In this deeply moving episode of the She’s Rooted Life Podcast, Talia sits down with birth doula and student midwife Julie Vasquez to explore the intersection of faith, birth, fear, and loss. Together, they discuss traumatic birth experiences, miscarriage, surrender in labor, worship during childbirth, and how God redeems even the most painful stories. This episode offers hope, theological grounding, and compassionate presence for anyone navigating pregnancy, birth, or grief.
Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of traumatic birth experiences and pregnancy loss.
Blog Post: Redeemed in the Delivery Room: Worship and God’s Presence in Childbirth
After my first pregnancy ending in miscarriage and my first birth experience being traumatic, pregnancy and birth carried a lot of trauma & fear. By the time I was pregnant with my third baby (I got to hold in my arms), my body already carried the memories. High blood pressure. Inductions. Miscarriage. Trauma that didn’t disappear just because time passed or another pregnancy came. Fear lived in my nervous system, not just my thoughts.
So when I found myself four weeks from my due date, carrying both hope and anxiety, I prayed a very simple prayer: Lord, I just want Your presence. I want peace in the room. That’s when Julie came to mind. I had never met her before. I barely knew her name. But I reached out anyway. Four weeks out. No plan B. And she said yes.
What I didn’t know at the time was that God wasn’t just answering a logistical prayer. He was preparing redemption. Julie is a birth doula and a woman deeply anchored in the Lord. She didn’t come in with control or promises. She came with presence, wisdom and peace. She had such a deep understanding of birth that felt radically different than what I had known before.
One of the most important things Julie shared in our conversation was this: birth is about surrender. Not passivity or denial of pain, but surrender. Pain doesn’t mean something has gone wrong. Pain means something is being produced.
At 38 weeks, we discovered my son was transverse, positioned sideways in my womb. For many, that diagnosis immediately leads to fear and talk of a C-section. And I was ready to surrender to whatever needed to happen. All that mattered to me was safety. But Julie reminded me that the body and the baby often know what to do. Through prayer, chiropractic care, and trust, my son turned. But even after that, fear lingered. Fear from past loss & trauma. This fear that lived was deeper than logic.
Julie talked about how fear affects the body during labor. When we are tense, labor is harder. Longer and more painful. But when we feel safe, seen, supported, oxytocin flows. Love flows. Peace becomes possible.
When my water broke naturally, I labored at home as long as I could. And when I needed space, quiet, and containment, we went to the hospital. That room became holy ground. There were candles. Soft lights. Worship music. A nurse who understood. A midwife who loved Jesus. And a doula who gently reminded me to praise.
I remember singing through contractions. Crying out to God. Choosing worship in moments where everything in my body wanted to brace or fight. And something shifted. Pain didn’t disappear. But fear loosened its grip.
That birth was not just the arrival of my son. It was redemption. I got to experience natural birth for the first time, no induction like my other two and no epidural that I still carry the impacts of with my first. Julie later named it what I felt but couldn’t articulate at the time. A “redeeming birth.” One where what had been stolen before was restored. Where worship replaced fear. Where God met me not after the pain, but in it.
Not every birth looks like that. We talk about that too. Julie shared her own story of pregnancy loss. The shock, grief and unanswered questions. And the sacred permission she was given to grieve fully.
Loss leaves attachment pain. And attachment pain doesn’t respond to explanations or theology alone. It needs presence. Someone willing to sit with you and not rush you through it. As Christians, we don’t grieve without hope. But we still grieve. And sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is sit with someone in their sorrow and say nothing at all.
This conversation reminded me that joy and grief can coexist. That God does not waste pain. That worship doesn’t deny suffering, it transforms it. Birth mirrors life in so many ways. The waiting. The endurance. The not knowing how many contractions are left and the surrender required to move forward.
But on the other side, there is life. And in the middle and all around from beginning to end, there is Jesus.
Welcome back to the She’s Rooted Life Podcast. Today’s episode is a tender and sacred conversation about birth, fear, worship, loss, and the redemptive presence of God in some of the most vulnerable moments of our lives.
Before we begin, I want to offer a gentle trigger warning. In today’s episode, we discuss traumatic birth experiences and pregnancy loss. Please listen with care and take what you need.
Today, I’m joined by my dear friend Julie Vasquez.
Born and raised in Southern California, Julie Vasquez is a student midwife and birth doula who has attended over 60 births. She is a mother to six children and grandmother to a one year old granddaughter. She has been with her husband since she was just 16 years old.
In 2021, Julie and her family moved to East Tennessee where she is currently serving the birth community and expectant mothers who birth at home or in a hospital. When she is not at a birth she enjoys gardening, quilting, riding her horses, and hiking.
In this episode, Julie and I talk about what a doula truly does, how fear and surrender shape birth, the power of worship during labor, and how God meets us in both joy and loss. This conversation is for anyone longing for peace, redemption, and hope in the midst of birth and beyond.
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