BONUS: Big News + Taking Some Rest Time

In this special bonus episode, I'm sharing some big news with you—we're expecting our third baby! This surprise pregnancy has been both a tremendous blessing and a journey that's teaching me so much about rest, surrender, and where my true worth comes from.

This announcement comes during a challenging first trimester filled with nausea, exhaustion, and the physical demands of being a pregnant doula. After walking through unimaginable losses with friends and battling fear about this pregnancy, hearing our baby's strong heartbeat was such a gift of peace from the Lord.

But this episode isn't just about baby news—it's about the deeper lesson God is teaching me about stepping away from performance-based worth and trusting His provision. As someone who's prone to proving my value through what I do, the Lord keeps whispering "I will provide" when I start spiraling about how we'll manage three little ones.

Whether you're in a season where you need to slow down, wrestling with perfectionism, or simply needing a reminder that your worth isn't tied to your productivity—this episode is full of encouragement for your heart.

In this episode, I share: 

🤱 Our surprise pregnancy announcement and my honest struggles with first trimester symptoms 

🏥 Starting pelvic floor physical therapy early to get ahead of debilitating pelvic pain 

💭 How the enemy planted fears after witnessing friends' losses, and finding peace in the Lord

✝️ Learning to rest instead of perform, and trusting God's provision over my own efforts 

🏠 Our plans for another home birth with a completely different heart posture this time 

📻 Why I'm taking a 4-week podcast break to practice the rest and boundaries I preach

Scripture Shared: 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." – Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

Mentioned in this episode: 

✨ Christian Mama Birth Prep Library - Free birth prep tools, cervical ripening methods, worship playlists & more 

📱 "Not By My Strength" 30-day devotional - A faith-focused devotional designed specifically for pregnancy.

📚 Childbirth Education Course – Learn the stages of labor, comfort measures, and labor positions all with a faith-focus!

💛 Work with Me 1:1 - Personalized pregnancy and birth support that integrates faith and evidence-based care, including virtual coaching, doula support, and comprehensive childbirth education. 

📸 Follow me on Instagram @faitoverfearbirthdoula

📅 New episodes return September 9th, 2025 with a wild birth story from my very first doula client!

If this episode encouraged you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who needs to hear that her worth isn't tied to her productivity.

Let's keep choosing faith over fear, one surrender at a time.

