My favorite stories to share are those written by the parents. Here is Lily Catherine's Birth Story written by her mother.

About two months before my due date, my midwife had to unexpectedly leave the birth center she was affiliated with. I had to decide whether to stay with the birth center (with whom I had a contract and had already paid my balance in full) or leave without a refund and stick with my midwife, who I trusted with my life. Terry was my midwife with my son’s birth, which ended with a hospital transfer due to low fetal heart rate. She stuck with me through a 39 hour induced labor. I thank God for her being there. I’m certain I would have ended up withC-section without her support and knowledge.

Because of my experience with her in an emergency, I knew I could count on her in a crisis. The day I interviewed the other midwives at the birth center, I photographed a home birth with Terry. It was peaceful. She was strong and calm. She knew when to suggest new positions. Seeing her in a peaceful non-emergent birth was what told me in my gut that I would feel safest with Terry. After interviewing with the other midwives to be fair and make sure we'd considered all options thoroughly, my husband and I both knew with 100% certainty that Terry was our midwife. We realized that my birth should only include the people I want there, the people with whom I’d feel safest and most comfortable with.

We’d originally planned to deliver at a birth center, but since the new birth center that Terry was at wasn’t ready yet, we decided at 34 weeks to have a home birth. At first, I was so stressed about how our house looked. As a birth photographer, I wanted to aid Kourtnie (my birth photographer) in any way I could to get beautiful images (plus, all the things I wanted to get done have been on my home improvement to-do list for nearly 4 years anyway). But after talking with my online mom group, they convinced me not to stress about it, figure out what my bare minimum was and to think of anything done after that as a bonus.

On April 22, Lily’s due date (which also happened to be Terry’s birthday), I’d planned to go to a convention in Fort Worth called Birth Round Up. I wanted to network with other birth workers, see some friends, and hear Ina May Gaskin speak on meternal mortality rates in the US. There was only a 5% chance of her coming on her due date, and I expected she’d arrive a little after, like her brother, who was born at 41 weeks and 5 days gestation. Even if I went into labor at the convention, I’d have most of my birth team in the same building, as they were also attending Birth Round Up. Well, April 22 arrived, and I woke up with mild contractions. I know several moms who have had prodromal labor, so I tried not to get too excited about it. As we were getting ready for the day, my 2.5 year old son, Andrew, did something he normally did on a daily basis. He ran up to me to hug and kiss my belly. But then he did something new. He sang, “Happy Birthday, Baby Sister,” to my belly. Daniel and I laughed and asked if today was his baby sister’s birthday. He smiled and said, “Yep!”

I was still planning on going to Fort Worth if the contractions died down. I planned to take Andrew to my husband’s parents’ house in Red Oak while Daniel worked, as he normally does on Saturdays. This was around 11am. I chose to use the drive to Red Oak as a gauge. I was going to drop Andrew off either way, but if the change in environment didn’t slow the contractions down or make them go away, I’d head home and get ready for delivery instead of driving to Birth Round Up. When I arrived, I continued discreetly timing my contractions. They didn’t slow down or let up, but I didn’t want to get everyone in the family excited if today turned out not to be the day, so I didn’t tell them I was in labor yet. The contractions were strong enough that I preferred to stand still and control my breathing, but mild enough that no one noticed that I was taking a longer than normal breath. My sister-in-law later told me I looked constipated at the time, ha!

After dropping Andrew off, I drove home. I called Daniel and let him know. I updated my birth team of my contraction timing and said I was officially calling early labor. When I got home, I began picking up and getting ready for everyone to arrive if this was, indeed, delivery day. I also offered my Ina May ticket on my Facebook mom group, which, of course, let them know things were starting to get real. After another hour, things were speeding up with me moving around the house so much. I was updating my birth team, most of whom were still in Fort Worth. Around 1pm, Terry decided it was time for everyone to head to our house. She, her student midwife, and my birth photographer all began packing up their vendor booths at the convention and my doula, Leslie, was dropping her kids off for childcare. I called Daniel and told him it was time to come home. When he answered the phone, he was actually holding a 500 pound support beam in the air with his dad and uncle at his parents’ house. He finished up there, told his family I was in labor, called work to let them know he wouldn’t be back from lunch, and headed home. He helped me finish cleaning up, and set up the birth pool while I labored on the birth ball.

Everyone began arriving around 2:30. While they were all getting set up, Terry told Daniel and me to go lie down in bed and rest for a few minutes. My contractions calmed down for a bit while we tried to rest. As soon as we got up, they picked right back up again. Every contraction made me stop and focus on breathing, but I could still walk around and talk and laugh between them. There was some pain, but it wasn’t unbearable. I asked Terry to check me because I had been worried that I might not be effacing since I’d not seen any mucous or bloody show. When she check me around 3pm, I was 4 cm dilated and 70% effaced.

