My Positive & Unmedicated Natural Birth Story (Birth Center Experience)

In this article you'll find my natural and unmedicated water birth story for our first daughter, Hazel. We chose to receive care at a birth center, which we had a great experience with.

Photo Credit @ The Doula Lens

Why I Decided to Have An Intervention Free Birth

As someone with a past history of chronic illness, I've had many difficult experiences in the hospital. After years of becoming sicker and sicker going the "western medicine" route, I was eventually able to find healing with nervous system regulation, brain retraining, and animal-based nutrition.

It was because of that healing that I was able to even consider starting a family—something for years we weren't sure would ever be possible for us. Read more about my recovery story here.

Through my chronic illness healing journey, I really embraced the belief that our bodies are designed to heal and thrive. This is what led me to wanting a natural, intervention free birth.

Having a home birth was my original plan, but all of the midwives in our area were booked up for my due date when I started looking—at only 9 weeks pregnant, haha. Going with a birth center was the next best option, and it actually ended up being a great fit.

Before I get into my birth story, I want to make it clear that having an unmedicated or out of hospital birth are not the "superior" choices by any means. Birth is incredible and empowering regardless of whether interventions are used. Choosing the birth place and plan that makes you as the mother feel the most safe and supported is what's most important.

An unmedicated birth was the right choice for me, but that doesn't mean it is for everyone. In the event of a true emergency, we would have been grateful to receive care at the hospital. But emergencies are rare. Our bodies were designed to give birth!

To read about my pregnancy experience, start here.

My Birth Story

Our first daughter, Hazel Loris, was born at 7:53am on Monday, June 2, 2025. I was 39 weeks + 3 days pregnant when I spontaneously went into labor. I had a very quick and intense labor, with only six hours between my water breaking (before contractions starting) and her being born.

Our daughter was born in the bath with no interventions. We were cared for by a midwife team at a birth center—which is a home like environment very close to the hospital.

I realize birth stories are deeply personal and for that reason I wasn’t sure whether I should share. But because hearing positive birth stories while I was pregnant was so encouraging for me, I felt like it was the right decision. 

Below you’ll find my positive, yet very imperfect unmedicated birth story. 

Labor and birth were humbling and transcendent for me. Everything went so differently than I expected and prepared for. But as I’ve been processing everything that happened, I’ve realized it was just the birth experience we needed.

Leading up to her birth

In the last few weeks of my pregnancy, I didn’t have many obvious signs of labor being near. My belly did seem to drop, which caused my ankles and feet to swell. I felt more pelvic pressure and I had some random period like cramps and lightning sensations. 

About a week before she was born I had a night where I was kept awake with some contractions. But they weren’t consistent and went away completely by the next day. 

Interestingly enough, I did not lose my mucus plug before my water breaking or going into labor. My husband told me it came out while in labor at the birth center and I didn't even notice.

The day before

The morning before I went into labor my bowels started clearing out. That was the first sign I had where I thought “maybe this is my body prepping for birth”. But I still thought it would be several days or longer.

That day we went to the park with some family and I felt pretty exhausted. My brother in law was making fun of Jake for thinking our baby was going to come early. He said “it’s your first baby, she’s definitely coming late.”

Later in the evening a friend from church came over to drop off a gift and commented “looks like you’re still carrying high, it’ll probably be a while”.

Before going to bed, Jake and I played some games and watched a show. When I laid down on the couch, I had some very mild cramping and a light tightening feeling across my belly. It wasn’t anything super out of the ordinary and there wasn’t a pattern at all, but for some reason I had a gut feeling something was different tonight. 

Water Breaking

At 1:30am, I woke up feeling a bit wet. I thought, could that be my water leaking? I stood up and went to the bathroom and some more fluid started coming out. I think I knew it was my water starting to break, but I convinced myself maybe it was something else. I tried to go back to sleep. About 10 minutes later, the bed was all wet. I stood up and water started gushing out of me. There was no question that my water had broken at this point.

A spark of excitement and anticipation rushed through me. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. I woke Jake up and told him my water broke. We called the birth center and our doula to let them know. They both advised I try to get some more rest and to let them know when contractions started and became intense. Or about 5 minutes apart and a minute long. It seemed like they thought it would likely be a while before things ramped up, but that wasn’t the case!

Labor starting

Within about 10 minutes of my water breaking, I felt pretty intense cramping in my pelvic area and low back aches come on. Jake started timing my contractions (or surges) and they were already really close together. About 3-4 minutes. 45-60 seconds long.

I didn't experience any early labor sensations and went straight into active labor. Right from the get go it was already difficult for me to speak.

We tried to stay home for a while. First I started laboring in the shower. Then Jake drew a bath for me. That gave me a bit of relief, but everything was still quite intense. 

Intuitively, I knew this baby was coming fast. Soon there came a point where I told Jake if we were going to make it to the birth center, we had to go now. A part of me was wishing we could just stay home. Honestly I think she may have come even more quickly had we stayed home. 

Traveling to Birth Center

Jake put the car seat and birth bag in the car and helped me get in. The ride there was pretty uncomfortable but thankfully we weren’t too far away. 

