The Birth Story of Drew Grace: More Than I Ever Imagined

"The Christian Hypnobirthing book and app had such a positive impact on me throughout my fourth pregnancy. They helped me replace alot of fear and uncertainty I was carrying with peace, confidence, and a deeper trust in God’s presence and plan. The hypnobirthing tracks became a source of calm that I returned to again and again, especially during moments of anxiety, reminding me to breathe, surrender, and trust my body and, most importantly, the Lord."

Birth story:

"With all the unexpected twists, turns, and unknowns of this pregnancy, I prayed that God would give me a redemptive birth.

What He gave me was far more than I could have ever imagined.

After unexpectedly losing one of my ovaries and miscarrying six months later, when I found out I was pregnant, I chose to have my hormone levels checked early on for reassurance. 

But the results didn't look promising. 

My numbers weren't rising the way they should, and everything pointed toward loss.

For weeks, we waited. 

When the day of our first ultrasound finally arrived, Steve and I walked into the room carrying very different expectations. Steve was hopeful for a miracle. I was quietly preparing my heart for heartbreak.

But then…

There was our baby.

Alive. Moving. A tiny heartbeat flickering across the screen.

That was the first of many moments God would remind us that He was writing a story far greater than the one we could see.

At 20 weeks, I went in for my routine anatomy scan, where we learned our baby was measuring small for gestational age (in the 3rd percentile). As a precaution, we were referred to Maternal-Fetal Medicine where we discovered our baby had a two-vessel umbilical cord. Concerned for restricted blood flow affecting growth, they gave a diagnosis of IUGR, and weekly appointments quickly became our new normal. 

I'll never forget being 21 weeks at my MFM’s office when my doctor looked at me and said, "This could go one way or another. It could be completely detrimental and you lose your baby, or it could end up being nothing."

Those words shattered me. 

Terrified of walking through another loss, I completely fell apart. 

People often say, "God won't give you more than you can handle,” but I found the opposite to be true. I think sometimes God allows us to face more than we can handle so that we discover our strength was never meant to come from ourselves—but from Him.

Looking back, that appointment became one of God's greatest gifts. 

Because it was the day I fully surrendered— not just to the pregnancy, but to the entire outcome. 

I realized I couldn’t carry both this pregnancy and the crushing weight of fear.

So I laid it all at His feet.

And somewhere in that surrender, fear slowly began to lose its grip.

The circumstances didn't suddenly change. The unknowns were still there. 

Because of an anterior placenta, fetal movement was difficult to feel, offering little reassurance that our baby was okay.

Every week, MFM reminded us of the risks associated with an IUGR pregnancy—stillbirth, premature delivery, NICU stay, induction, c-section, and more.

At 28 weeks, our baby flipped breech.

At 32 weeks, we were told our baby needed a fetal MRI of their brain to rule out CNS abnormalities.

The opportunities for fear were endless.

But so were the opportunities to trust God.

This pregnancy drove me deeper into God's presence more than anything ever had before. I spent hours each day praying, reading Scripture, worshipping, and simply sitting with Him.

It also became the season where I humbly accepted help through the people God brought into my life, openly sharing and processing my grief from our previous loss—a burden I had kept and carried mostly between God and myself.

Oddly enough, what should have been the most anxiety-filled season of my life became holy ground.

At 39 weeks, we walked into my final MFM appointment and heard the words we had so desperately been praying for:

"Everything looks good.”

Glory to God—we had made it.

Later that day, I saw my midwife. I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced, so I agreed to a membrane sweep.

Around 1 AM, I woke up with mild cramping. Emotional and unsure of what labor would look like after everything we'd been through, I turned on my Christian Hypnobirthing tracks and drifted back to sleep.

Later that morning, I began doing all the things to naturally encourage labor while Steve dropped the boys off at school and packed the car.

As we drove to the hospital, tears streamed down my face. 

Steve reached over, grabbed my hand, and asked, "Are you scared? Nervous?" 

I shook my head no.

After everything we'd walked through, fear somehow had lost its voice. 

Instead, I was overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit— feeling God himself wrap His arms around me, reassuring me we were going to be okay.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/92061e_27c955a4fb7c41648223b0505159b087/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Months earlier, I had met with Helena, a pastor and doula through Christian Hypnobirthing for a birth processing prayer session.

As we prayed, I vividly pictured Jesus walking into the delivery room ahead of me—standing guard over my midwife, the nurse, and every decision that would be made, surrounding the room with His peace, wisdom, and protection. 

That picture never left me.

So when it came time to go to L+D, I did so with complete peace and trust.

The lights were dim.

Worship music filled the room.

My birthing tub warmed nearby.

Around 12:30 p.m., I agreed to have my water broken. Shortly afterward, I was 8 cm dilated.

A few side-lying releases and position changes later, labor intensified quickly.

Instinctively, I made my way to the bathroom, where I began feeling our baby descend.

Steve's steady presence and hip squeezes carried me through the next few minutes of transition until I climbed into the tub.

Then everything softened.

Everything slowed.

Another contraction came.

And then, in one breathtaking moment, every month of waiting, praying, grieving, hoping, and surrendering came rushing together as our baby was born into the water at 2:01 p.m.

As I lifted our baby onto my chest, tears filled my eyes. 

Thank You, Jesus.

Not knowing whether we'd been blessed with another son or a daughter, I looked down in complete shock.

A girl. 

Our rainbow baby. 

Our Drew Grace. 

Finally here.

God never promised me an easy pregnancy or a life free from suffering-but He did promise to be with me.

While I would never choose the pain we walked through to get here, I also wouldn't trade the deeper relationship with Jesus that was born through it.

The greatest miracle wasn't only bringing home a healthy baby. It was what God did in my heart, exchanging fear for trust, grief for healing, and anxiety for a peace that truly surpasses all understanding.

Drew Grace, you will always be a reminder that God's goodness isn't measured by the absence of storms, but by His faithful presence in the middle of them."

Thank you for sharing you story with us! @lorabr