I wasn’t giving up. I kicked it into an even higher gear and decided to try a little more castor oil around 3 pm, this time with apricot nectar, which was the best of the 3 ways to do it, in my opinion. I started walking around the house because it was so hot outside, being later in the day, and August in Texas. I went up and down our stairs about a thousand times, did countless deep squats, and spent a lot of time on my exercise ball. I basically felt like I was doing orange theory in my house at almost 42 weeks pregnant. I started to have a few contractions and even lost a little of my mucous plug with some bloody show! I was so incredibly hopeful things might start up soon as I started to have some contractions that weren’t too irregular! Never in my life have I prayed more for ‘pain’ or, better yet, ‘intensity.’

My midwife returned to our house around 6 pm and checked me. My cervix was even softer; I was more effaced and dilated at 4cm. But… the contractions I was having weren’t intense and weren’t the quality she would expect to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a baby in a few hours! No need to transfer.’ 

Even though we had already devised a plan, I was in hardcore denial mode. I thought everything I was doing would work; I was hopeful anyway. I wanted so badly to say screw it, I’m not going, and I don’t care that you can’t legally keep me past 42 weeks. I’ll just wing it and see what happens. But, my mind kept returning to all the praying I had been doing. I asked God to give me a sign of what I should do countless times that day. I replayed Dr. L in my head, explaining her concerns about going past 42 weeks. I respected that this high-risk doctor respected me enough to understand and respect my birth plan, so maybe I needed to respect the fact that she felt uncomfortable for me to go past 41+6. Absolute torment. 

What was the right decision? I’ve known several friends and colleagues who’ve gone past 42 weeks, although I’m not sure of their exact situations, so I tried not to compare. I looked over at my husband, and tears that quickly flooded my eyes were dripping down my face. I knew at that moment I would decide the option that I so desperately did not want to choose. And so we pivoted. (Insert heartbreak).

Time to go to the hospital.

I had no idea what to even pack! I had my house perfectly prepared for our home birth. I started packing up my bag with all sorts of things (that I didn’t need). I felt so overwhelmed. I would say this to anybody who wants a birth center or home birth, to make sure they chat with their provider about what it looks like to transfer, the best things to bring, if they plan to be there or not…things like that. That way, if your plan changes like ours, you know what to expect better. We were not prepared at all! But truthfully, you don’t *need* much at all, but it would be nice to have things ready that make you feel more comfortable and at home.

We took Otto to spend the night with our amazing friends/neighbors, the Ryans. They had also helped us during the mornings every day during my 41st week– such a blessing and so helpful that Otto could get some play time with his little bestie, Charlie. We finished packing and loaded the car. We hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so we went through the chick-fil-a drive-through, got some food, and ate in the Medical City Frisco parking garage. I’m so glad we did this before, as I forgot about the ‘no eating’ policy many hospitals have during labor and delivery.

We walked into the hospital around 8:10 pm, checked in, and got to the labor and delivery floor. I couldn’t stop crying. The nurses were so sweet to me. I had a flood of emotions coursing through my body– terrified that I was now in a territory where I felt controlled… there were ‘rules’ now…I’m not in the comfort of my own home anymore…My birth plan completely changed on me…In disbelief, I had gotten to 42 weeks to be in this position…I had no idea what to expect at the hospital and what would come next…All my birth preferences…would they be respected? 

As the tears kept falling and the nurses were prepping, my husband looked at me and said, ‘‘Let’s try and make this a good experience; we’re about to meet our daughter. Aren’t you excited?’’

I needed that. It didn’t make the tears go away immediately, but it gave me a lift to my head and heart that I needed to be able to reset. Team Jackson, we can do this! All that mattered was for our sweet Nellie to get here safe and healthy, and we wouldn’t be where we were if it wasn’t for a reason. A reason that only God knows!

They made me put the notorious hospital gown on and get in bed (I laugh here because I did NOT want to wear this gown… or get in the bed! This is also one of the items to be prepared with for a pivot in your birth plan). Next came the continuous monitors– I also didn’t want this but was told that after one hour of laying in the bed with them on, they could switch me to the portable ones so I could start walking around our room.

Next, one of the two nurses that were helping us checked me. I was 60% effaced and dilated at 4cm, and my cervix was very soft so she and the other nurse told us that there would be no need for any cytotec (that ripens the cervix) and we’d go straight to Pitocin soon. 

