I would like to nominate an incredible human, Jessica Rock, who was our nurse at Ascension Providence Alternative Birthing Center in Southfield, MI. Some people they say are born to help people, and I firmly believe Jessica was put on this earth to help families bring new life into this world in the most loving way. I was 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant when my water broke. My goal was to have a natural labor and my husband, A, and I had done all the studying we could do about labor through our Bradley Methods classes and felt super prepared for what was to come… Little did we know my labor was not going to follow any typical plan or schedule. My contractions immediately became 3 minutes apart and back labor began. We drove an hour and a half to the Birthing Center and were escorted to our room where we were greeted by our amazing nurse, Jessica. We had met Jessica a few weeks before when she gave us a personal tour of the Birthing Center and made time to answer all of our questions.

We immediately felt comfortable and at ease with a familiar, friendly, kind face. At this point my back labor was intense and A had his hands constantly glued to my lower back to offer counterpressure because my contractions were very strong and so close together. He was unable to get me water or food and lost track of when I was supposed to be going to the bathroom. Jessica immediately jumped in and made sure I was eating and drinking and physically assisted him in helping me get to the restroom. As I walked a contraction would start and A would offer counterpressure while Jessica would let me hang on her shoulders and offer kind, encouraging words of support and relaxation. Jessica knew my goal was to have a natural labor and I did not want to be offered any medications and she was very supportive of that. She knew the back labor was due to the baby facing posterior and encouraged me to try numerous positions in an attempt to turn the baby anterior naturally. Jessica was always kind and soft when she encouraged me to get into the new uncomfortable position and continuously gave me a heads-up about what to expect.

Now it had been 15 hours in and my back labor was only intensifying. An exam was done and determined that the baby was stuck on the lip of my cervix and the midwife would need to put her hand inside me while I had contractions to try to get the baby through and turned. This was the worst pain I had felt at this point and I questioned my very existence, but Jessica kept me grounded. She reminded me that every contraction and urge to push was me getting that much closer to holding my baby. She constantly reminded me to relax and trust my body. I fully trusted this woman, whom I recently met, with my entire body and my baby. Every time Jessica spoke and touched me, a warmth would come over me with the power to continue through my very intense natural labor. I would be lying if the thought of, “I can’t do this much more,” didn’t pass through my mind, but Jessica, along with my husband, was an amazing birthing coach and kept me focused on my goal.

After being awake for 48 hours and in labor for 17 hours, I was finally able to start pushing. I was on all fours and Jessica was holding my hands and cheering me on while I did the hardest endurance event of my life. I used everything in my being to bring this baby into the world and successfully did so into A’s arms. I did not initially hear any crying from the baby. I looked at Jessica who was calm with a loving smile on her face and I knew everything was okay. A few seconds later I heard my daughter’s beautiful cry and rolled over as my husband placed her on my stomach. Our daughter was fully alert and crawled her way up to my breast and started eating. I was in disbelief. I did it! And we did it because this was a group effort and I know I would not have been so strong and stubborn without my husband and Jessica by my side. They made ALL the difference in the world. Jessica helped us get settled in as a new family and left us alone for hours to bond with our daughter only checking in to see if we needed anything. We joked and laughed about the crazy experience we had just gone through together and it felt like we gained a new friend that day.

When it came time for the exams and tests, Jessica was able to do everything in front of us in our room and our daughter never left our side. The aftercare Jessica provided us was amazing and continued to prove this woman was born to do what she does. Before we left the Alternative Birthing Center, Jessica gave us some amazing pieces of advice. The best one was later that week to write down each of our experiences that we remember during the birth of our daughter so we can look back and remember the incredible feat and miracle that occurred. We did this and decided to do a joint video of our stories so we can show her when she gets older. As in any fairytale story, we told our daughter about the amazing “fairy godmother” nurse named Jessica who helped guide us on our birthing journey. That recommendation created a beautiful memory that we won’t ever forget.

Jessica Rock is an amazing nurse and human being. She helps bring lives into this world and changes others that already exist for the better. She is an earth angel who is so humble, kind, and truly loves the work that she does. My husband and I have not been able to stop praising her to anyone who will listen and strongly believe she deserves to be honored for every life she has touched. We would follow this woman to any hospital she worked at and believe she made all the positive difference in our birth story.