Birthing Nations

By Rachael Sales

As the mother of eight children, six of which I naturally birthed, I am always interested in hearing the testimonies of the birthing room experience. As an avid supporter and participant of supernatural childbirthing, it never ceases to amaze me how God births life in and through the very creation that He birthed and that He paid the price on Calvary for it to be painless. There is nothing more beautiful (after experiencing new birth in Christ) than watching a child take its first breath on this side of it all. For this reason, I count it a privilege and a joy to gather the stories of wives and mothers, and provide a platform for them to be heard. Amidst the piles of laundry, the late night feedings and the little bumps and bruises, their voices cry out declaring that God is both able and willing to keep. Consider the following snippet of the labor room experience from wife and mother Ashleigh Phillips:

It’s Showtime

During the birth of our first baby, Morgan, we found out that she was faced the wrong way, and so she wasn’t coming down the canal. She was face up when she should have been face down. We tried every birthing position imaginable to get her to turn over – squatting, hanging on the birthing bar, you name it, but she never turned around. I had gotten to the point that I didn’t care what anybody thought. People were walking in and out of the room, and I just didn’t care. At that point I knew God was there and it was me and Him walking this thing through. It’s amazing when those types of thing happen causing you to become so vulnerable. I believe that we should always be like that – at the point of not caring what anybody thinks.

As is the case in life, the hard decision to choose God above all else is one that often offends onlookers desiring to have the final say. One of the most beautiful things about birthing another life is that you realize that there is no option not to and you quickly turn to the guidance of the Savior that can deliver in that day. All of life’s decisions should be made with such resolve. The beauty of the birthing process is that we get a natural example of how to apply such tenacity, such resilience to all areas of life. We are always giving birth, giving life to something. (Emphasis mine)

Finally after about thirty six hours, the doctors became very definite that nothing was happening. My temperature was 100.7˚ and rising and they were adamant that it was a sign of infection. They said, “Listen, what do you want to do? You know that you’ve done all that you can.” I continued to push and pretty much resolved not to listen to them. I was determined to birth this baby. I remember being very, very tired, but yet at peace in my spirit. I didn’t sense that God was saying to continue in this way. We had to make a decision on the c-section. I honestly felt like my flesh was saying Keep going. Keep going! You need to keep on fighting. Don’t give up! But in my spirit I didn’t get that God was saying that. I was getting [from Him] to surrender and to trust Him. So we opted for the caesarian. I continued to push until that final moment when they wheeled me out to have the operation. I never gave up hope. I never gave up fight. I never stopped believing.

My husband and I definitely felt a release when we surrendered and said, “Ok we’ve done everything that we can.” At that point, it had been thirty-nine hours. Soon after they told us that we’d had a little girl. I could see that something just clicked in my husband. His first words were “She’s a cutie.” I could tell he was speechless. Then they pulled her up over the sheet and I saw her face. I was like Oh my God! She was so beautiful. More often than not, the workers in these hospitals do not understand the order of God. They tend to address the wife and mother first as if she is the head of the home. They didn’t want to hand the baby to John first. They handed her to me. At that time I didn’t even really deal with it, but I remember thinking these people are so backwards. After that they handed her to John and he held her. My church family, New Light Dominion Church, was there in full force. It was an amazing sight. Many tears flowed that day for so many different reasons. (Morgan was the first live birth after three prior miscarriages.) Relief, excitement, and extreme gratitude overflowed all at once. We were all so glad, so excited, to finally get to the point of seeing her. It was a day to be remembered.

This article was an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Birthing Nations