Supernatural pregnancy journey

Everyone’s journey into parenthood is unique and for us, we felt it necessary to share the testimony of how God has worked in our lives through the transition from married couple to parents. Throughout our lives, God has showed Himself faithful time and time again; both in our lives as individuals,  in our relationships and in our marriage. We share this testimony, only one of many, to give glory to Him and encourage others! We ‘give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever’ (1 Chronicles 16:34)

Part 1- Praying Through Pregnancy

My husband and I spent much of 2015 praying for direction and discernment of timing of when to start making additions to our family, (‘in ALL things, with prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God’ (Philippians 4:6)). In the latter part of 2016, we felt the time was right and prayed into it. To be honest, I’d always loved the idea of having children soon into marriage but we knew the circumstances were not right; we wanted to be in our own home and have stability in our jobs. God really sees ahead because during those first three years of marriage, God ensured provision of all these things beyond our expectations and our prayers! We also saw how He helped us to see the importance of strengthening ourselves as a couple for the journey of parenthood and this truly began during the pregnancy process! I’d always thought that when I fell pregnant I would immediately know, that I would feel different somehow or have an inkling but I never did. One night, I had a dream in which I did a pregnancy test but I never saw the result. I woke up confused as it hadn’t crossed my mind that I could be pregnant or until that point thought I should do a test so (unsuccessfully) tried to go back to sleep. As much as I tried, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the dream was almost urging me to do one.

After waking up at 4am, I finally decided to take a pregnancy test, not with the thought or expectation it would be positive, but just to get rid of the feeling I needed to do one! I was so shocked at the outcome, that my immediate thought was that I’d got a false result! My husband was in deep sleep but as I unable to process what I was seeing, I couldn’t resist waking him up to share my disbelief. He responded with a sluggish “really? That’s good’ before dozing off. Obviously what I said hadn’t registered but I decided to let him sleep! As I couldn’t, I rummaged around quietly in the bedroom and dug out another THREE tests to make sure the result was reliable (even the expensive Clearblue one with the electronic display that I had reserved for the day I suspected that I was pregnant or felt pregnant!). One by one, they all came up with positive results! My husband then suddenly woke up around 7am and said he remembered I’d woken him up to tell him something but couldn’t remember what I had said! I told him the news which had been confirmed by the additional three tests I had done and he lit up with excitement, even leaping out of bed to do a dance of praise and thanks (which went on for several minutes)! We prayed and committed the pregnancy unto God, giving Him thanks for what He had blessed us with.

In the weeks and months that followed, we continued to soak ourselves in prayer and continued to make declarations over my body and the baby that grew inside me; for health, protection and a supernatural birth! There were many times that I was filled with fear, concern for the baby, worries that I was eating well and doing the right things. I began saying aloud Psalm 91 every morning, alongside my prayers, as a prayer of protection over ourselves. God being as faithful as He can be, blessed me with strength, no morning sickness or illness to the extent that I didn’t need to take a single day off until the latter part of my pregnancy! I am a teacher and teaching is tiring without being pregnant, so to be sustained without any sickness or taking multiple days off was truly a miracle! 

I remember the day I first felt our baby wriggling around one evening. I yelped with alarm and amazement as the baby jumped and squirmed. It was such a beautiful moment that reinforced how incredibly the formation of life occurs within the womb and how amazingly life can grow inside another! I began to notice that our baby would move in response to my voice, particularly when I woke up to pray. I really felt that the parenthood had already begun as I felt a great responsibility to ensure I was an example to this baby in my words and prayers, even while in the womb! I was very blessed by the text ‘Praying through your pregnancy’ by Carolyn Warren and Jennifer Polimino which helped me focus my prayers according to each week of pregnancy and baby’s growth and development.  During the pregnancy scans, the baby was mostly shown laying transverse (basically reclining horizontally, the way you would lay back on a sofa or lazyboy) across the womb. This wasn’t a problem in the first and second trimester but nearing the third, began to give cause for concern.  This was compounded by the fact that it was thought the birth canal would not be wide enough for the baby to go through. Obviously this was not going to make a natural delivery easy and we had not envisaged anything other than a natural delivery and supernatural birth! We had further additional scans to check the growth of the baby and the position and each time the baby would be laying in the same position. Though these extra scans were given out of concern, we saw the blessing in the extra opportunities to see our baby in the ultrasound images and put body parts to the ripples and rolls in my tummy! It was however increasingly frustrating as we had been petitioning for a supernatural birth and suddenly we were being given pamphlets about an elective C-section and being booked in to have one! This was not what we were praying for and after being given the date for a C-section, I could feel tears welling up inside me. We were told that if I was to go into labour beforehand, I was to call the hospital immediately so that they could be ready to surgically deliver the baby. My husband however being the cool, calm and collected man he is (thank God!) continued to encourage me and even told the doctor that we are Christians who believe in the power of prayer! The doctor smiled and said that prayers can work. We didn’t know if he was a Christian or not but he didn’t belittle my husband’s response and this both amazed and encouraged me.

