For seven years, Shelby Swanton prayed for a baby. She walked through infertility, heartbreak, and the quiet ache of unanswered prayers. As a labor and delivery nurse, she spent her days helping other women welcome their babies into the world — while privately wondering if she would ever hold her own.
But God had a plan.
Today, Shelby’s story is a powerful testimony of faith, surrender, and the miraculous design of the female body. After years of waiting, she conceived naturally, experienced a pain-free, worship-filled birth, and even caught her own baby in a moment she describes as “holy, raw, and completely transformative.”
This is the story of how one nurse learned to trade control for trust, fear for faith, and human logic for divine design — and in doing so, discovered the peace and power that come from surrendering birth back to God.
A Nurse Who Wanted to Experience God’s Design for Birth
Shelby had spent years inside hospitals and birth centers witnessing the full spectrum of labor — from smooth, physiological births to cascades of interventions that often ended in surgery. As much as she valued modern medicine, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something sacred was missing.
“I knew our bodies were designed perfectly by God,” she told The Pain-Free Birth Podcast. “Every time we tried to improve on His design, we seemed to make things more complicated.”
When she finally became pregnant, she was determined to experience birth the way God intended — natural, unmedicated, and fully surrendered. She chose a birth center and began preparing not just physically but spiritually for the experience ahead.
Seven Years of Waiting
Shelby and her husband’s road to conception was long and painful. They spent seven years trying to conceive before finally laying the dream down.
“After so many ‘no’s,’ it was hard not to let disappointment define our story,” Shelby shared. “Even when I knew God was good, I still wondered if He would ever say yes.”
The couple eventually adopted a baby boy, welcoming him into their family with joy and gratitude. They even began the process for embryo adoption when, unexpectedly, Shelby became pregnant — naturally and without medical intervention.
“It wasn’t our timing at all,” she laughed. “We had already accepted adoption as our path. But God’s timing was perfect.”
Her pregnancy became a daily lesson in trust. After years of disappointment, Shelby wrestled with fear that the miracle might slip away.
“I spent a lot of those nine months worried the other shoe would drop,” she admitted. “I knew the enemy wanted to steal my joy. But God kept reminding me: this pregnancy was His gift, not mine to control.”
Preparing for a Pain-Free, Natural Birth
Shelby began her preparation around 24 weeks. Drawing on both her professional knowledge and new faith-based tools, she committed to daily relaxation and visualization practices.
She studied HypnoBabies, listened to affirmation tracks, and completed The Pain-Free Birth Course, which helped her understand how the body’s hormonal system — oxytocin, endorphins, and adrenaline — works in perfect balance when fear and tension are replaced with safety and surrender.
Her biggest challenge wasn’t the physical preparation — it was the mental one.
“As a nurse, it was hard to shut off the analytical part of my brain,” she said. “I didn’t want to be in labor assessing myself. I wanted to be in my body, not in my head.”
Her goal was to trust the design she had seen work so many times for others — without interfering, controlling, or analyzing it.
Learning to Let Go
Like many medical professionals, Shelby carried the burden of knowing too much. She had seen births take unexpected turns, witnessed complications, and absorbed countless “what-if” scenarios.
“I was convinced I’d have a posterior baby and back labor for days,” she laughed. “I over-prepared for everything because I didn’t want to be surprised.”
Her doula gently reminded her that birth isn’t something to control — it’s something to surrender to.
“Birth is about surrender,” her doula told her. “Your baby knows what to do. You need to let her find her own space.”
Those words would become the theme of Shelby’s entire experience.
Three Days of Prodromal Labor
At 39 weeks, Shelby began experiencing consistent contractions — every five to ten minutes — for three straight days.
“They weren’t Braxton Hicks,” she explained. “They felt exactly like real contractions. I kept thinking, this must be early labor.”
But when her midwife checked her after two exhausting days, she was still only one centimeter dilated.
“I burst into tears,” Shelby admitted. “I told myself I wouldn’t cry, but I was so tired. I didn’t know how much longer I could do it.”
Her doula encouraged her to rest, eat, and let her body do what it needed to do. Yet emotionally, she hit a breaking point.
