Riah Lou Turner
- Feb 1
- 10 min read
On September 22, 2025, we welcomed our third child into the family, Riah Lou Turner. We have kept the Biblical mountain theme going with our kids first names and family name as the middle. Riah comes from Mount Moriah. Moriah means "The Lord is my Teacher." Lou is after Grandma Linda's middle name. But yes, you are doing the math correctly…She is almost 5 months old, and I am finally posting her birth story. Your assumption is right, our life is so full!
Since I was a young girl, I always said I wanted 3 to 5 kids. I’m gonna be honest, after having Olive and the first 6 months of her life, I did not want another kid! But we warmed up to it and decided to go for a third.
This was definitely one of my harder pregnancies. I know I’m a little older and chasing around two toddlers, but for some reason, this one was just not fun. I had a lot of weird symptoms and pains, a tiny bit of morning sickness, and I was very uncomfortable the whole time. We decided to keep the gender of this baby a surprise, which was new territory. But I figured since we have one of each and have everything we need, this is the best time to make it a surprise. If we go for a fourth, I’ll want to mentally prepare myself if I’m having three girls.
There are a lot of things that I have learned about myself this third time around. Simply put, I don’t like being pregnant! Obviously, I don’t like being pregnant for all the physical ailments, but it’s also very challenging emotionally. And for some silly reason, during the years that I am pregnant, the Lord likes to challenge us in many ways and have us do things all at once. This year, Nick started a new job, which drastically changed our schedules. We got a new church building, which added a lot more stress and busyness to our lives to get that building ready, and we decided to do a ton of big house projects before my entire family came to visit. Some of these were in our control, but Most of it was not. God was gracious through it all and got us through, with only a little struggle, a lot of refinement, but beauty and growth and transformation on the other side.
(If you don’t want to read a detailed birth story, then I would skip this part!)
No idea why, but I really thought this baby was going to come early. Probably just because I was so uncomfortable and wanted the baby to be out! So, as you can imagine, the last few weeks of pregnancy were very difficult. My wonderful mother came into town a week before my due date to help with the older kids while I had the baby. Nick kept saying, “I bet once your mom gets here, you’ll relax and the baby will come.” But again...no baby.
I was definitely having a lot of Braxton Hicks and different pains. I started spotting early but no real labor signs. I made it to my due date, Friday, September 19! We enjoyed Nick’s Sabbath and went on a long walk by the river. My mom was worried about getting too far from home but I was feeling great emotionally and physically and was keeping a good attitude. However, around 11am I started getting antsy and biting my nails and just could not relax. I became physically uncomfortable and had a lot of tightness. I was trying not to get my hopes up though. After lunch Nick and I went to my last doctor's appointment. Because of my age, the hospital recommended that we induce by 41 weeks, so we needed to decide and schedule my induction date at this appointment. Each day that went by I still believed this baby was going to come out and all of this induction conversation wouldn’t matter. But, to throw a slight wrench into the process and cause more stress and anxiety when making a decision about induction and pain methods, my grandmother‘s memorial was scheduled for October 18. There was definitely a part of me that wanted to push longer, but due to the hospital's recommendation and having to be on a plane on October 15th, we decided to schedule an induction for Thursday the 25th the day before I turned 41 weeks. My doctor checked me and said the baby's head was still down, I was 4cm dilated, my cervix was forward and soft and it had thinned 25%. Baby was healthy and moving and had a good heartbeat. I was encouraged by this information leaving my appointment in hopes that something would happen later that day. In my excitement, I started having a few mild contractions but I was determined to do what I could to get this baby out.
So we curb walked, walked to the park, took a few laps around, did lots of stretching, and labor prep. My hips and pelvis were very tired and sore. All the walking made the contractions go away for a bit, but they came back mildly when putting the kids to bed. I was still trying to manage my emotions and not get my hopes up, but we ate spicy wings for dinner, and I stretched again before heading to bed.
Around 10:46pm, I felt the first painful contraction. I slept off and on, but everything became too uncomfortable, and I headed out to the living room around 12:30am on Saturday, September 20th. I did my labor exercises and stretches, and I tried to watch some birthing and labor prep videos on Instagram while texting two of my friends back home. I started trying to track contractions at 1:30am for about 30 minutes, but they were still super easy to breathe through. Every 4.5 minutes, lasting for around 40 seconds. From 2:30am to 3:30am, I tracked while lying down. They had gotten stronger, so I needed to focus more on breathing. Still only 40-50 sec long and 4 minutes apart. At 3:30am, I went to the bathroom as I was excited, thinking it was really starting. But then it all STOPPED! Everything went away, and I felt nothing anymore. My mom came out to check on me, and then I went to bed and slept for a few hours.