We really began to intensify our prayers and there were times when I knelt and prayed in tears. I wavered between being resigned to the caesarean in my mind but continued to speak and act in faith. Even to the extent of putting the start date of my maternity leave in accordance with the expected due date as opposed to the date we were given for the C-section which would have been a week before. When colleagues asked when the baby was due, I never mentioned the date of the elective C-section which was booked for the end of May but gave them the due date of the 4th of June. Similarly, my husband put the start of his paternity date as the day after the due date and continued to profess to his sceptical colleagues that he believed the baby would come on the due date! It was definitely not easy but the Holy Spirit definitely gave us the strength to continue to speak words of belief despite circumstances saying the opposite.  

During the midwife visits, I would ask if they could work out the position of the baby and still baby’s position hadn’t changed. That was until one of the latter appointments when the midwife said she could feel the baby’s head was down! She didn’t seem 100% sure, so I took it with a pinch of salt and we prayed that this was the case. 

For my next antenatal appointment, I had a different midwife as my usual midwife was on leave but this particular midwife went to extra efforts to assure me that she believed the baby’s head was down, especially as I said I hadn’t felt the baby moving into position (as friends had told me they had felt during their pregnancies) and had been transverse all the way through. I could really feel God showing us He had answered our prayers and giving us that extra assurance with this midwife. This was confirmed with our final appointment with the doctor who said that she could feel the baby was head down and there wasn’t any real obstruction in the birth canal. The doctor was a different one to the one we’d seen previously but she cancelled the C-section and said she couldn’t see why a natural birth couldn’t occur! Praise be to God, He had done it! The baby was in the right position and getting ready to be born. It was amazing that my colleagues said they had noticed my tummy had ‘dropped’ and baby was lowered, even though I hadn’t noticed myself!

Part 2- A Supernatural Childbirth

God had removed one obstacle but we realised there were still more to face, particularly with battles in our minds and thoughts. One of the things that God really showed me during the pregnancy was the power of words and to be careful of the words that you accept and allow to enter your mind. The Word of God tells us ‘arm yourselves with the helmet of salvation’ (Ephesians 6:17). Innocently and jokingly, my colleagues would say they would be armed with warm towels and hot water if baby came early and this would make an interesting lesson for the kids! As innocent as these jokes were, I really felt the need to rebuke words, so I often responded with the affirmation that baby would come at the right time and at the expected time of arrival! Others would say they felt my belly was quite compact for the stage of pregnancy that I was in and maybe the baby would be a bit overdue. It’s amazing how words can fill your mind with worry but we knew the God that moved our baby into the right position, without me even being aware would also bring the child forth at the right time! The same God who allowed me to work right until a week before I was due and on the day I had originally been booked for a C-section!