All the while, I am lying in the hospital bed, starting to have more powerful contractions that were 3 minutes apart. 

I look at my husband, and in true sympathetic, fight or flight mode, I tell him, “I don’t think we should be here!”. My contractions became less intense and moved to about 6 minutes apart a couple of minutes later. 

At this point, I’ve got continuous monitors, a blood pressure cuff on my left arm, an oxygen monitor on my middle right finger, and an IV to come next in my right hand. They required fluids to be administered through the IV, and next to come was the smallest dose they start at of Pitocin. 

Fight or flight is kicking in hard again– I wasn’t doing well with being kept in bed, hooked up to all these wires, and unable to move about freely like I wanted. So many tears. I was trying so hard to shake off the fact that we are now at the hospital– we aren’t birthing at home anymore. My husband did such an amazing job at keeping me from totally panicking.

At this point, I knew I had a choice to make. My husband gave me all the reassurance in the world to comfort me, but I had to accept it, and it was up to me to make our experience positive. I surrendered to the fact that we are here, we are at the hospital now– after all the effort I tried to get things going, all the praying, just everything– we are now where we needed to be, so I had to figure out how to relax and let go, embrace and more importantly, enjoy the rest of this incredibly beautiful journey to meeting OUR BABY GIRL. 

When you choose to birth at a birth center or home, typically, you don’t need to include things on your birth plan such as: not wiping vernix off, direct skin-to-skin contact, delayed cord clamping, etc., so Peter made sure to tell the nurses our preferences and I was pleasantly surprised there was zero push back. Instead, they brought in a few forms for the things we wanted, and all I had to do was sign them, and that was that. Thank you, Jesus! While this was happening, Peter also pulled up the birth plan I had made up for our team and tried to recreate some of it as much as possible. Things like the essential oils and my playlist I wanted on during labor. Super sweet. 🙂 

The nurses started to explain what would happen next. They’ll start me on the lowest possible dose of Pitocin that they give, and every 30 minutes, they will increase it until the baby comes.

Ummmmm…. What?!?! I had another moment of panic.

I started questioning them, “What do you mean it keeps increasing until the baby comes? What if I don’t need more– can’t we keep it where it’s at if I’m progressing?”

They probably don’t get this question often because they both looked surprised I was so hung up on it. They said that it’s necessary to keep the contractions consistent, and they do so by continually increasing the dosage.

It hits me how tired I was. I worked hard all day to help my body along, and I felt absolutely exhausted. It’s 10:15 pm at this point. I go to bed at 9 pm every night for the most part! We are now going to start Pitocin going into the night? Get me out of here!!! 

I ask the nurses if after we start that lowest dose of Pitocin, they can let Peter and I nap, rest a while, and not increase it until I tell them I am ready. 

God blessed us with the sweetest nurses because they validated me and let me feel like I had a little control by saying, “Of course, get some rest and push the button to call us when you’re ready.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That made me really happy to be cared for, understood, and respected. 

They began the lowest dosage of Pitocin at exactly 10:45 pm, then stepped out to let us rest. Peter closely pulled up the reclining chair next to my bed, and we both tried to take a cat nap. He seemed to be successful at it 😉

I was trying so hard to close my eyes and at least do some deep breathing to relax, thinking, “Goodness gracious, there is no way I can sleep– this is intense!!!”

At 11:10 pm, I tell Peter there’s no way I can rest anymore. 

Peter says, “Are you sure? Why don’t you try for a few more minutes?”

No possible way. I was feeling such a large amount of intensity that I needed movement to get me through. 

I’m hooked up to a bunch of cords, so I asked him to help me. I needed to get switched to the portable EFM in order to get up and walk, so we called the nurse. Right when the nurse came in and got that switched, I immediately needed to run to the bathroom. I think, “Ha, now the castor oil does something!” In all actuality, I just didn’t realize that my body was progressing quickly, which happens when a baby is working their way down. I do my business and feel relieved that the ‘I’ve got to go!’ feeling is gone. 

Pete and I start walking back and forth across the room. Mild panic sets in again after a few minutes because my contractions seem to be coming one after another and are as intense as I remember them feeling at the end of Otto’s labor when I was about to have him. Again, I was unaware that I was so close to meeting our girl. I just thought Pitocin was causing this.

