Made for This Birth

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✨New Birth Story!✨

This moment 😭

So grateful to Gloria for sharing her home birth with baby 5, her biggest baby at 9 lbs. 13 oz. and her easiest birth yet! Find the whole story on our site today.

“...At 8 a.m. I sent another text asking her to come straight over after her first appointment as I was progressing beautifully but I still had no idea how quickly I’d be making it to the end.

I drew a warm bath to rest and listen to the Birth Prayer on the Made for This Birth app. I laid comfortably in the tub and sobbed to the audio in my ears, thanking God for this gift of entrusting ME with all of these little humans. My husband John was busy hanging out with our other children, preparing food and tea, and keeping our home cozy for the event, so it was just me, my baby and God in prayer and it was so special. For an hour, my contractions were just barely uncomfortable and only coming every 6-8 minutes, but when I finally got out of the tub they picked right up consistently.

By this time, I had grabbed my comb to hold in my hand for pain relief and just walked around the house to pass the time and keep moving. Looking back now, I was definitely in active labor and by 10 a.m. I was experiencing FER (fetal ejection reflex) and I let my midwife know. I’m sure my “I’m so tired already” text solidified that I had made it to transition, but had it not been for that FER I would have never known in the moment.

At this point, John was sure that he was catching this baby, as I was hands and knees on the floor while my body was pushing...”

Link to read the rest: https://www.madeforthisbirth.net/post/gloriasbirth

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"Above all, during the months
immediately preceding the birth of her child,
the mother should keep close to God,
of whom the infant she bears within her
is the image, the handiwork,
the gift, and the child.

She should be for her offspring, as it were,
a temple,
a sanctuary,
an altar,
a tabernacle.

In short, her life should be, so to speak,
the life of a living sacrament,
a sacrament in act,
burying herself in the bosom of that God
who has so truly instituted it and hallowed it,
so that there she may draw
that energy,
that enlightening,
that natural and supernatural beauty
which He wills,
and wills precisely by her means,
to impart to the child she bears and to be born of her."
St. Zélie Martin

No extra words necessary
except St. Zélie, ora pro nobis.

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Readings from two glucose monitors using blood from *the very same finger prick* 🩸

Did you know that to be approved for sale a monitor can have an error margin of +/- 15% ? That’s quite a big deal if a single digit can lead to diagnosis!

A few more important things about gestational diabetes:

>> There is no conclusive evidence behind current diagnostic thresholds. It has changed in the past and will likely change again in the future. Thresholds can even vary from provider to provider, meaning with the same numbers one provider will diagnose you and one will not, leading to potentially VERY different outcomes.

>> Until very recently, women only tested if they showed symptoms or had significant risk factors. Some rare providers still practice this way. *There is no good evidence that routine screening and the resulting skyrocketing of diagnoses has improved overall outcomes for mothers or babies.*

>> Even if her body is struggling to keep up with higher insulin demands, if she is able to keep her blood sugar generally balanced through diet, lifestyle, and even medication, she and her baby are at NO GREATER RISK than any other mother and baby.

>> The ENTIRE picture is important. What matters is how much a baby is being *consistently* exposed to very high glucose levels. A woman can have a fasting reading a few numbers “high” and every other reading far below threshold and be diagnosed while another woman can have every reading just at the threshold and not be labeled. In this case the second woman’s baby is actually the one being exposed to more consistent higher glucose!

>> The interventions because of a GD diagnosis have the potential to put a woman and baby at far more risk than if she had been left alone.

🩸 In short, modern diagnostics, understanding, treatment, and protocols for GD have serious issues, flaws, and repercussions and are very worthy of critique.

➡️ See our recent article for more info and resources for more in depth common sense understanding of GD and the risk not just of the condition itself but the sometimes greater risk of intervening out of fear of it.

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Sister, if you are called to physical motherhood you are called to be a saint *through* your birth, not in spite of it.

It’s time to lay down the idea of just making it out alive. It’s time to honor that God has a task specifically for you through this pregnancy and birth that no one else can accomplish BUT you.

It is through your body, completely woman, that He wants to make you a saint and call you to the greatness for which He made you. He didn’t make a mistake.

The cycling
The bleeding
The surging
The stretching
The dripping

It’s all part of your sanctity story.

He made you to glorify Him through your body and now through this birth. He also wants for YOU to be glorified through this birth.

