Can birth really be pain-free?
That’s the question many women quietly ask themselves after hearing stories of fast, peaceful, or even blissful labors that seem almost too good to be true. For Taylor Cleveland, that question became an invitation to discover what happens when a mother learns to fully surrender body, mind, and spirit to the process of birth.
In this episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, host Karen Welton sits down with Taylor to share her remarkable story of her second home birth, a labor so radically peaceful that she didn’t push once, didn’t tear, and didn’t experience pain. What unfolded was not only a redemptive birth experience, but a deep spiritual awakening that reshaped how she approaches motherhood, faith, and trust in her own body.
A Hard First Birth
Like many mothers, Taylor entered her first birth with excitement and a dose of anxiety. She planned a home birth with midwives, took natural childbirth classes, and tried to do everything “right.” But when labor began, the reality was far harder than she expected.
Her son was asynclitic, meaning his head was slightly tilted, and his position made labor long, exhausting, and painful. For over twenty-four hours, she endured intense contractions, little progress, and mounting fear.
“He pushed my cervix back and undilated me,” Taylor recalls. “We had to do a whole bunch of maneuvers so I could dilate. It was just a lot.”
Though she birthed at home, she finished that experience feeling defeated. Physically, she had done it. Mentally, she felt like she had lost the game.
That’s why, when she became pregnant again, Taylor knew she wanted something different not just for her body, but for her mind.
Discovering the Pain-Free Birth Course
During her second pregnancy, a friend told her about Karen Welton’s Pain-Free Birth Course, sharing how it completely changed her own births. At first, Taylor was skeptical—not because she didn’t believe it could happen for others, but because she didn’t think it could happen for her.
“I really believed it happened for other people,” she admits. “I just didn’t think I was going to be one of those people.”
Still, something about her friend’s peace and confidence stayed with her. So Taylor decided to go all in. She signed up for the course with an open heart and an open mind, determined to shift whatever she could about her mindset, even if the birth itself turned out to be intense again.
Her goal wasn’t perfection—it was redemption.
“I wanted this birth to be different because I lost the mental game last time. And so if I could do anything that would change that, I was on board with that.”
The Power of Mental Surrender
As she moved through the Pain-Free Birth Course, one theme stood out above everything else: surrender.
In the first module, Karen invites mothers to examine what they’re “carrying in their birth bag”-the fears, stories, and beliefs they’ve inherited from others or from previous births. Taylor realized her bag was full.
“I had so much stuff from other people, but also from my first birth,” she says. “Letting go of all of that and truly letting myself experience this birth as it was, not holding on to what was before—that was a big shift.”
Surrender became her mantra. Every time she felt anxious or doubtful, she reminded herself to let go and trust.
She learned that pain in labor often comes from resistance-tension in the body caused by fear or control. When a mother relaxes and allows her body to work as designed, the same sensations that once felt painful can transform into waves of intensity that move the process forward without suffering.
“Pain is in the resistance,” Taylor says. “The less that I did, the better it was.”
That simple idea pain is in the resistance became the anchor for her entire birth story.
Early Labor: Calm, Unhurried, and Unexpected
At 40 weeks and one day, Taylor attended her midwife appointment feeling calm and surrendered. She was prepared to go well past her due date; her first baby had come at 41+3.
After her appointment, she experienced some mild contractions but brushed them off as prodromal labor-false starts she’d been having for weeks. Her motto was simple: “If I don’t go into labor, I want to get a good night’s sleep.”
But that evening, something shifted. Around 5:30 p.m., she started feeling regular waves about five minutes apart. She wasn’t convinced it was real labor yet, but by the time her husband came home, he noticed she was timing contractions-something she’d never done before.
Quietly, he texted the birth team just in case.
“He secretly texted everybody and said, ‘Hey, just so you know, we’re having consistent contractions-it might be something, might not be.’”
Taylor remained unconcerned, taking a long shower to relax and reminding herself to stay present. She focused on staying in her body and out of her head.
Her husband turned on her birth playlist, and though she laughed at him for doing it “too soon,” she decided to lean in and let it set the tone.
By 8:00 p.m., contractions were consistent but still very manageable. She put her toddler to bed, swayed her hips, and let her body lead. What she didn’t realize was that this peaceful rhythm was the beginning of active labor.
Surrendering to the Process
When she couldn’t sit still anymore, Taylor’s husband called the midwives. She was still in denial that it was time, but her body knew.
“I went back into the shower, and it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me during labor,” she laughs. “Hot water is my epidural.”
In the shower, she began to notice the sensations deepening but never becoming painful. Every wave felt like energy moving through her-something to lean into, not fight against.
“It was just a muscle contraction,” she explains. “My muscle was contracting, pulling up, and building. That image helped me. I just imagined, ‘This is what we’re doing—building and releasing.’”
By the time she got out, the birth team had arrived. The house was glowing with twinkle lights, her playlist was playing softly, and the atmosphere was peaceful and sacred.
Taylor labored on the floor while the birth pool filled. She melted her body into each contraction, letting her muscles become heavy and loose.
“Head down, jaw open, shoulders relaxed, face relaxed, eyebrows relaxed, mouth relaxed, tongue relaxed, legs relaxed,” she remembers. “Any muscle in my body I just let droop, hang, Jello.”
Her doula tried offering counter-pressure, but Taylor immediately asked her to stop.
“It took me out of my body,” she explains. “I couldn’t focus when there was pressure happening. It made my muscles tight because my body was trying to focus somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be.”
Instead, she sat quietly, surrendering to the rhythm.
“Pain is in the resistance,” she would later say. “When I just sat still and melted, there was no pain.”
