this family has been one of my favorite client families for years now! i got to photograph big sister AND big brother as newborns, and i was SO excited when they told me they wanted birth photography with their third child! she thought if she could just make it to 36 weeks she was going to have a home birth and wanted me there to document it. she told me, "we'll probably only need about an hour of your time," laughing about how fast her labors were. i laughed, too...
when dad called me around 4:15 p.m. and asked if i was available, i could hear it in his voice that i had to get over there as fast as i could. jared wanted me to put our kids' car seats in his car, but i said, "there's no time!" i jumped in jared's car and drove as fast as i could.
i walked into the house, and someone pointed at the bedroom. i walked into the bedroom, but i didn't look immediately at what was going on on the bed. when i got to my spot by the window and put my camera to my eye, i realized the baby's head was out! mom was pushing so quietly, i could barely even tell! it was absolutely amazing. a minute later, the rest of the baby was born. it was kinda strange not having the long, agonizing/exciting buildup to the actual birth, but there were some other really wonderful things that happened at this one. i totally cried when big sister came in to meet her baby sister. all i can say about watching that moment was that she was the picture of total elation. she was almost crying from sheer joy, which i can't say i've seen very often with small children. it was a beautiful moment. and you can tell how brother felt when he got to hold her a few minutes later. that face absolutely killed me.
as i found out after the birth, mom had actually been to see the midwives that afternoon, around 2:00. she had been expecting the baby to come early, so she was a little miffed that day that NOTHING was happening. she had hardly been having any contractions, and she felt like the birth was still far away. TWO HOURS LATER, she realized she was in labor and called dad to tell him to hurry home. by the time he got there, there were no midwives or anything! he called the midwives and then called me! lucky for them, the midwife was actually grocery shopping close to their house, or she probably would have missed the whole birth. keep your eyes peeled for this gorgeous, chunky babe's newborn photos, coming soon!!
i feel so incredibly lucky to have met this amazing couple. we hit it off immediately, and i was really excited for their birth. they are both super-artistic people, and i just can't get over the jewelry mama makes, or the art all over the house. even the baby's room is full of quirky and interesting art.
the due date came and went, and there was still no action. i kept texting them, because i was afraid i was going to miss it! anyway, at the day that marked 42 weeks, things started happening.
i arrived at their house around 6 a.m., and it was still dark outside. the midwife had been there since around midnight, and mama was already starting to feel a little pushy. the couple was in the tub for the first couple of hours of my being there. she seemed in really great spirits, but she was getting more and more discouraged when she felt like things weren't progressing.
after a couple of hours, their amazing midwife suggested maybe the baby needed a position change to get unstuck from whatever spot she was in, so we moved to the bedroom. the midwife had this long "pull-toy" made from braided strips of fleece, and mama lay on her back and held one end of it at her chest, while the midwife's assistant stood at the foot of the bed and pulled the other end. i really got to participate in this birth. i was feeding the cat and getting mama water, and i even got to hold her foot during a push when the midwife went to get something! it was exhilirating!!!
after pushing there for about 45 minutes (i think), out came the baby! she was purple at first but got her nice pink color super-fast. it was so incredibly beautiful, and mama and papa did such a wonderful job in every way. i love to see such a supportive papa during a birth. baby girl was SO alert and even looked right at me a bunch of times! i can't wait to see her again.
oh, and if you're wondering about that friggin adorable doggie, his name is nemo, and i love him. we are besties. i wanted to stick him in my camera bag and take him home with me, but i think baby girl is going to love him even more than i do, so i decided to leave him.
i went to bed expecting to wake up at 5 a.m. for boot camp. sometime during the night, my 5-year-old son showed up in my bed with a fever. i was comforting him at around 3:30 when my birth client's husband texted me that they were in labor, so i should start rearranging my day. but they were expecting a very long early labor (this was her first birth), so i wasn't too alarmed. about 30 minutes later, at 4 a.m., ADT security called me to say that my studio had been broken into and i needed to go meet the police. about the time i pulled up to the studio, my birth client's husband called to say they were at the hospital, and she was at SEVEN centimeters! wow. lucky for me, my dear friend ginny b is in boot camp with me--i knew she'd be awake when i called her. she rushed to the hospital to cover for me until i could get there (i had to wait for my husband to relieve me with the cops). phew!
when i arrived at the hospital, this mama was not in a good place. she had really wanted to have a natural, med-free birth, but her early labor had gone much to fast for her, and her pain had escalated rapidly, so she wasn't able to adjust. she reminded me EXACTLY of myself during my labor with jack. poor thing. she was wearing her body out fighting her contractions, and i was honestly worried about whether she was going to have any energy left for pushing. after a few hours she opted for an epidural and was able to get a nap! you can tell in the photos when the mood completely changed. when i came back in the room after her nap, i saw the smiling face i had met before. then they said it was time to push!
she's an athlete, so she was a great pusher. she's also hilarious, and at one point, she laughed her baby's head halfway out after making a lewd joke! it really was one of the coolest things i've ever seen. this was not a small baby, either. in the end, it was a beautiful, happy birth, and i'm so blessed to get to be a part of such momentous things. anyone looking for a doula MUST check out kristen downer. she was incredibly supportive (as well as funny).