He wants to reveal the strength, the authority, the trust, the surrender, the power, the receptivity, the softness, the healing, the sacrificial love that He is ready and wanting to pour out into you through this. He is that generous. You are not just a conduit, a vehicle He wants to use. He wants YOU. YOUR heart changed. YOUR mind transformed. YOUR soul ravished in love. YOUR body joined with His in its own unique paschal mystery. This birth is a part of that. He wants to transform you and make you new through it.

It may be ecstatic or it may be painful.
It may be quick or it may be slow.
It may be simple or it may be complex.
It may be joyful or it may be sorrowful.
It may be obvious or it may feel obscured.

For many it will be a mix of all that, a messy and beautiful transformation of every part of us into mother. If we let Him.

We can be saved through our childbearing. We aren’t free to dismiss that sacred Word He gave simply because it makes us uncomfortable. We can try, of course. That’s not for me... I’ll let the experts handle it... I’ll just go with the flow... That’s not my particular style... I don’t need to be a hero…

We know deep down birth is meant to be an intimate encounter. Something is lost when we choose not to enter fully in.

Radical trust in Him and in His plan for your body, your baby, your birth will not be left void. Let it be done according to His Word.

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✨ New Article! ✨

This one contains important information that many women are not told (much of which even their providers aren’t aware!) along with resources to learn more. However, it is not meant to be an exhaustive study on the huge topic of gestational diabetes.

While we believe gestational diabetes is a real condition, there is actually no conclusive evidence behind current diagnostic thresholds and methods, and in light of that, we believe it is wildly overdiagnosed. The way gestational diabetes has been diagnosed has changed in the past and will likely change again in the future.

Quite frankly, we still don’t know a lot about why some women struggle more than others to manage blood sugar during pregnancy nor even necessarily the best ways to respond to that. There’s also room to believe that it may be a physiologically healthy response for some women to have increased blood sugar during pregnancy. Threshold diagnostics can sometimes also even vary from provider to provider, meaning with the same numbers one provider will diagnose you and one will not, leading to potentially VERY different births and outcomes for both mother and baby.

This is all important to know because if a woman IS diagnosed with gestational diabetes (even with all the flaws and lack of evidence therein) it can put her on a trajectory to have the rest of her pregnancy, her birth, and her postpartum time be extraordinarily different than it otherwise would have been without the diagnosis, not just physically but also mentally and emotionally...

Find the rest on the site today:

https://www.madeforthisbirth.net/post/resources-on-gestational-diabetes

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Every baby deserves all his or her blood (and oxygen and nutrients and stem cells...) but it is especially critical for those who are struggling to transition to breathing. That we routinely cut off the supply of blood and oxygen they DO have flowing to them is horrific. We can and should do so much better.

The reason the medical system hasn’t changed practice is not because they can’t but because they haven’t felt it important enough to invest in. The updated official neonatal resuscitation program guidelines are finally very slowly acknowledging and admitting the importance of waiting to clamp the cord for the baby’s best outcome, slowly recognizing the common sense and clear evidence that has long been available...but don’t expect anything in hospitals to change quickly. It’s not always the fault of the individual staff member either. If a baby truly needs immediate attention, the system has not provided them the appropriate training or equipment to do so at the bedside next to or on top of mom so the baby still remains attached to their cord and remaining blood.

Make sure you know the importance of waiting to clamp your baby’s umbilical cord until it is completely empty and white (“optimal cord clamping” vs. “delayed cord clamping”). Make 100% sure every single person in the room understands that, too. There is no rush to clamp your baby’s cord. Wait for white.

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She had suffered greatly
at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
Mark 5:26

These words from this past Sunday’s Gospel JUMPED out at me this week. I couldn’t help but think of it related to birth trauma, iatrogenesis, and pregnancy fear but it applies to so much more.

There’s sadly nothing new about medical “experts” that guess, gaslight, and cause more suffering than they cure...and then charge you for the service.

How many times I’ve worked with clients who have suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors, even well meaning ones. How many stories I’ve heard where the cure was worse than the symptoms. How many, especially women, can say they’ve been to doctor after doctor who can’t give answers and only seem to want to mask or drug or amputate symptoms or pathologize their healthy body.

How many walk away from appointment after appointment with nothing but fear and a bill or new prescription. How many mothers and babies would have been better off had they never stepped foot in that doctor’s door. How many can trace their birth trauma and lingering mental, physical, and emotional issues back to the fear, induction, coercion, timelines, surgery, and stress pushed by the doctor or midwife.

