The full moon/lunar eclipse/winter solstice energy brought Motherland Midwifery a bunch of babies this year--three in 36 hours! It was Natalie's due date, December 20th, and she felt a pop and small gush of pinkish fluid at 6pm--would this baby come right "on-time" instead of a week or more "late" like her other two? We chatted on the phone and I was wrapping up a homevisit in the neighborhood so decided to stop by and check-in.

Little did any of us know that baby Aine Siobhan (called Annie) would be born less than 2 hours later! I had left my equipment and headed home to put away groceries and nurse my baby to sleep thinking I'd be back in a few hours after big brother Connor and big sister Cara went to bed. But the contractions picked up like crazy right after I left and I turned around part-way home and raced back to Natalie and James' house with midwife Jane Cruice on her way to be there too.

Natalie was clearly in a very intense labor and seemed close to birthing when I arrived. Sure enough she started pushing and her 7 1/2 lb girl was born at 7:30 pm! What a whirlwind! It was a big of a shock for us all--especially Annie and Natalie and doula Jodi who arrived a bit after the baby. We all recovered as the family nestled in bed with their early Christmas present!