Throughout her pregnancy, Nancy had one fear she couldn’t quite shake. She was afraid her baby would be born in the car.
Nancy was planning her first home birth in Midland after two previous hospital births. Although she was excited about this new experience, the one-hour drive from her home to Midland weighed on her mind.
At nearly every prenatal appointment with her midwives, Mari and Shanna, she brought up the same concern.
I just don’t want to have this baby in the car.
Her midwives reassured her, and together they made a plan. When contractions began, Nancy would get on the road early rather than waiting until labor intensified. They wanted to give her plenty of time to reach Midland.
It was a good plan.
And then labor began.
The Drive to Midland
From the beginning, Nancy’s contractions were close together. She got on the road quickly, just as she and her midwives had discussed, but Rosalee was coming quickly.
Before reaching Midland, Nancy realized her daughter wasn’t going to wait. Her labor had been quick and efficient, and the very thing she had worried about for months was happening.
And strangely, the fear hadn’t come with it.
“When I could feel the baby coming, I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t thinking, ‘Please don’t come.’ I felt like I was at peace.”
Nancy had imagined this possibility so many times. Yet when she found herself living through it, she wasn’t overwhelmed by panic.
When they realized the baby was coming, they called Mari, and she talked them through the birth. Just like that, a few minutes before they arrived in Midland, Rosalee was born in the car.
A Peace She Hadn't Expected
Even after Rosalee arrived, Nancy remembers being calm. Her daughter was breathing. She was here. And despite the extraordinary circumstances, Nancy wasn’t afraid.
“God was just there with me.”
When Nancy reached the intended birth place, Mari was there, and had already prepared everything for their arrival. The rest of the night went exactly how they had planned. Cozy space, uninterrupted time to nurse and bond with Rosalee, and a good postpartum nap.
Discovering What Her Body Could Do
In the postpartum visits that followed, Nancy reflected on the experience.
After two previous hospital births, had never experienced labor quite like this. Everything had happened so quickly that there was little time to think about what came next.
But Shanna saw something important in Nancy’s story.
During their conversations, Shanna explained that sometimes labor progresses quickly because a baby is well-positioned and the body is working efficiently. Rather than seeing the speed of her labor only as something unexpected, she encouraged Nancy to recognize what her body had accomplished.
For Nancy, it was a new kind of confidence. She had experienced her body working through childbirth in a way she hadn’t known before. What had once seemed frightening had become an experience that changed how she saw herself and what her body could do.
What stood out most to her midwives was Nancy’s joy. The mother who had spent so many prenatal appointments worrying about a car birth was now celebrating what she had accomplished.
Nancy wasn’t simply relieved that Rosalee had arrived. She was amazed by what she had experienced, grateful for the peace God had given her, and eager to express it.
As Shanna & Mari recall, Nancy kept returning to the same words:
“Look what I did! Look what God helped me to do!”