I look up at my husband between a wave of contractions and say, “I don’t know how I will do this all night. There’s no way they can give me more Pitocin– this feels like too much already, and it’s only the littlest bit…

I don’t know if I can do it.”

Him being the awesome hubby he is and knowing me so well gets my mind off what I just told him for a second by telling me he looked at the computer monitor and saw that my contractions were 2 minutes apart now. Whoa! I should have known we were close then, but again, I did not realize I was progressing so quickly. I made another comment alluding to the fact that my birth plan was utterly crumbling after transferring because I felt like I needed the epidural. Again, he supports and helps me through each wave.

I enter a zone where I can no longer be concerned with anything else but relax and centering myself between waves with calm deep breaths to prepare for the next one and focus on each one with intentional breaths.

I tell my husband at one point, “After the next one, will you call the nurse and have her check me?”

Normally, I wouldn’t want to know, but what I felt was so intense, and now my labor has been slightly augmented by the small dose of Pitocin I was given, so I asked. She comes in and asks me to lie down as she prepares to put her gloves on. I tell her I need to wait to lay until she’s fully ready to check me because now I am majorly feeling the pressure and intensity, and movement is what feels good to me to work through each wave. Once she’s ready to go, I wait until another is over, and then I lay down.

She checks and, with surprise in her voice, says, “Oh wow! 6…7…8, you’re 8cm and almost complete!”

Whoa, WHOA, WHOA! Right when she takes her hand away, my water breaks. It’s 12:24 am now. I cry out to Peter, ‘Call Cheryl!!!’ Peter calls and texts Cheryl, our doula, our midwife Margie and Erin our birth photographer. Things get wild! I’m ready to get back up and walk! I need to move through what I am feeling. The nurse tells me there’s no way I can get back up now because of the risk of cord prolapse (hospital rule). I can’t even argue with it at this point– my primal body had taken over being so close to pushing a baby out, and all of my energy now needed to focus on the waves of intensity that were now a lot about a minute or less apart.

Between contractions, I asked the nurse, “At what point do you call Dr. Lozovyy?”, and she replied that she’ll call her when the baby is crowning. 

Another ‘ummmmm’ moment…I said, “You are going to need to call her before that!”

She replied that she’d call her then. After the next contraction was over, I say that I’m feeling the need to push! She quickly checked and said I was complete. The next thing I remember, nurses and staff were dashing around and calling for the on-call ER doctor. 

I’m so excited at this point. It was crazy wild, and I was absolutely so thrilled that after two hours, here we are, about to have OUR BABY GIRL! In my head, I was thinking and expecting we’d labor all night long (they told us to expect to have a baby around lunchtime the next day), and I worried about my ability to preserve the rest of my birth plan if I had to increase Pitocin anymore (I did not want to have any pain medication or an epidural). Then there’s God’s plan! That’s bigger and better than we could ever imagine. 

The ER doctor gets to our room in what seemed like the blink of an eye. They ask me to put my legs in the stirrups. I did find the energy to challenge this one. 😉 I did not want to put my legs up like that. I also didn’t want to push on my back 😉 but things moved FAST. I tried to shift to my side, but each contraction I had kept me from concentrating on that. When the ER doctor got to our room, I only had 3 or 4 waves before meeting our girl. 

The first, close to crowing. The second, starting to crown. The third crowning. The fourth, birthing her head, followed by a millisecond of pause…then birthed her body.

Nellie Rose was born!!! 12:55 am.

They immediately put her on my chest, just like I asked, and she cried–  it was the sweetest music to my ears.

I’m looking up at my husband with pure love in both our eyes.

The wait was over.

After 42 weeks, our sweet baby girl was here! She had some vernix but not a ton. I held her so close– in such awe of her. The ER doctor mentioned she had a shorter cord during delayed cord clamping. After a few minutes, my hubby got to cut the cord, which is comical because he’s really squeamish, and I was the one to cut the cord with Otto! 😉

Dr. Lozovyy arrived minutes after her birth and took over as I had a 2nd-degree tear that needed to be sutured. First, we waited for the placenta. Once I delivered it, she started the sutures. Esh, I don’t like this part. I also tore and had a 2nd tear with Otto, but this one felt a little worse, likely due to the position I pushed and had her in. 

