What happens when your carefully planned home birth turns into an unassisted birth at a family resort?After five years of hoping for a baby, fertility treatments, surgery, and the removal of one fallopian tube, Jessica Richards and her husband were overjoyed to conceive naturally. They prepared for a peaceful home birth with a trusted midwife, but when Jessica reached 42 weeks pregnant, their baby still had not arrived. With her midwife’s approval, the couple decided to join their family for a Christmas trip at a resort two h...
What happens when your carefully planned home birth turns into an unassisted birth at a family resort?
After five years of hoping for a baby, fertility treatments, surgery, and the removal of one fallopian tube, Jessica Richards and her husband were overjoyed to conceive naturally. They prepared for a peaceful home birth with a trusted midwife, but when Jessica reached 42 weeks pregnant, their baby still had not arrived. With her midwife’s approval, the couple decided to join their family for a Christmas trip at a resort two hours from home.
A day filled with laughter, water slides, connection, and relaxation soon became the beginning of labor. When Jessica’s contractions intensified and her water broke as they attempted to leave, she and her husband realized they would not make it home. Instead of panicking, they returned to their room, leaned into the physiological process, and welcomed their son in the bathtub with no birth team present. Jessica shares how preparation, prayer, movement, surrender, and trust helped her remain peaceful during an experience she never could have planned.
Tune in to hear:
- Jessica’s journey through infertility, surgery, and naturally conceiving with one fallopian tube
- Why she felt peaceful traveling at 42 weeks pregnant
- How relaxation, family connection, and oxytocin may have helped labor begin
- The signs that told Jessica’s doula she was close to birth
- Why Jessica and her husband chose to return to their resort room
- How water, movement, breathing, music, and low vocalization supported her labor
- What it felt like to experience spontaneous pushing without forcing her body
- The surreal moment Jessica caught her own baby in the bathtub
- How her husband remained calm and supported her throughout the unexpected birth
- The role faith and surrender played in Jessica’s mindset
- How Jessica prepared physically with walking, chiropractic care, massage, and pelvic floor therapy
- What happened after the baby and placenta were born
- Why the family stayed at the resort for another night
- Jessica’s encouragement for women struggling with fear, anxiety, or going past their due date
- How this birth strengthened Jessica’s trust in her maternal instincts
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Use code PODCAST to get $50 off the Pain Free Birth E-course HERE
Submit your birth story and apply to come on the podcast
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
View more