“I had a full-on meltdown,” she said. “I told my doula, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can take this.’ She just held me and reminded me to surrender — to stop fighting my body and let it lead.”
That emotional release became a turning point.
A Divine Reminder That She Wasn’t Alone
Just before the breakthrough came, Shelby had what she calls a “God moment.”
During a triage visit to rule out a potential issue with her baby’s heart rate, she lay on the hospital stretcher feeling defeated. Out of nowhere, her phone buzzed.
“It was a text from a friend I hadn’t spoken to in months,” Shelby recalled. “It said, ‘Hey, I’m praying for you right now.’ She had no idea what I was going through.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“In that moment, I knew God saw me. He knew exactly where I was — physically, emotionally, spiritually — and He sent someone to remind me that He was near.”
Surrender Changes Everything
That night, Shelby’s mother insisted on taking her toddler so she could rest.
“No sooner had my husband come home from dropping him off than my next contraction felt different,” Shelby said. “It was like my body finally got the memo: we’re safe, we can let go.”
Her labor pattern shifted instantly.
“I lit candles, turned on worship music, and felt this wave of peace. I remember thinking, This is it. My body had been waiting for me to surrender.”
When Hypnobirthing Didn’t Work — and Worship Did
Despite weeks of practicing hypnobirthing, Shelby quickly realized that stillness wasn’t her path.
“I thought I’d be able to lie down and breathe quietly,” she said. “But when real labor hit, that went out the window. I needed to move, to vocalize, to worship.”
She turned on her favorite worship playlist, dimmed the lights, and stepped into the shower with her husband.
“We swayed together in the warm water under fairy lights while worship music played,” she said. “It was the most magical, holy moment. I remember thinking, This is how birth was meant to be.”
The contractions came every one to two minutes, but instead of fear, she felt gratitude.
“I was high on oxytocin,” she laughed. “It was better than any runner’s high I’ve ever felt. I was smiling, laughing, worshiping — it felt like joy in motion.”
Her husband, initially skeptical after three days of false starts, watched in awe.
“He kept saying, ‘Let’s wait and see.’ But I knew. This was the real thing.”
Understanding the Birth High
Shelby’s experience mirrors what research — and The Pain-Free Birth Course — describes as the hormonal cascade of natural birth. When a mother feels safe, supported, and loved, oxytocin surges. Endorphins flood the brain, creating a sense of euphoria that can make labor not just bearable but blissful.
“Most people think birth can’t feel good,” host Karen Welton explained. “But God designed the body to reward surrender. Gratitude, worship, and connection release the very hormones that make birth ecstatic.”
Shelby was living proof.
The Drive to the Birth Center
As labor intensified, Shelby’s contractions came back-to-back. Her doula encouraged her to get in the shower precisely because the warm water might either slow things down or speed them up — and it definitely sped things up.
“She told me to call the midwives,” Shelby said. “When we got in the car, my husband said it sounded like he was driving a cattle truck — the low moans were constant.”
By the time they arrived, she was six centimeters dilated.
“I just kept praying, ‘Lord, please let me be a six so I can stay,’” she remembered. “And I was.”
Transition: The Whirlwind of Intensity
Once in the birth center, Shelby headed straight for the tub — her long-awaited “natural epidural.”
“It wasn’t the relief I expected,” she laughed. “I went from six to ten centimeters in an hour. The sensations were so intense that the water couldn’t catch up.”
She began to panic, letting out primal, uncontrolled screams until her doula stepped in with calm authority.
“She looked me right in the eyes, just inches away, and said, ‘You’re okay. Bring it down. You can do this.’ That eye contact snapped me back into focus.”
It was the kind of grounded support only an experienced doula can offer — not taking away the intensity, but helping the mother channel it into power.
Pushing Before Ten
As a nurse, Shelby had spent years telling patients not to push until they were fully dilated. So when her body started bearing down at seven centimeters, she had a moment of mental conflict — and then she let it go.
“There was no stopping it,” she said. “My body knew exactly what to do.”
Within forty-five minutes, she was fully dilated.
Roaring Her Baby Into the World
Shelby’s pushing stage was primal and loud.