Transcript

Natalie Portman: 0:00

Hey there, mama. Welcome back to Faith Over Fear, the Christian Pregnancy and Birth podcast. I'm so happy you're joining me today. Today's episode is actually a special bonus episode. It's gonna be quite different than our normal flow because I actually have a special announcement to share with you and it's gonna impact just the flow of the podcast episodes this next month. So, here's the big news. I am pregnant again. We are expecting our third baby. This little baby came as a complete surprise to us and we are just overjoyed that the Lord would choose us again to be parents. But to be completely honest, when we first found out we were pregnant. I was like, oh my goodness gracious. I have so much on my plate personally, professionally, and, you know, being a pregnant doula, doing like in-person doula work. It's a lot of physical load. And so I have been feeling a little bit overwhelmed. But this past week we got to see the baby on an ultrasound and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. And that was such a blessing. It really just made it all feel more real that this was actually happening. And I've actually been walking through some unimaginable losses right now with some friends. And so the enemy's been really getting into my head about this pregnancy and planting a lot of fear and doubt and worry and just being able to hear that strong heartbeat was such a gift. But then, you know, it's also just been really reminding me to trust the Lord in this season. Just like I'm always encouraging. From all of you to have that faith over fear. But yeah, so this first trimester has been a challenge. I have been so tired and, you know, basically nauseous all the time. And then on top of everything else, I sound a little weird because Daniel gave me a cold because he loves to share my little precious bubby. And so yeah, my body is just like really needing rest right now. And I think I've mentioned in my birth stories on the podcast before that, you know, pelvic pain has been a big challenge for me in all of my pregnancies and already starting to get some of that pelvic pain even this early on. And so I've started pelvic floor, physical therapy, trying to just get ahead of just feeling so debilitated through my pregnancies. So if you wouldn't mind, be praying for me. Just'cause it's not fun. I joke with Brian that it feels like I get transported into like a 90 year old's body. I, you know, how would I know that? But that's what it feels like where my body just hurts, like all the time. So it's funny because, you know, birth and pregnancy and all this this is my professional like life, and I'm always, you know, around pregnant women, but I personally have a hard time really just loving being pregnant. That's, that probably sounds bad, but I would rather give birth all day, every day. Instead of being pregnant. Because being pregnant is not fun for me, but it is still a blessing. Even then, even when it's hard, it's still a blessing. So yeah. So I will be taking a little step back for the next four weeks and I'm going to release the next new episode on September 9th. So there's gonna be a little bit of a break there. And you know, it hurts my heart to step away from recording this podcast. I absolutely love this community. I love showing up weekly, serving you giving you encouragement and tips and tricks and all the things. But I really do feel like the Lord's been challenging me to really practice the rest and boundaries that I preach. So, i'm just gonna put a pause on this and allow my body to rest, which is hard for me because. I am definitely one of those people that I am very prone to going into like performance mode. I want to prove myself, I want to prove my self worth to myself, to others, and even to the Lord. And if I'm being honest, it's because I, deep down, have this lie in my heart that my value is tied to what I do, what I don't do, and it's not healthy. And I really feel like the Lord has been trying and constantly trying to root that out of me. And so I feel like this is me wanting to step into a place of obedience with the Lord of taking a step back. The world will absolutely keep going on. You guys are not hanging on my every word. And you guys don't need me. You need the Lord. Just like I desperately need the Lord. And the Lord has really been so gracious to me from the moment I found out I was pregnant and just feeling like oh my goodness. Like how are we gonna do this? You know, we have two kids. Daniel right now is 17 months. Ellie is four. She starts VPK next week and I'm like, Lord, I don't know how this is gonna work out, but the Lord just keeps telling me"I will provide." And that has been something that I keep going back to over and over in the season. As soon as I start spiraling into feeling like I don't know how I am going to do this, the Lord is so quick to remind me."I will provide." And so, I looked up some verses that I felt would be just a beautiful encouragement if you also find yourself in that season, if you find yourself kind of bending that way. Feeling like everything depends on you. So this comes from Ephesians 2:8-9 and it says."For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast." So, you know, our salvation, our worth, our identity, none of that comes from what we do. It is all a grace gift. And if you're listening to this and you are in that season where you maybe feel the Lord calling you to slow down you know, your body is needing rest or the circumstances are just causing you to have to slow down, say you're sick too, you know, like that there's literally nothing like your body saying you need to slow down'cause it will make you like, you will get sick. If you feel like the Lord is calling you to just trust him more deeply definitely listen to that and allow yourself that rest, and that it comes from a place of resting in him that he is enough that he will provide and you don't feel like you need to have everything figured out to keep things going. And, yeah, so, and then we're also planning on doing another home birth with this baby. And you know, God willing that baby and I remain healthy to do that. But really. I feel like the Lord has just been, again, really speaking to me a lot through this pregnancy because I've been in such a desperate place and I really feel like he is just wanting me to change my heart posture. I had a lot of anxiety with Daniel's home birth because I felt like at any point me or Daniel would become high risk and then we would risk out of the home birth. But this time I feel like the Lord is just like, Natalie, don't make that your focus. Don't make that the measure of if you succeeded or not. I really feel like he's calling me to just the goal of the birth. The goal of this whole experience and really of life is that I would fall more in love with Jesus. That. The Lord would just show up and show out. He would show me his goodness, his glory, and that I would come away from that experience loving and trusting him more. So that's really my prayer. And maybe that's what the Lord is also inviting you to to just. Lean into that. You know, the goal is not to have the birth go exactly the way you want. It's not to have a certain outcome. It's to come away from whatever experience, whatever birth story the Lord has written, and you come away from it thinking, Lord, I love you more, I trust you more. And those are gifts beyond anything, literally anything else in the world. So, I hope that encourages you. But yeah, so some fresh episodes will be coming out September 9th, and I can't wait to be sharing with you what you know, the Lord's been teaching me during this time of rest. And the episode that will drop at that point will be an episode with my first doula client ever. Her name is Nicki and she had a wild birth experience and so that will be a really fun one to hop into but yeah, check that out. And then in the meantime you know, if you haven't caught up on any of the episodes, I have 15 right now that are out. So catch up on that and I'll probably share some episodes that are most popular in the meantime, just so you can see those on the feed. And if you want to kind of keep up with me in how I'm doing see some updates for this pregnancy journey, you can follow me on Instagram and that's@faithoverfearbirthdoula And I'll share some, behind the scenes stuff while we're on this little podcast break. And then if you haven't yet definitely sign up for the Christian Mama birth prep library. There are so many free resources in there. The cervical ripening methods, worship labor playlist discounts on the childbirth education. So yeah, if. You're, if you're looking for faith centered, Christ-centered childbirth education, definitely check out the faith over your online childbirth ed course that I put out. And I also have a 30 day devotional. If that's something that you would like to just be able to just refocus during this season and kind of get a sense of why we're doing all this work. So check out that as well. And, you know, during the season. Being pregnant again myself. I am super excited for all the ways that I get to support you and, you know, just all the ways that the Lord is like bringing things to my heart and mind to share with you all. And so if you are, even considering birth support with me, virtual birth support please reach out. I would love to hear from you, even though I'm pregnant myself, I would love to hear from you and hear how I can maybe help support you. But yeah, so thank you so much for sticking with me as I give my little bonus episode, pregnancy announcement and some, you know, stuff that's going on logistically. But, you know, you mean the world to me, you tuning in and listening and, just investing in your pregnancy, that it is a way of stewarding what the Lord has given you. The knowledge, the encouragement, the truth, which we all need reminding. I know I need to and so I'm excited to be dropping some new episodes next month, but in the meantime, I'm going to rest. I'm going to enjoy this little break as much as I can. And just thinking of you, praying for you, But until then, take care of yourself, mama. You've got this because God's got you. Bye-bye for now.