Our Birth Story

Power. Peace. Surrender. Redemption.

Adjectives I never really thought I’d be using to describe a birth story.. let alone my own. Yet these are the words I keep coming back to when asked to describe my journey of bringing Theodore earth side. The same words I had chosen when asked to describe the birthing experience I was hoping to have.

I’ll never forget the day when I said to Paul.. “if I ever have another baby, I think I want to do it without any drugs or interventions”. Then we both laughed, a lot, knowing there was no way I could ever do that. The story that I just wasn’t strong enough physically or mentally is one that has been woven throughout my life. This moment between us was also before I completed the Becoming Her course. Before I had formed a tribe of friends and soul sisters who share so many of my same convictions, who inspire almost daily, and have both figuratively and literally held me every step of the way… from my initial desire for another baby through the very moments leading to his arrival. The old Megan, I agree, probably could not or would not have done what I did on March 2nd.

My due date (Feb 27th) had passed, and I was feeling VERY pregnant, and very ready to meet Theodore. On March 1st, after a long walk and some much needed encouragement and clarity from my friend Lauren, I reached out to my postpartum doula for ideas to induce labor naturally that I hadn’t tried yet. She told me about a drink called the “Midwife’s Brew”, a German recipe, and I decided to give it a try.

7:30pm We had a dinner of Chicken Parm, and Paul made me the midwife’s cocktail. It wasn’t half bad, and after about halfway through it, contractions started really picking up after being sporadic earlier that day.

10:00pm Everyone went to bed and I thought we’d definitely be going to the hospital that night. I decided to take a shower while playing my labor playlist on Spotify (created with so much love by my friend, Danielle), and ended up staying in for almost an hour. This hour was truly so peaceful; my favorite from my entire labor experience outside of Teddy actually arriving - something about the water, the warmth, and the music that just washed over me with each and every contraction. At this point we of course also knew baby would be a Pisces, so it truly felt divine.

11:00pm-2:00am I worked through hours of intense contractions in a dark, calm home, moving from the floor to the bed and back again. My spotify playlist and a customized meditation from my soul sister, Teresa, were the soundtrack of my evening while my contractions grew as close to a few minutes apart before starting to unexpectedly slow.

2:30am I woke Paul up and asked what he thought, as my contractions had slowed to every 20-30 minutes. We agreed I should try to get some sleep if possible, and I slept on and off in between contractions from the comfort of my bed.

6:00am Contractions began to pick back up, and I woke up Paul to tell him to start getting ready.. baby was coming this morning!

8:00am Contractions were very intense and only a few minutes apart by this point, so after big hugs and goodbyes from Nana & Mar (my in-laws), Jackson & Colton, we left for the hospital. Jackson was holding my phone before we left, and he, unprompted, took this photo of Colton and me right before we left. I love it so much.

8:15am We got stuck in rush hour traffic…and while we had my labor playlist playing, there is just truly no way to get comfortable sitting in stopped traffic for almost 45mins while in active labor.

8:45am After multiple stops from the car to the hospital doors to work through contractions, we arrived and were immediately checked in. After two epidural births I genuinely had no idea how much more intense my contractions would get, and I admit the first thing I said to the first nurse I saw was “I need drugs now!” - straight out of a movie. I was about 7cm dilated when we arrived, and were moved quickly to a delivery room.

9:15ish They wheeled me into delivery, and I went straight for the bathroom, thinking I was going to vomit from the intensity I was experiencing. My entire body started sweating and shaking and after several of the most intense contractions yet, I walked out of the bathroom and got into the bed.

9:30ish I admit all of the calm had left my body by this point and all I could think about was pain. After asking multiple times for something to help curb what I was feeling, it started to click that no one was really answering me, and Paul quietly reminded me I was getting the natural birth I had prepared for and wanted. This was the moment where I truly surrendered and went inward. I found the clarity I needed to continue, an inner strength I didn’t know fully existed, and began to remember pieces of my birth plan. I turned over onto my elbows and knees - the most comfortable labor position I had found, and one that greatly decreases chances of tearing. Everything and everyone else in the room became fuzzy and peripheral, and I knew it was time to push. I vaguely remember the nurse telling me the OB had arrived, and I told the room I was going to start pushing.

9:53am It was sweaty and loud and beyond intense (Paul calls the experience the most primal thing he’s ever witnessed, if that’s any indication), but after five or six pushes Theodore’s head was out, and after another two he was fully earth side. I rolled onto my back and the moment he was laid on my chest all the intensity was released. All that was left was the most overwhelmingly peaceful feeling in the world. We had been through so much already, he and I, and here he was - finally. I cut his umbilical cord once it had stopped pulsing (after yelling at the nurse not to clamp it!) and he laid on my chest for over an hour before they moved us to the maternity floor (during that hour they also asked the intake form questions, set up my IV, etc.. all the standard things they do before a baby arrives that we simply didn’t have time for.. God truly provided me with the most minimal amount of interventions possible for a hospital birth, just as I had desired).

It was only later that Paul shared with me how panicked the nurses seemed, trying to quickly get everything set up for delivery, trying to strap a heart rate monitor on my belly, and that the OB barely arrived in time after multiple frantic phone calls. I truly had no idea any of this was happening - further proof that I had everything I needed within me to birth this baby.

Theodore Boone Stoltzfus was born on March 2, 2022 on the day of the new moon. The exact day of the month when my Becoming Her tribe holds our monthly calls. Divinely timed. This isn’t just a story about the birth of a beautiful baby boy. It’s a story of a mother claiming her power; strength she didn’t know existed within her. A story of how women were beautifully created to do this. A story of sisterhood, and how we can be literally across the world from one another, yet hold each other so close, and empower one another to truly honor the highest version of ourselves.

These women who have held us up over the last two years were interwoven throughout my entire pregnancy and birth experience. They showered my family and I with love, prayers, gifts, meals, music, meditations, and so much more.. I firmly believe their energy was present in that delivery room, and I cannot wait for Theodore to one day meet each one of them.

This experience has truly taught me how I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, except myself. That when I stop playing small, and allow those who love me to truly support me, I am capable of the most incredible, even magical, experiences. It has been proven to be true time and time again, but this has got to be my favorite story yet.

I am not the same woman, wife, or mother I was before Theodore. I am stronger, wiser, more grounded in my faith and my friendships, and recognize just how fully capable I am.

An incredibly special birth story for an incredibly special little boy - and the mama who loves him to no end.