“I said every F-bomb in the book,” she laughed. “I had imagined this peaceful, quiet birth, but my reality was powerful, vocal, and raw.”
Afterward, she felt some shame watching the video back — until her doula reframed it for her.
“She said, ‘That was surrender. If you had held back, that would’ve been control. Your sound was your release.’ That completely changed how I saw it.”
In those moments of unfiltered energy, Shelby wasn’t resisting the power — she was partnering with it.
Catching Her Own Baby
After about an hour of pushing, Shelby reached down and felt her baby’s head.
“I didn’t believe them when they said they could see her,” she said. “So I put my hand there myself — and there she was.”
As her daughter’s head emerged, Shelby supported her shoulders, guided her the rest of the way out, and lifted her onto her chest.
“She was covered in blood and vernix and absolutely perfect,” she remembered through tears. “All I could say was, ‘She’s so beautiful.’”
It was the moment every mother dreams of — but for Shelby, it carried seven years of prayers, tears, and faith fulfilled.
“I looked at my husband and thought, we did this. We created this life. And we did it exactly the way I had prayed for.”
The Hand of God in Every Detail
Looking back, Shelby sees God’s fingerprints all over her story.
“I prayed for certain things — like that my water would break late, or that labor would be less than 24 hours — and some of those prayers weren’t answered the way I expected. But I can see now that everything He allowed was for my good.”
Her three days of prodromal labor, once a source of frustration, became a blessing.
“It made me so grateful for every contraction. When real labor started, I was ready to receive it.”
What She Wants Other Moms to Know
When asked what advice she’d give first-time moms, Shelby didn’t hesitate.
“Nothing is normal,” she said. “Your birth is going to be completely unique. Gather tools — take courses, read books, hire a doula — but be ready to pivot. Let your body and your baby lead.”
She also encourages women to address fear before labor begins.
“I wish I’d let go of fear sooner,” she said. “In pregnancy I worried constantly that something would go wrong. Once labor started, I had no choice but to trust. But I wish I’d lived that faith earlier.”
The Power of Surrender
For Shelby, surrender wasn’t just a birth strategy — it was a spiritual revelation.
“When we try to control something as wild and divine as birth, we end up fighting against the very design that’s trying to help us,” she said. “Once I stopped fighting, everything flowed.”
She quoted a line that stayed with her through the entire experience:
“When you swim in the ocean, you don’t control the waves — you learn to ride them.”
“That’s exactly what labor is,” she said. “You can’t control it. You just have to ride the waves.”
Key Takeaways
-
Faith prepares the heart as much as education prepares the mind.
Shelby’s story proves that spiritual surrender is as vital as physical preparation. -
Safety creates the hormonal flow that makes birth peaceful.
When Shelby felt loved, supported, and secure, oxytocin and endorphins surged, turning intensity into joy. -
Surrender is the antidote to fear.
The moment Shelby stopped fighting her body, labor shifted and progress came naturally. -
Every woman’s pain-free birth looks different.
For some, it’s silent breathing; for others, it’s loud, primal vocalization. Both are powerful expressions of trust. -
God is present in every contraction.
From a timely text message to the perfect timing of active labor, Shelby’s story reminds women that birth can be a sacred encounter with the divine.
More about Shelby:
Shelby Swanton is a 33-year-old nurse from New Jersey, where she lives with her husband and their two children. After walking through seven years of infertility, Shelby and her husband experienced the miracle of welcoming their son through adoption three years ago—and later, conceiving their daughter naturally against all odds. Looking back, she sees the beauty in God’s perfect timing and how each of her children’s stories uniquely completed their family.
Shelby has been a nurse for more than a decade, working in both hospital labor and delivery units and at a birth center—the very same birth center where she later gave birth to her daughter. Her experience on both sides of the birthing space has given her a deep appreciation for the power of faith, surrender, and the incredible design of the female body.
Connect with Shelby:
@Shelby_Swanton
@Counterculturess
Want to Experience a Faith-Filled Birth Too?
If you’re ready to transform your mindset and birth with peace and purpose, check out the free Unlocking a Pain Free Birth Masterclass. Discover the 3 keys to a Pain-Free birth so you can experience the joyful, supernatural power of birth the way God designed it.