The last thing you want to do after delivering a baby without pain medication or an epidural is have anything near down there! Everything is so tender, but adrenaline helps curb all the feelings. My precious baby girl on my chest helped me forget what was happening below, though! While she’s suturing, Peter and I are gazing at and chatting with our new little Nellie Rose and looking into those piercing blue eyes for the first time.

Cheryl, our doula, arrived at around 1:10 am, and Erin, our birth photographer, a few minutes later. Nellie was rooting around, ready to nurse, and instantly latched on. We chatted about Nellie’s quick labor and entrance into the world, and Erin captured some very sweet moments. They stayed with us for a few hours, which was so nice and special. I chose to do placenta encapsulation with Becky Hines, as I did with Otto, so Cheryl brought a cooler to the hospital for the placenta to give to Becky.

Once they left and the room was quiet, the nurses said they’d let us sleep for a while, so we got all situated. Nellie lay on my chest and Peter in the chair bed by our side. Dad was able to fall asleep after a few minutes, but Mama was wide awake!

I tried to close my eyes, as I was so tired, but I couldn’t do anything but look at her. The birth high is real!

Nellie Rose Birth Story

Reflections…

I felt then and feel now, so grateful and blessed for how things played out. 

Did I want to go to the hospital after planning for a homebirth? No, of course not. I don’t think I am alone here when I say that we as humans don’t like our ‘plans’ to change.

However, during those last few days of pregnancy, I prayed so hard for God to make the path clear of what to do if it came down to the wire. 

Once it actually was at that point, it still felt a bit unclear until the moment I had that was somewhat heart shattering for me where I agreed to go in. That felt like God making the path clear. A surrendering of my plan to His plan. So we followed Him. And He is good. So so good. 

God had our story orchestrated

Sometimes plans that change is necessary and for the best– and the rest of the questions that swirl around our minds debating the details aren’t for us to know, and only God knows. 

I don’t say this next sentence lightly, and I will explain. Shifting our plan from home to the hospital made me initially feel so fearful and afraid of being there, but we were treated with such love and kindness, and mostly all of my wishes and preferences were completely respected. Especially the ones that meant the most to me.

This was my truth! The exact opposite could be said for many. A lot of people plan for a home birth because they wanted one– then there are many who may have had a home birth (not at all on purpose), and it may have been absolutely terrifying for them and could leave them with trauma surrounding birth after not having made it to the hospital. 

I say this because what I am truly passionate about, whether that be birth, health, or any aspect of living life, is doing so from your heart– making decisions for ourselves that feel right and that we each resonate with based on our best knowledge, education, those that we trust (friends, family, our health care practitioners) and personal intuition will always result in what is best for each uniquely-made one of us.

On top of that, we weren’t there for too long before Nellie made her entrance earthside– a quick and beautiful, powerful and intense labor and delivery! 

Plus, with the help of one of the awesome nurses later that morning, I broke us out of the hospital after only about 16 hours, and we were back to home sweet home. 🙂 

I have now gotten to have my planned home birth and my unplanned hospital birth, and guess what? Both were equally just as beautiful in different ways. I truly mean that. 

Life is all about learning and shifting gears. I feel humbled and learned so much from our experience that I know, without a doubt, will be very helpful in my chiropractic practice, working with mamas. 

So many blessings, silver linings, and things to be grateful for. 

Our sweet baby girl, Nellie– is happy and healthy, and our new family of four is together! A proud big brother, Otto, and a mommy and daddy with the fullest hearts!

Welcome to the world, Nellie Rose. We love you with all our hearts! 

XOXO,
Mommy

 

Nellie Rose

A big huge loving thank you to my incredible birth team! 

Each of you brought something so special and specific to my journey! I’m so grateful for your love and support! 

BIRTH TEAM

My amazing husband, Peter
Midwife: Margie Wallis, Frisco Birth Center
Doula: Cheryl Johnson, OmBalance
Chiropractor: Dr. Margie Allred, Grounded Wellness
Birth photographer: Erin Stetson, Erin Beth Birth
OB/GYN: Dr. Lozovyy, High-Risk Pregnancy Doctors 

And also…the most loving and supportive friends, family, and practice members. 

Thank you for reading my birth story! 

Note: I have always loved reading birth stories! To me, they are healing for the mother to process her birth and document all the small details making up such a life-changing event that shapes her to her core. 

To also share with others our personal experience of birth, whether purely to enjoy out of curiosity, to provide connection, or to help normalize the unique and individual circumstances of the experience of birth that we each have.