How often we still forget today that these are fallible, fallen human beings. We still forget today that they make mistakes, take advantage, rush through, have bad days, are subject to temptation, and more. How often we think, “if I just try THIS new provider/protocol/procedure then I will receive what I am longing for.”

How often we forget that the medical system is a manmade system. We still forget that the modality through which they are trained and practice has little to no room for God, the one who designed and reigns supreme over our bodies.

If you’ve suffered greatly at the hands of doctors, you are not alone. The Divine Physician longs for you to leave that behind and come to Him. Reach out and touch. Your faith can lead to a far better outcome and more health than any expert can offer.

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God has ordained that YOU are the mother to this baby. By natural law and His design, you and your husband are the one He gives authority to love, to grow, to nurture, to teach, to make decisions for your children and your family.

There are so many forces - in both the natural and spiritual realm - that have no problem stepping in for you. It’s so easy to question and doubt ourselves and let them. As mothers we know the stakes are high and the idea of failure is terrifying.

And yet we have a God who has promised to not leave us, who has offered His Holy Spirit to lead us into truth, into power, into clarity. His Spirit is greater than any government, medical system, in law, peer pressure, evil spirit, educator, doctor, midwife, receptionist, cultural icon, or our own self-doubt. Lean into that power. Lean into HIS authority as you make decisions for your children.

Whether it’s pregnancy, birth, schooling, medications, holidays, sports, spiritual battle, or the hundreds of other decisions you will encounter as a parent, the time to start practicing is during pregnancy. We are given a whole nine months to prepare our souls and minds for this role and to learn how to make decisions that others will not always like and fight for our children in a way that no other can.

What kind of parent will we choose to be? How is “going with the flow” working for everyone else? Will we allow the current to make our decisions for us or step back, pull our families away from the drag, and ask “why? What if we did it all differently?”

How did God envision this for us? What if we learned from those who have chosen a more abundant and life-giving but unpopular path? What if we soaked in the power of the Holy Spirit and mothered and made decisions from that place instead of doubt, fear, abdication, and cultural norms?

If we want outcomes like the world, we can make decisions like the rest of the world. But if we want something different, we will have to step into that - even if trembling - and choose it intentionally with the grace and authority God has offered.

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This baby that made me a mom is now TWENTY years old today! (And yes, I still have a 2 year old and 5 more in between 😅)

There’s so much I could say about all of it. So much I’m proud of and so much I wish I could go back and redo with what I now know.

More than anything I want to go back and hug that little 23 year old and mother her the way she needed.

I want to tell her that she will never get those 40 days postpartum back and to REST and honor them. I want to tell her that her instincts and intuition are beautiful even when they make her feel crazy. I want to tell her that every sacrifice is so worth it. I want to tell her how to handle her oversupply and put ice and herbs on her perineum and I want to feed her real food and help her decline unhelpful visitors. I want to just cover her in prayer and love and support.

What a day that changed me and changed everything for me.

Link to his birth story:
https://www.madeforthisbirth.net/post/johnpaulsbirth

Snippet…
“While there are some things I would change, the way John Paul’s birth happened was such a crazy profound blessing in so many ways. I changed on that day. I felt like a completely new person. I was not at all steeped in the birth world at that time nor was I even very educated in it. But I experienced a practically tangible empowerment in my motherhood through his birth. I felt like people must feel after having run a marathon but ten times so (and with whole lot more pelvic pain, ha). I knew with every fiber of my being that I could and should be this baby’s mom. I knew I had it in me to do anything I needed to do for this baby.

That confidence was necessary for me to get through some incredibly challenging first weeks (not to mention later life events) and I’m so grateful for a doctor and husband who believed without a doubt that my body was designed to birth my baby. Without that support I’m not sure what would have happened or if my experience of birth and motherhood itself would be completely different. In fact, the entire track of my life would likely be incredibly different. I’m glad it happened the way it did...”

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Pregnancy and labor and general life encouragement from today’s feast day saint 😁

Keep going, sister. This is where your sainthood lies.

(pssst...more quotes perfect for pregnancy, labor, birth, and even postpartum on our app and printable affirmations available in our shop!🤗)

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What if we just surrendered in holy love to…all of it?

