A wedding and a birth

I was asked to officiate a friends wedding ceremony on Thursday. It was a beautiful ceremony. We all met in the park around sunrise and placed the candles and the foliage, called a circle and had a touching hand fasting. Followed by a delicious breakfast.

Later that day I got a phone call from my first time Mom saying she was having contractions but couldn't say that this was "the real thing". I asked her if she wanted Camille( my recently married friend and doula for this birth) to come out and give her a massage or just hang out. She said she would just hang out and give us a call later. I had just turned out the lights to get settled into bed after getting my toddler to sleep when the phone rang, it was about 10:30pm. It was my mama saying she had a gush that was tinged with blood so, I got my things and headed over. When I got there the mama was glowing and smiling. She and her partner were doing well breathing and laughing through contractions.
I checked heart tones and timed her contractions for about and hour and then called her labor support to come over. We filled the pool and I showed her how to sway her hips to relieve back pain and bring the baby down. She got in and out of the pool as her contractions got stronger and stronger. I tried to lay down and get in a few catnaps before the birth. I didn't think she would birth until about 7am.

As we moved into the wee hours of the morn her contractions became too strong for her to talk through anymore and she started crying and saying she couldn't do it anymore. We coached her through the hard contractions and I kept reminding her that she would see her baby soon and to take one contraction at a time. In those moments I wish so much that I could take on some of the burden. Between contractions I would tell her that this is her journey and that no one but her could do this and that when she was done with this she would know that she could do anything. After many hours of hard labor she was finally ready to push. She pushed for about 15 minutes when we saw the head emerge. I said to her "reach down and bring your baby to you with the next contraction." With the next contraction she scooped her baby up and brought him to her chest. The look on her face was priceless. It was the first time as a midwife that I really encouraged a woman to catch her baby. Honestly, I didn't think it would be as rewarding(as a midwife) but it was even more rewarding than catching the baby myself. I will treasure the moment I saw her face, when she brought her baby to her chest and saw him for the first time. I thought, here is a 19 year old young woman, who had never birthed before,she had the strength to do this naturally and now will forever more know the empowering feeling of taking charge of her own body and birth. I was a part of a very amazing experience and it feels so good! I know that this young woman will never let anyone take advantage of her power and it feels awesome to know that I helped her feel strong enough to do this. Welcome London, 8lbs. even, born at 8:15am and thank you for being perfect in every way!