Noble’s Birth Story
Noble Elliott Williams born on June 13, 2023 weighing 11lbs 1oz and 22 inches.
I was 10 days past my due date when I woke up from a nap around 8:30pm. I didn’t feel great but I wasn’t sure that meant labor was coming. I finished reading a book I had started and spent some time in prayer. I had actively been praying for Noble’s birth since he was conceived but I realized that night that although I had prayed the Lord would bring him, I had never had an uninterrupted birth (membrane sweep with Ozella & artificial rupture of membranes with Eli). So despite being educated regarding birth and trusting the medical team I had, I was nervous that maybe the Lord would not bring Noble into the world without intervention. So in the dark of Monday night, I prayed and surrendered my labor and my boy to God.
I quickly began to feel sick and contractions became regular and a bit more intense but very manageable. I had Eli in less than two hours so I knew it was important that I let my midwives know as soon as I had any indication labor was coming because they were heading to my house from Fresno, about a two hour drive. We had a home water birth planned. Around midnight, I texted both of my midwives and my mom to let them know that I believed I was in early labor. My mom headed over to pick up the kids and my midwives headed to my house. I let Matt sleep for awhile as I worked through the mild contractions and then woke him up when my mom arrived to help me get the kids to her car. Once he was up, he set up my birth pool in the middle of our living room over a big plastic tarp while I labored through the contractions. I started puking which is normal for me in early labor. My midwives arrived around 2:30am. I was coping really well in the shower, in my bed, on the birth ball, standing etc. Matt was an amazing birth partner and worked with me as the waves passed. I was checked for dilation three times; five, seven, and nine centimeters. All the way through nine centimeters, I was loving my birth experience. I actually looked at my midwives and said I was having fun! My other two births were nothing like this and I wondered if it was really possible to birth this peacefully.
Around nine centimeters, my water broke. Within the hour, my body started to push. I felt like I desperately needed to get him out as the pushing became more and more and more intense with very little progress of him actually crowning. This is when I started to panic. My body was pushing so hard yet he was not coming out. I was pushing along with my body, he still wasn’t coming out. In my bed, in the shower, in the birthing pool, I pushed for an hour and a half without him progressing. With my other two babies, I pushed for twenty minutes and then maybe four minutes, I could tell there was something off about this time. Finally, my midwife told me I needed to stand up out of the pool with one leg up. As soon as I stood, a wave of contractions hit me so hard Matt had to hold me up. Noble’s head emerged and I had this overwhelming sense of relief because once the head exits, everything else is supposed to follow quickly. Everything did not follow quickly. My skilled midwives quickly realized that not only was Noble stuck at the chest, his very short umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around his neck keeping him from descending any further out of the canal. The cord was wrapped so tightly it was as thin as a pencil. One of the midwives jumped into action working to get him out. The other midwife and Matt lifted me up off the ground and out of the pool so the first midwife could get underneath me. She rotated Noble in the birth canal so the cord unwrapped and they were able to slip it over his head so he could fully descend out of the canal. I collapsed immediately into the pool and he was laid on my chest. He was purple and not yet breathing so I gave him air through his mouth and then we utilized a mask to get air into his lungs. He started breathing and quickly turned pink. My contractions had not stopped despite him coming out so I was still in excruciating pain. My placenta was very large to fuel an even larger baby and it was not detaching. My body continued to contract so we cut the cord and I turned over and had to push what felt like another baby out. Once the placenta finally came out my body stopped with such intense contractions. I was able to get into my bathtub with Noble. He nursed right away and has latched perfectly ever since.
We relaxed awhile and then moved into my bedroom where we found out he was 11lbs 1oz. My two other babies were 7lbs 5oz and 7lbs 12oz. Needless to say we were all absolutely shocked that Noble was as big as he is.
There are a lot of things I could say about this birth. It was not uncomplicated. It was harder than my two other births by far. But I would not change one single thing about the choices we made throughout the process. I am so grateful for skilled midwives, a supportive husband, and a God who has designed beautiful bodies to bring life into this world. It was an amazing experience and if the Lord blesses us with more children, home births forever. Even when Noble was stuck and then not breathing, I was never afraid. Part of that was due to the pain I was in, part of it was due to the fact that I knew we were in wonderful hands and the Lord was sovereign over every breath Noble and I took.
In regards to recovery, my body is in more pain than with my other babies but NO stitches or tearing!! After birth contractions are no joke the third time around. Noble is a sweet and calm baby. He eats and sleeps great and really doesn’t complain. I am loving every moment with him.
God’s kindness abounds in the bringing forth of life. Birth never ceases to amaze me.
This song played during my labor and I couldn’t help but weep as I thought about the wonder of being a mother.