As we entered June, my husband and I began to pray into the arrival of the baby and the due date. As we didn’t live close to the hospital and my husband took the car to work, we really prayed for labour to start when my husband was at home and on the due date, particularly as the due date fell on a Sunday. My husband even joked that he wanted to watch the Champions League Final that Saturday so baby could stay put until then! On the evening of Friday 2nd of June, we were watching TV on the sofa and as I got up to go to the bathroom, I felt a sudden pressure in my lower tummy, as if the baby was moving downward. I suddenly felt in my spirit that the baby was getting ready to make an entrance and somehow, although I didn’t feel any contractions or any pain then, the process had started.  Now, as mentioned, we had been praying into a natural birth but a supernatural delivery. I had been reading ‘Supernatural Childbirth’ by Jackie Mize which had detailed testimonies of supernatural births, and declarations for birth supported by scripture for speedy, pain-free births. I really believed this would also be my portion and because of this, I didn’t know what to expect from contractions or labour.  That night around 9pm, I started to feel what felt like contractions. They weren’t especially painful at first but became slightly painful and woke me up from sleep. We called up the hospital and went in.

On examination, I was 2cm dilated (10cm is when the baby is pushed out) so despite being relatively far from delivery, the process had indeed started! We went back home with some painkillers and I went to sleep. Throughout the day, we were able to carry on as usual, we stayed home and listened to the church service online in case contractions started again.  On Sunday evening, the contractions continued again and were manageable but began getting more intense. To avoid being sent home again, we decided to wait as much as we could.  After calling, around 2am (Monday morning), I was asked to take a warm bath and paracetamol to see if it eased contractions but contractions continued with increasing intensity. My husband helped to time them and they weren’t entirely regular, definitely more intense but not excruciatingly painful as I was able to talk through them and use an exercise ball to help ease the discomfort.

Around 6am, I began throwing up and could feel that things were progressing more quickly so by 7am we set off to the hospital. After examination, I was now halfway there and at 5cm! The midwives were amazed, by the Grace of the Almighty God, that I was not screaming in pain.  My waters were broken to help things along and by evening time I was 8cm and at this point the pain became EXTREMELY intense. I asked for pain relief at this moment but with God’s strength, I still wasn’t screaming in pain but needed something to take the edge off. I had a few painkillers and gas and air but this wasn’t a good combination on an empty stomach (as I couldn’t keep any food down) and began to feel weak and dizzy! 

As I reached 9cm, the pain began to become excruciating! The new midwife on duty kept repeating ‘nearly there, nearly there’ so I continued to bear as much as I could as my husband and mum continued to pray. After 3 hours of unbearable pain and no progression beyond 9cm, I felt VERY weak and I couldn’t take it.  The continual refrain of ‘nearly there’ was becoming an irritation in my ears! What happened to my speedy, pain-free labour?  I couldn’t be still, lie down, or sit and no matter what I did, the pain would not go! I began to feel like I was dying! My husband and mum who were there were praying over me. Suddenly, at the moment where I felt that I had reached my limit of physical pain, the Holy Spirit came upon me and I began repeating the name of Jesus over and over again. Quietly at first and then louder and louder as the repetition continued. I wasn’t even aware of the midwife being there and it felt like the Holy Spirit had literally taken over my tongue! I could hear my husband and mum praying more fervently and unexpectedly I began shouting in tongues spontaneously! My mum told me afterwards that my eyelids were flickering and she could hear Hebrew words among the tongues I was speaking in! I could hear myself but it was if I wasn’t there. The pain had suddenly gone and it felt like my tongue was moving on its own! It was a timely reminder that at the peak of the pain, God was watching over us and the Holy Spirit was making utterances on our behalf. Then, the Holy Spirit filled my mouth with prophecies over the baby, declaring the child would indeed do great things for God and that there was glory coming incomparable to the current suffering I was experiencing (Romans 8:13). It was a powerful moment because although the pain the continued after this, I knew He was in control! 

