Major moment. Three months after giving birth to son Radley, Audrey Roloff reflected on her third child’s “harmonious” arrival.
“This was my first birth outside of the hospital,” the Little People, Big World alum, 30, wrote via Instagram on Monday, March 7. “I had a prior history of fast labors and postpartum hemorrhaging … but we talked a lot with my midwives about this prior and had a great plan in place this time.”
While the Oregon native’s “main concern” was making it to a birth center on time, she and Jeremy Roloff arrived “in the middle of the night.” The reality star labored in a tub “for the majority of [her] labor” while her husband, 31, sat on a birth ball.
“I started pushing at around 6:20 even though it felt more like really intense pressure contractions and not like pushing,” the TLC personality recalled. “I didn’t have the feeling of the baby coming down like I did with [our] other kids. I had crazy back labor and lots of pressure with no feeling of progress. It was painful, and harder mentally because I felt like I was pushing and not getting anywhere.”
When Radley emerged 12 minutes later, the infant was born en caul. Audrey explained that her “water never broke and he was born in the amniotic sac,” which isn’t typical.
“It’s extremely rare — less than 1 in 80,000 births!” the Oregon State University grad went on to write. “Oh, how I wish I had a good picture to show you, but it was dark and the angle of the photos doesn’t really show it well. My midwife popped the sac while he was still in the water right after he came out, so when I sat up and turned around so she could pass him to me, he had what looked like a deflated balloon over his head. … Pushing out the sac was a very different experience. I didn’t feel the ring of fire or anything like that.”
Audrey, who is also the mother of daughter Ember, 4, and son Bode, 2, hinted at her “wild” birth story when telling her Instagram followers in November 2021 that baby No. 3 had arrived.
“We are so grateful to God for answering so many specific prayers in regards to this labor and delivery,” Audrey captioned the infant’s social media debut at the time. “A word that I had been praying over this birth was ‘harmony.’ And it truly was one of the most harmonious experiences.”
While celebrating three months with Radley via Instagram last month, Audrey praised his “sweet” personality.