When I woke up the next morning, I was really bummed that nothing happened. We went on with our day, and I had no contractions all day Saturday or Sunday, and at this point, it was really hard to stay focused. I’m pretty sure I cried a little bit each day. I was not present for my kids this past week emotionally, and I was just getting very frustrated. On Sunday night, I sent Nick to bed early, and I stayed up chatting with my mom and stretching on the exercise ball. I felt a couple of contractions, but I didn’t even tell my mom because I was trying not to get excited. I headed to bed around 10pm and woke up a little after 1:00am, feeling some contractions. I decided to just stay in bed and see what happened. At 1:55am, I started tracking the contraction,s and for the next 45 minutes, they were very consistent. They were lasting about 1 minute and still not super painful, but I definitely felt like it was happening. I decided to get up, get dressed, and come out to the living room to get ready. The contractions slowed down slightly when I was up and moving, but around 3:00am, I decided to wake Nick up and told him I think we’re gonna have to leave soon. I called the Kaiser Advice nurse and explained to them what was going on to get their recommendation. Since I was already dilated, this was my third baby, and I was having consistent, mildly painful contractions, they recommended that I go in to get checked. I really wanted to labor at home as long as possible, but even more than that, I did not want to have a baby in my car. With all the different factors, we decided to head to the hospital around 3:15ish while contractions were still manageable. We had an awesome triage nurse who ended up being a Christian, which was something I had prayed for. She checked me around 4:30am, and I was still only at a 4 cm. This was super discouraging cause I really didn’t want to labor at the hospital for super long like I did with Olive. I was determined to have this baby, so I made the decision to stay and see what happens. Nick spent the next hour and a half on his computer getting all his sub plans ready for school while I labored in the triage room. Contractions were getting more painful, but I was working through them just fine, and I was able to stand, rock, and breathe through each one on my own. I started getting really tired, so I decided to lie down.
The nurse checked me at 5:30am, and since I had progressed to 5 cm in the past hour and my cervix was super soft and flexible, she admitted me. Contractions were consistent, and I was really having to focus and breathe through them, but I was working super well with my body that it really wasn’t that painful. Visualization was helping a lot, and my body was doing exactly what it needed to to get this baby in my arms.
I got to my room a little after 6:00am, and got in the bath. Nick dragged a chair into the room and sat in there with me. We had worship music playing the whole time, and it was a very peaceful experience. At this hospital, you are not allowed to give birth in the tub, so they said if I feel like I have to go to the bathroom or push, I need to get out. I had to start breathing and kind of grunting through each contraction at this point, and I couldn’t get comfortable in the bath. I was unsure what I was feeling, so I decided to get out and get checked. I was dilated to 8 cm, and while lying on my side, I said to the nurse and Nick, “It’s about to hit the hard part.” I got emotional remembering that I don’t know what the gender is! I was convinced it was a girl and already had her name, but there was a chance I was about to be handed a little boy with no name. During the next contraction, my water broke, and I announced it to the nurses. My body hit transition, and I was no longer cool, calm, and collected. The nursing staff was getting everything ready, but I was freaking out and asking Nick for help as he stood next to me and, in my opinion, yelling like a crazy person (but Nick and the nurses said I wasn’t). I don’t remember breathing or feeling contractions. I think I briefly remember the ring of fire, but everything just felt out of control at that point. One of the nurses got my attention and told me “you have to make room for baby to come out,” because I was lying on my side with my knees together so tense they weren’t able to move my legs. I have never had a bowel movement while giving birth before, but a few minutes later I felt myself poop and then shortly after, out came the baby. They plopped my almost 8lb baby on my tummy, and she was so slippery she fell to the side, but Nick and the nurse caught her and wrapped her up. The next thing I knew, the nurse opened the towel, and then Nick said, “It’s a girl! You were right! And I held my sweet, precious Riah Lou and kept saying, “I knew it, I knew it was you.” I was embarrassed that I lost control at the end, not only with my bowels but also yelling and becoming so tense that we couldn’t get her out. Now looking back, I laugh because subconsciously I think I was holding in my poop, which was making me tense and not letting her come out! So dumb, I should not have cared, and she would have come out faster! It was so gnarly, but in the end, I was very proud of how I labored and that I did it again! It’s crazy when I look at the timeline. I got in the bath a little after 6am, I took a photo still in the bath at 6:49am, and then she was born at 7:17am.
(If you skipped the birth story you can jump back in now!)
Labor and delivery is, wild but oh so beautiful. I see the draw of having a home birth now, and with the right team, I’m sure I could do it. But I am very thankful for the hospital and the nursing staff who helped us. After one night, we were ready to come home and start the transition to a family of five. Zion and Olive were very cute and sweet with their new sister. At first, Zion was more obsessed with her, but over the next few months, it has switched. Now, Olive is more obsessed. Riah will have to learn to hold her own, both physically, emotionally, and vocally, with these other two! But so far she fits right in, and we could not be happier!
I believe God gives you the child that you need in that season for your transformation as well as what your family needs. Riah has brought peace and calmness to our family. The older kids have grown up a lot and taken on different roles as we brought home this third baby. She is the best baby. Super chill and easy, much like Olive was, but even more so. Maybe I’m more calm and confident this time around, but Riah is perfect. Looking back at these last few months, I am so thankful. Life is definitely busy and my house is more messy but my heart is so full. God has quieted my heart, allowed me to be more still in the chaos, enjoy the fun moments as well as the challenging ones, and all in all, has used baby three to make me a better mom. I am more patient, loving, and kind. I see how fast it all goes and as an answer to prayer, I soaked up every second of this newborn phase. The lack of sleep, figuring out the schedule, and managing all three kids was easier this time around. I am able to focus on my kids and their needs, with a positive attitude and a new realization of the responsibility I have to raise them to know and love Jesus.
The third baby just hits differently. If you're on the fence, I say go for it! Not because it will be easy, but because it will be worth it.
Behold, children are an inheritance of Yahweh, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
Psalm 127:3-5a
Jess T.
Prayer requests
Parenting wisdom to raise these three kiddos in the Lord
Continued peace and joy
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