So after this phenomenal spiritual encounter, the pain continued and I had to request an epidural which involved injections in the spine. Prior to this point and apart from the moment I had begun to speak in tongues, the pain had made me crazily restless and unable to be still as I writhed in pain. This was a significant as the epidural required me to be still to avoid being injected into wrong areas of the spine. It was truly a miracle that God enabled me to be still as a series of injections were put into my spine for the pain relief and even then it was not instant!   After examination, it emerged that baby was head down but the head was at a slight angle and this was prolonging the labour as baby was essentially ‘looking up’ (we still ask ourselves what baby was looking at but even now, she does stare at things a LOT and is very inquisitive!).  Amazingly, when it felt like the speedy- pain-free labour was becoming prolonged and unbearably painful, unbeknown to me, God was on our case!  He had spoken to my dear friend and sister in Christ Tolu and told her that I was in a labour! He had got her to pray for us and was petitioning others to do the same for me and the baby. We hadn’t really had the opportunity or been in the frame of mind to tell others I was in labour but here was God telling others for us and rallying around prayer warriors on our behalf! She had texted my husband to confirm that what she felt in the spirit was happening in the physical and had already been praying before any knowledge or confirmation. Although it was not happening as I expected and many things were outside my realm of knowledge, it was indeed happening supernaturally!

After the epidural had kicked in, we had entered the early hours of Tuesday morning and the pain had gone but due the angle of baby’s head, I was still only at 9cm. After being given some hormones to help get to 10cm I was now told to push with each contraction. At this point, I hadn’t eaten since Sunday (being still unable keep any food down) and had been in hospital for over 12 hours! I could feel the pressure of the contractions but not the pain of them as before but the strength to push was diminishing quickly! I had to have my legs suspended apart so that I only had to focus on the little energy I had on pushing.  I pushed and pushed but I could feel the birth was not progressing as it should.  I could see the midwife speaking to the head midwife in front of me and though they kept encouraging me to keep pushing, I felt like my efforts were in vain. After asking and asking what was happening, I was told that baby’s head was stuck in a certain position and was just moving back and forth but not progressing past a certain point.   I pushed and pushed from 2am to 5am and during this interval I had the midwife, head midwife and now a doctor urging me to push. I was told that if baby wasn’t here in 3 hours, I would have to be prepped for a caesarean! My heart sank to my feet when I heard this. So had God had taken us from the elective caesarean, ensured correct position of the baby for a natural delivery, taken me through unbearable 3-hour pain, a successful epidural and hours of pushing only to have a caesarean? While I  refused to accept this,  I had no more physical strength to push the baby out and now began to get severe pain in my hips from having my legs suspended in the same position for 3 hours, something the epidural was doing nothing about. I took my legs off the stirrups and told the midwives I couldn’t push anymore and my hips were in agony!  We had now reached 5am and I was exhausted, in pain and had no ounce of energy in my body. My husband who had been rallying me on all throughout, had popped out for a drink to soothe his parched mouth so he could continue cheerleading me on and my mum looked on helplessly. The doctor urged me again to push and the head midwife held my hand but there was nothing left in me.  All of a sudden I felt the urge to try again and as I did, a surge of power and energy come into me. I put my legs back onto the stirrups and pushed! After 10 minutes of pushing, I heard a whimper and saw a quiet baby wide-eyed staring at me as she was held in front of me by the midwife! A baby girl! Me and my mum burst into tears simultaneously and my husband arrived back into the room at that moment. His eyes welled up with tears and he is a man who NEVER cries! They laid baby on my chest and she didn’t make a sound, only stared at me with wide eyes and in that moment, I saw the physical embodiment of all we had prayed for. She was perfectly formed, beautifully crafted and now finally in my arms! What an awesome God! I learnt that week, that at the moment I had put my legs back into the stirrups, at 5am on the 6th June 2017, God had woken up from sleep another dear friend, Ruth, to join the troops that were already praying for us and told her to pray specifically for me and the baby! As prayers went up, strength came down to me to enable my baby to be born healthily and strong.

Miraculously, despite all the pain of the last stages of the delivery, I had no pain during recovery or after the birth! He answered my prayer for a supernatural childbirth in all the ways I never expected and gave me supernatural strength when my flesh had failed. After days of deliberating over a name for our beautiful baby girl, hours pawing over meanings of names and compiling a shortlist, we decided it was only befitting that after the pregnancy and birth and the faithfulness God had showed us, as He does time and time again, that her name and specifically its meaning, should be a testament to Him: Elliah (El-lee-ah), meaning ‘Jehovah is my God’. AMEN!