Are you curious what you should expect from a birth collection? First, I come to you once you hit active labor. Sometimes this is decided by your doula or midwife and sometimes it is decided by you and your partner. I want to be called as soon as you are sure labor is starting and then we stay in touch as you continue to go from early labor to active labor. This is typically around 6cm dilated although it really looks different for every woman. There are signs that I look for and even noises that I expect to hear while you work through a wave of contraction to tell me that it is time to come.
When I head over you know and will have the door unlocked for me to slip inside while keeping you undisturbed, or maybe we are meeting at the hospital or birth center. Once I arrive I try to be a fly on the wall. If you make eye contact with me I will say hello, offer a touch if it seems right and encourage you to get back to your happy place in labor that I like to call Labor Land. I am mostly serving as your witness although I will offer quiet affirmations when needed, encouraging you to relax your body between contractions or to remind you to keep your sounds in a lower tone opens your body and gets ready for baby to come.
After you baby arrives I will hang out somewhere between 1 and 2 hours capturing the golden hour of skin to skin immediately, capturing the attempts of a first latch and all the newborn exam fun stuff.
I am so excited to share this beautiful en caul birth gallery with you all. Jessica and Alvin labored, connected through every contraction for 12 hours on the day of the full moon. Jessica gave birth to her sweet baby girl just as she imagined it. In a birth pool in her home surrounded by a birth team she carefully thought through to support her during pregnancy, birth and the important postpartum. Jessica kept moving and went up and down two flights of stairs a few times while working through her contractions and getting her daughter moving down and ready to come earth side. The moment of birth was so special coming out in the sac with an added magical touch being surrounded by fairy lights around the birth tub and Jessica dancing back and forth in the water to the low hum of labor land. I must make note that Alvin was such an incredible support and I hope these images can serve an example to all the nervous fathers out there who don't know how they can help, that they are so important during birth.
I’ve always dreamed of having a natural water birth in my home. Even as a child, I'd always been amazed by the beauty of birth. I was always amazed at how a woman's body could change so drastically during pregnancy - creating, nourishing and nurturing life. I'd always taken this seriously, probably a little more seriously than my peers as my husband would say. I've always known the importance of choosing a loving, caring and supportive partner; among other things. I remember telling my girlfriends in middle school, how whenever I had a baby, I wanted my baby in water and they would come out swimming, we all laughed. I mean, those aren't the exact logistics of water birth, but you get the point. On Aug 15, the night of a full moon; that dream came true for me. I was able to let go of myself and give in to the instinctual drift of my body and roar my sweet daughter earth side with my carefully picked birth team.