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✨New Birth Story!✨

Thank you to Briana for sharing her birth story with us today! Briana welcomed their beautiful second baby, sweet baby Helen, at a birth center with midwives.

She says...

“I had been excited and confident about having another baby all through my pregnancy but as I got closer to the end, I started to think more about the really hard parts of my first birth and got scared I’d end up there again. I began to dread my birth a little. I had to work through a whole pile of negative thoughts, pray about them, and let them go.

I finally told myself that, whatever happened, it was an opportunity to say “yes” to God in my vocation as a mother, and I could say that yes to Him even if I didn’t know what lay ahead. That brought me a lot of peace. The book Made for This: The Catholic Mom’s Guide to Birth by Mary Haseltine was also pretty life-changing in my thinking about the spiritual meaning, purpose, profundity, beauty, and importance of birth. Everyone should read it!!”

When labor began...

“I labored alone for an hour, breathing, swaying, and relaxing, then woke up Peter at 6 a.m. I told him, “Guess what, I think we’re having a baby today,” and gave him a kiss. He flew out of the bed, tore up the stairs, and ran into the bathroom to shower, then ran down again like a madman. I told him there was plenty of time, I just wanted him to have time to make breakfast and not be rushed.

I think him seeing me work through the contractions freaked him out a bit because it was all becoming suddenly real. They were 2-5 minutes apart, lasting about 50 seconds, and moderately intense at that point, but I wasn’t having to “vocalize” through them yet...”

Read all of her beautiful story of baby Helen’s birth on the site today:
https://www.madeforthisbirth.net/post/brianasbirth

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Calm and Unafraid: Briana's Simple, Normal, Beautiful Birth of Baby Helen A little backstory: My first birth, with our son James was in June of 2021 and was an uneventful, normal, healthy, entirely unmedicated delivery at a freestanding birth center. Despite the lack of complications, my experience was not entirely positive. I did not feel prepared for the level of intens...

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An important question to ask as you make decisions in your pregnancy and birth.

If no one was telling me to be worried, would I be? Before that person brought up a fear, was I at peace all was well? If I wasn’t feeling pressure to perform this test or that screen or take that drug, would I still think it necessary? What would I do and choose if I wasn't worried about how people would react or how I might be punished if I don't?

In birth, if no one was around while I labored how would I naturally manage and work through it? If completely uninhibited how would I move and sound? If I didn't have others telling me what "needs" to be done or pressuring to intervene, what would I do? How would labor and birth be unfolding if I was completely undisturbed by the actions, fears, or judgements of others?

What would I do if I had no one else to look to for answers and advice but God? When I tune out all the other voices but His, what do I hear?

Any time we invite other people into an intimate space, whether it’s discussing our pregnancy or more poignantly during birth, we change our behavior and even outcome. They affect our thoughts, movement, words, confidence, and emotions. We can feel pressure to perform, not make waves, like a burden, or inhibited from doing what we would otherwise do.

This isn’t to say suggestions and recommendations don’t sometimes have a place, of course. We're designed to live in communion. We're designed to serve, support, and learn from one another. Wisdom is meant to be passed down. He certainly moves through the words and works of others in our lives.

It’s simply a reminder that those we allow to influence us should be steeped in an understanding of and reverence for the design of God for birth and deep trust in His Providence. They should at least TRY to speak from a place attuned to the Spirit, offering any words, advice, or intervention in that design prudently and thoughtfully, inserting themselves in that sacred relationship and event unfolding only with the greatest of humility and care.

The opinion and advice that matters more than any other is His.

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I’m so grateful sent me their beautiful new book Jellybean, a children’s book on the topic of miscarriage and stillbirth. It’s a simple and poignant story written from the unborn baby’s perspective depicting their journey from conception to being called to heaven before birth and how their mission is now to pray for their family on earth.

It brought me to tears as I read it. I’m so glad that the number of resources for families going through loss is growing, especially from a more theologically accurate understanding. We find tremendous comfort and hope in asking our little one in eternity to pray for us and this book displays that idea beautifully.

As I moved through the grieving process for our son or daughter, I actually find most joy and comfort picturing them as an adult reaching their full God-ordained potential with far more wisdom and understanding in eternity than I now have. I found the portrayal of the innocence of the baby entering into heaven and “developing” into a young girl resonate with that idea.

The illustrations are gorgeous and it can hopefully offer comfort and a degree of understanding for older siblings grieving but also for parents, too! It would make an incredibly thoughtful gift for any families you know going through a loss and I’d also recommend it for a church library.