When we got there at around 3:45am, they helped us in. I had very little time in between contractions and was almost in a different world in terms of my headspace. I wasn’t talking much and needed to stay focused on my breathing.

They asked if they could do a cervical check when we got there and I allowed them to. I was 6cm and 90% effaced. Prior to going into labor, I planned on declining checks, but for some reason in the moment, I didn’t mind. I think it was because I knew she was coming soon regardless of what they told me.

Laboring at Birth Center

After they got us checked in (which was very quick in comparison to what a hospital would be), they started drawing me a bath.

When I got in, it gave me some degree of relief, but truthfully not a lot. The intensity of it all was a lot to take in. 

Most of what I remember from the laboring process was Jake sitting behind me telling me things like “you’re doing amazing” or “you can do this”. Or praying over me and our baby. He stayed by my side the entire time and was a great support.

There was another woman in labor at the birth center, so there were quite a few times I remember being alone with Jake in our suite. It just so happened that the other woman was a client of our doula as well, so her time was split between us too.

After giving birth, we heard that they all expected the other woman to have her baby first (though she didn’t) so that may be why we had more time on our own. It seemed they may not have realized how quickly things were progressing for me.

Our doula and midwife tried several physical comfort measures like counter pressure on my hips or back, but for some reason I didn’t like the feeling of it. All the things we prepared for were basically thrown out the window. 

There was no walking around during labor.

No massage or counter pressure.

No slow dancing through contractions.

No birth ball.

No food being eaten.

No music being played.

I remember losing track of all time and just being completely in a different world mentally. I wasn’t really talking between contractions, just trying to breathe better through them. 

When I found ways to surrender into the waves and let the tension in my body go, it definitely helped with the discomfort. Some moments I felt empowered and capable and others I felt desperate for a break.

Truthfully, I found this to be a lot more difficult than I expected. Probably because I anticipated labor to start and progress slowly. But instead things went from 0 to 100 very quickly.

My doula told us people often think fast labor is better, but that it actually can be much more intense for both mom and baby. Especially if your water has already broken. She said having some extra time can make things go smoother and easier. That being said, I don’t think it’s necessary to compare. Every birth is different.

My experience with labor certainly was humbling. I think it altered my mental state to have things play out so differently than I had anticipated. A part of me was a bit sad that I missed out on the slow progression of what “early labor” could have looked like.

I spent basically the entire time at the birth center laboring in the tub. It didn’t feel as nice as I’d hoped, but I didn’t want to be anywhere else. And moving felt really difficult even between the waves. 

Periodically, they’d drain some of the water out of the tub and add more warm water in to keep the temperature up for baby.

The one thing I actually used that we brought with us was a little portable fan. Being in the tub so long was making me feel overheated and kind of woozy. The fan helped with this.

Transition Phase

From what I gathered afterwards from Jake and our midwife’s notes, around 5am I was entering transition. At this point, I was exhausted and had some questions pop into my head of how much longer I could do this for. 

Our doula and Jake strung up some of my affirmation cards with fairy lights. I wasn’t in a place to read them out myself, but Jake periodically whispered them in my ear. This was definitely encouraging. 

Soon after this, I felt my body start to spontaneously shake. My midwife assured me this was good and normal and just my body’s hormones ramping up for birth.

When fear started to creep in, I found myself repeating in my head “I can do all things through Christ” or “I was made to do this”. 

Every 30 minutes or so, they’d check in on the baby’s heart rate. It always looked good.

I never thought I’d be one to make much noise during labor, but I did grunt and moan quite a bit. That seemed to come naturally. Our nurse and doula kept reminding me to use “low tones” when riding through the waves, which did help with letting go of tension.

Pushing Phase

I noticed light was starting to come through the windows, so it must have been around 6am.

Soon after, my body started to bear down on its own through my contractions. I wondered if that meant her birth was coming closer. 

Exhaustion really set in and I desperately wanted just a little break. I told myself that with each wave I was getting closer to meeting my baby.

Our doula offered to play some music as a distraction. I didn’t like it. I needed to tune everything out and stay focused. 

I took some sips of coconut and regular water throughout labor to stay hydrated, but never felt like I wanted to eat something.

The midwife asked if I wanted another check. I surprised myself by saying yes. Intuitively I knew I had to be all the way there so I thought it’d be nice to have that confirmed. 

She said I was 9.5 cm dilated. Soon after I overheard her whispered to the other midwife something along the lines of “she’s swollen and has an anterior something” and she replied “oh, that’s so tough”. 

Not knowing what that meant and not being in a state to ask, hearing that got me a little bit worried. Would that prolong things? How much longer could I go on like this? Could she get stuck?

I don’t think they meant for me to hear that, because everything else they said was very encouraging and positive (ex. “you and your baby are safe”, “this is normal”, “you’re doing great”) 

Looking back this shows me how powerful words are in a situation like this. Thankfully I was able to lead myself back into feelings of safety.