I labored around my house for an hour or so, getting strong waves, but eating and talking with the birth team. Occasionally I would try to help Daniel around the house, but Leslie, my doula, would remind me to focus on labor. At some point, my surges got strong enough to keep me in one spot. I kneeled on my living room floor against the couch. I would sit on my legs during the rests and get up to my knees during the waves. I focused on breathing and low, loud moaning to ease me through them. And when they ended, I would sit back again with my head on the couch. At this point I was very internal. What they don’t tell you about the strongest points of labor is that you are actually hyper aware of all the sensations in your body, but you have a difficult time expressing your needs. This is where having a doula is so amazing. While a midwife is focused on the details of getting you safely to birth and worrying about where, when, and how, a doula makes sure you’re hydrated, comfortable, and feeling in control.

After a bit, I mentioned that I was feeling nauseous, so they began filling the birth tub. This took about 30 minutes. I the meantime, I was starting to feel some downward pressure with my contractions. By the time the pool was filled, I knew I was in transition and I’d need to push soon. Right after I got in the tub, our friend dropped some food off for our birth team at Daniel’s request. Daniel jumped up to catch him outside before getting in the tub and let him know we were about to start pushing. I doubt he could have guessed much else since it was the middle of the day and the birth tub was situated right in front of our large window.

I entered the birth pool around 5:30, and resumed the same position I’d used in front of the couch. The water was relaxing, and made it more comfortable to squat, though I’m sure my frequent squatting during pregnancy helped with this as well. The strong contractions continued, and I experimented with pushing, finding different spots for my feet and legs. I was thankful for the small breaks between surges so I could rest and breathe. I would lean my head on the towel on the side of the tub while resting on my legs. Then another would come and I would rise up to my knees or to a squat, pushing my face into the side of the tub for leverage. During these waves, I would instinctually reach down to monitor the progress of Lily’s head making its way down. For several minutes, her head felt smooth. I remember Terry asking Daniel, who was behind me, if he thought the amniotic sac had broken yet. He reached forward under me and said he felt a hand! Everyone was surprised, thinking it was a nuchal hand (when babies are born with their hands by their face). I told them it was my hand and that the sac hadn’t broken yet because I felt her head and it was smooth.

My urge to push became very strong. With each push, I felt her head coming through, bit by bit. On one of my stronger pushes, I felt the amniotic sac break under my hand. I told the team that it broke. It was so amazing to feel like I was in control of and participating in my own birth! With my son’s, because I had such a hard time figuring out what to do because of the epidural, it felt like it was just something happening to me and I was trying to catch up, both mentally and physically. After the sac broke, it only took a couple more pushes for her head to be born. I felt the “ring of fire,” and I wanted to push past it, but I probably could have waited another push or two to avoid tearing. I remember with that last big push to birth her head, my voice got very high and I leaned back into Daniel with the team’s help. The midwives checked for the cord and gave me the go ahead to push again on the next contraction. They helped me grab her and bring her up to my chest at 6:02 pm. Daniel says they told him to pinch her, but I don’t remember that.

She was beautiful and had dark hair and dark eyes. She sucked her thumb. I knew that I’d torn up the front a bit (a skin tear) because Lily’s cord was a little short, and holding her to my chest, trying to keep her face clear of the water with the cord between my legs stung. I think the placenta came out about 5-10 minutes later. After the cord was white and done pulsing, we cut it with my stork handled embroidery scissors that I’d had Terry sterilize a couple weeks before my due date. I chose these because stork handled scissors were once used for this very purpose. I’d wanted to do the same at Andrew’s birth, but couldn’t since we were transferred.

At this point, we still couldn’t decide on her hame. We had 5 names that we’d decided on by 30 weeks with various middle names from our families. Over the weeks leading up to her birth, we called her by each name, testing it out at home to get a feel for them. By the day she was born, we’d narrowed it down to Lauren Beth and Lily Catherine. I got some stitches and ate some soup, fed to me by Leslie as we worked on getting Lily breastfeeding. After the rest of the team emptied and refilled the birth tub, Lily and I took an herbal bath together. All the while, family was texting Daniel, asking how much she weighed and what her name was. Daniel and I debated during the herbal bath, trying out each name, saying it with Andrew’s name as we would when calling them to us, at Leslie’s suggestion. I looked at her face and called her each name several times. After much deliberation, we decided on Lily Catherine.

After the herbal bath, the midwives did a newborn exam on Lily. She weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces, more than a pound less than Andrew did! I would say I had a much more difficult pregnancy overall, but it was definitely healthier. Though she is more petite than Andrew, by nature, I think my healthy diet really played a part in having such a smooth delivery at just the right time with the perfect sized baby. I know many other moms have much more difficult hurdles to beat in pregnancy and delivery, but for me, this birth was healing. It was a redemption of what felt like a failure for my son's birth. Though I was able to achieve a vaginal delivery with him, it was still disappointing to have to make those choices to induce and medicate when I wanted neither. It felt chaotic, and I didn't feel in control. Lily's birth was peaceful, and I felt power in the vulnerability required in surrendering to my body's natural process.

birth team at a home birth in midlothian

I love capturing not only your birth story but your love story, that love you have for one another and your new little one(s). Connecting generations together by capturing the raw, real, 100% unscripted moments through quality photographs, films, and albums. I call Dallas Fort Worth area home, but also have the love and ability to travel worldwide

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The rest of the Birth Team:

Midwife - Terry - Born2baBessing - Website

Doula - Leslie - Great Expectations Brith - Website