Holy Heroes has given me permission to offer 10% off this book and ANYTHING else in their store, including their well-loved Glory Stories saint stories, with the discount code MARY with no expiration date. They are also offering a free book through June with any order as well as free shipping over $75. Might be a good time to stock up!

https://holyheroes.com/

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As many of us know, Catholic in name doesn’t necessarily mean Catholic in practice. A Catholic understanding of the body and reverence for God means that His design should be the norm and default not the exception. That should bear out in their statistics, too. If you are being told to intervene in that design, there should be a significant conversation about why.

If a provider is not sharing all the known risks to an intervention (as well as the fact that there are risks and consequences we may not currently know) but instead overemphasizing or even preying upon your worst fears, they are not practicing ethically.

If they are not sharing with you the potential impact on your fertility and births down the road, they are not practicing ethically.

If they are using words like “let” or “allow” or “require” about your medical decisions, they are not practicing ethically.

If they are overstating risks about not intervening and not sharing the sometimes equivalent or greater risks of doing so, they are not practicing ethically.

If they are not being honest or using manipulative language or pressure, they are not practicing ethically.

If they are routinely removing organs without deeply exploring other less invasive or disintegrative options, they are not practicing ethically.

If they are not acknowledging that the same system making many of their recommendations is the same one immersed in, corrupted by, and profiting from contraception, sterilization, abortion, eugenics, corporate lobbying, organ and tissue sales, and other ideologies contrary to the Faith, then blind trust in them is misplaced.

Like nearly everything, we can turn doctors, midwives, and systems into idols. Don’t question, just obey. They could never fail or fall. Doctor knows best.

In the end, God should be our ultimate care provider. His expert opinion and design should matter more than anyone’s. Your provider works for you and should be serving and honoring the design of God for your body and baby.

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✨New Article Posted!✨

"The greatest gift you can give your child is another sibling." attributed to Saint John Paul II

It truly is such an incredible ETERNAL gift to give your child the gift of a sibling! But how do we practically prepare them for the upcoming birth of that baby and the transition it will be for the whole family to welcome this new person? How do we address questions appropriately, talk about the birth process, and perhaps even welcome them into the actual birth experience?

We have a whole bunch of tips for doing just that!

We firmly believe that birth is a sacred event in a family's life. Whether to have the whole family present for that event or not is a decision that is yours to make. For many families having their children present leads to some beautiful, important, or even funny memories. Like with so many family decisions, this is ultimately what works best for your unique family in your unique situation.

Click on over to the site to read it all! Link: https://www.madeforthisbirth.net/post/preparing-older-children-for-birth

(p.s. If someone happens to know the reference for this attributed quote, would love to hear it.)

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“We know that in everything God works for GOOD with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom He predestined He also called; and those whom He called He also justified; and those whom He justified He also glorified.

What then shall we say to this?

If GOD is for us, who is against us?

He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also give us all things with Him?

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:28-38

Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, the One bursting in love for you and who works only for your good.

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Novel idea, right?😅

And yet I can safely say I’ve heard hundreds of stories of women being recommended or pushed into a medical induction solely due to a date on the calendar who were never even offered a few moments to review with their provider whether that date was even ACCURATE.

Putting aside for the moment the very very big reality that modern due dates are a man made and very outdated construction, if you’re going to recommend a very invasive medical intervention that holds risk because of a date on the calendar...wouldn’t it be prudent to make 1000% certain that that date is actually…I don’t know…correct?!

Yet mothers routinely say they had several dates to consider or they are certain that the date in the doctor’s file is not even possible but their own knowledge about their bodies and when they know they had s*x is ignored. It would seem the most basic of medical integrity to, at the very least, have a thorough and comprehensive review of how that date was calculated before even thinking about or introducing the risk of induction. And if unsure, it would seem prudent to err on the side of trusting physiology and God’s design.

A medical induction is a really big deal. It holds risk to both mother and baby. Just because it’s common doesn’t mean it should be normal or is in the best interest of mothers and babies. Yes, sometimes there are true medical indications to take on that risk but simply reaching a due date on the calendar is not one. Prompting a woman’s body to open and a baby out before they are ready is a really significant step to make, one that holds a wide array of consequence, some lifelong.

You and your baby deserve the dignity of being given time, being heard, being respected - body, mind, heart, and soul.

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