My body continued to bear down naturally more during my contractions. I was laying back in the tub but eventually found myself contorting onto my side and moving around a lot while bearing down. The feeling kind of reminded me of Professor Lupin turning into a werewolf on Harry Potter. These contractions felt out of control and tense. I wasn’t doing a great job at breathing deeply through them. 

I decided to switch to my hands and knees in the tub and our midwife thought that was a good idea. 

They suggested I reach and feel for her head and I could feel it! This changed everything for me. My confidence was back and I was revitalized. I felt more relief in between waves. I started saying out loud “we’ve got this baby girl” “we can do this” “you’re almost here”. I couldn’t stop smiling.

The Birth

Once I felt her head I was so excited to meet her that I think I pushed a little too hard. Looking back I probably should have gone slower with my body’s natural queues. But at the time I didn’t care. I wanted to meet my baby right away.

A few contractions after feeling her head, I pushed her out on all fours into the bathtub. I caught her myself and pulled her up onto my chest...something that must have been purely instinct because I don’t remember it. All I remember is the immense feeling of relief to hear her cry and hold her in my arms. Hazel was finally here. And she was perfect. 

Getting to see the baby you carried for nine months for the first time is indescribably special.

My eyes filled with tears as I looked down at our beautiful baby girl. A moment I’ll never forget. 

Later my midwife told my mom "Rachael delivered her own baby, it was amazing". I didn't realize I'd done that until days later—it was so surprising to hear.

The Placenta

After she was born, they pretty quickly got me out of the tub and onto the bed. Now it was time to deliver the placenta. 

It was a weird feeling to be holding my baby but not done with the birth process. I wanted the placenta out but tried not to rush things. 

Having baby Hazel on my chest was the best feeling in the word. Listening to the sound of her breathing and taking in all her features was mesmerizing.

All the discomfort I’d felt in labor faded away. Our midwife helped me deliver the placenta within about 15 minutes of her being born. I pushed with a contraction and the midwife gently tugged to pull it out.

Post-Birth

We waited until the umbilical cord was mostly white, before Jake cut it. This was probably about 20 minutes.

The midwife then assessed me for tearing. I had two smaller first degree tears and one second degree. She told us they would heal on their own without stitching as they weren’t super deep, but that she’d recommend some stitching on 2/3 for better healing. I agreed to that.

I’m fairly certain the reason I tore was because of how quickly I pushed her out. Once I felt her head I felt this desperation to get her out. For some reason I was afraid of her getting stuck (which wasn’t based on anything rational). So I think I pushed harder than my body was signaling me to. In the moment, I didn’t care. 

Of course it’s trivial, but next time I hope to be more patient with the pushing process and let my body’s natural instincts take over. It would be amazing not to tear!

The numbing and stitching was uncomfortable, but not too bad. I just focused on my beautiful daughter on my chest and nothing else mattered.

Afterwards, our midwife showed me the placenta and the sac! It was a deep red color. So cool that this organ was what kept my girl alive during pregnancy. I decided to take it home in case I wanted to do anything with it (I’m still undecided).

My family was waiting outside in the lobby and once we were ready we had them come back to meet Hazel. This was another special moment.

After Hazels birth, they encouraged me to hold her skin to skin for two hours before doing any of their exams—the way it should be. 

Jake was able to lay in the bed with us and this “golden hour” time was really sweet. It felt so right for her to be a part of our family.

We opted not to bathe her and just rubbed her vernix into her skin. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20.5” long. Her heart and lungs sounded great.

They continued to monitor me and my bleeding for a few more hours, periodically pressing down on my abdomen area. Everything was very normal for me as well. 

My parents brought us burgers for lunch (I just had some patties). The beef tasted so good after giving birth! I also had some honey mamas chocolate. It certainly hit the spot.

After about four hours, they told us we could go home whenever we felt ready. We weren’t rushed. At about 6 hours after birth, Jake loaded her into the car seat and we drove home!

I was quite sore but overall felt okay. I think the adrenaline and excitement really powered me through my first few days postpartum. 

Processing My Birth Story

Thats a wrap for Hazels birth story. While it certainly was a positive birth, I’d be lying if I said it went how I had hoped and imagined it would.

I thought it would feel more natural to surrender to the contractions. I thought I’d be enjoying the whole experience and not letting fear creep in or hoping for it to be over. I thought I’d be more comfortable and in control.

It’s taken some time for me to process the intensity of my birth experience. I was a bit hard on myself thinking maybe if I’d handled it better I could have had a completely blissful or pain free labor (I still believe it’s possible to achieve that, but maybe that just wasn’t meant for me this time around).

I've been working to let go of any my inner critic and give myself grace. I'm realizing how empowering and beautiful our birth experience was. I did the best I could and brought Hazel into the world without intervention just as I’d hoped. I’m proud of myself and her. We did it!

In Conclusion

If you're reading this because you're pregnant or hoping to have an unmedicated birth in the future, I'm cheering you on. You've got this! Don't forget—your body was designed to do this.

I hope this article was helpful! I'd love to hear from you in the comments. Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Be sure to follow along on Instagram and YouTube to learn more about my chronic illness recovery journey.

Click here to shop all my favorite products & discount codes 🖤