The Turning Point
As intensity built, fatigue started to creep in. Taylor felt a wave of doubt: What if this goes on for another twelve hours?
Rather than suppressing it, she voiced her fear aloud to her birth team.
“I said, ‘I don’t know how long I can do this. I’m scared.’”
The midwives reminded her to take one contraction at a time and brought her back to center. Speaking the fear out loud broke its power, and within minutes, her birth pool was ready.
She climbed in and felt instant relief.
“The hot water melted everything,” she says. “It was automatic relief. I thought, ‘I could do this forever.’”
That next contraction was the most intense of her entire labor. For the first time, she thought, This feels unbearable. And in that moment—her water broke.
Relief washed over her again. Her body had made a massive shift.
Birth Without Pushing
Minutes later, the urge to push came naturally. Taylor leaned over the tub, completely present and calm.
Her husband brought their toddler into the room, who began to cry, wanting to be near her. Instead of feeling distracted, Taylor felt peace.
“I thought I would be so disturbed,” she says. “But I wasn’t. I just said, ‘This is everything I dreamed of.’”
She reached down and felt her baby’s head descending.
“I felt my pelvic floor move out of the way with the surrender of a contraction,” she recalls. “It was the wildest thing.”
With the next wave, her body began to push on its own-the fetal ejection reflex in action.
“I didn’t push once,” Taylor says. “My body did it completely on its own.”
Her baby rotated smoothly, her head emerged, and in another contraction, she was born quietly, gently, into her mother’s hands.
There was no tearing, no bleeding, and no pain.
Karen explains in the episode that this is exactly what the body is designed to do when there’s no resistance: the muscles, fascia, and hormones work in perfect harmony. The uterus does the work. The mother simply allows.
“When there’s no resistance and no tension,” Karen says, “there’s nothing to create pain. When you just have a muscle contraction, it contracts like any other muscle without pain.”
The Spiritual Side of Surrender
As Taylor held her daughter in the water, she was overcome with gratitude and awe. The birth had been everything she’d prayed for—and more.
“It was the craziest thing,” she said. “I was amazed at my ability to keep my hands out of the mix. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually—I just got out of the way.”
In that surrender, she discovered not only the power of her body but the presence of God.
“My body is so much bigger than me,” she reflected. “It was proving to me that it knew what it was doing as long as I got out of the way.”
The experience deepened her faith in profound ways.
“It changed how I relate to God,” she shares. “It taught me that I have to actually slow down and listen. You have to get quiet to hear Him. Birth reminded me of that—of trusting the divine design in all things.”
Karen adds, “Maybe God already approved of this whole process. We don’t have to prove ourselves as women.”
A New Kind of Postpartum
Taylor’s peaceful birth led to an equally peaceful postpartum. After her first delivery, she had experienced anxiety, hormonal swings, and emotional exhaustion. This time, she felt calm, grounded, and supported.
She prioritized recovery by hiring a postpartum doula, following Ayurvedic postpartum nutrition, and setting boundaries that allowed her to heal.
“When I’m taken care of, I can take care of my family,” she says. “I set myself up not to be depleted.”
The transformation inspired her so deeply that she decided to become a postpartum doula herself, beginning training to support other mothers through this sacred season.
“I felt so held, so wrapped in love,” she explains. “It inspired me to offer that same support to other women.”
Lessons from a Pain-Free Birth
Taylor’s story beautifully illustrates what’s possible when women release fear, invite faith, and learn to trust their bodies.
Here are the key takeaways from her experience and Karen’s reflections:
1. Pain Comes from Resistance
When muscles are tense and the body is flooded with fear hormones, the uterus has to work against that resistance. Relaxation allows the process to unfold without pain.
2. Surrender Is a Choice
Every stage of labor presents a new opportunity to release control-mentally, physically, and emotionally. As intensity builds, surrender must deepen.
3. Understanding the Physiology Removes Fear
When women learn what their bodies are doing, they can partner with the process instead of resisting it. Knowledge leads to confidence, and confidence leads to peace.
4. Water, Movement, and Environment Matter
Creating a peaceful, familiar space with warm water, dim lights, soothing music signals safety to the brain and helps the body produce oxytocin, the hormone of love and birth.
5. Birth Is Spiritual
For Taylor, birth became a sacred encounter with God. Trusting her body became an act of faith. Surrender wasn’t weakness—it was worship.
6. Healing Birth Leads to Healing Motherhood
A peaceful birth experience can ripple into postpartum, parenting, and marriage. The same surrender that carried Taylor through labor continues to guide her through motherhood.
The Message Every Mother Needs to Hear
Taylor’s story is more than a testimony—it’s a revelation of what’s possible when women remember how they were created.
We were not designed for fear, tension, and trauma. We were designed for trust, peace, and power.
Through the Pain-Free Birth Course, thousands of women like Taylor are rediscovering this truth, learning to partner with their bodies and with God’s design.
“It truly does just work if you get out of the way,” Taylor says. “The less that I did, the better it was.”
Final Thoughts
Birth doesn’t have to be something we survive, it can be something we savor.
Taylor’s pain-free home birth wasn’t luck or perfect circumstances. It was the fruit of preparation, mindset work, and unwavering surrender. Her story reminds every woman that peace is possible, even in the most powerful moments of labor.
“Pain is in the resistance,” she says. “When we relax, when we trust, when we surrender. It’s not just pain that disappears. Fear disappears. And what’s left is peace.”
More about Sammy:
Sammy Murry is a mama to three girls with a boy on the way. She’s passionate about holistic living and eliminating toxins in our day to day life and I help other mom’s do the same.
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.
