Yolonda and Isaiah and their family moved to South Jersey when they were about 33 weeks pregnant and found me just in time to make plans for a homebirth! They had 5 girls and 1 boy and their last baby had been born at home in Ohio with a midwife I know from doing midwifery/birth political work nationally. This sweet family was excited for a homebirth to christen their new home. Yolonda had typically had long labors even with having birthed a number of babies. This time around however, she had a lot of warm up labor from Saturday night through the week until Thursday but the bouts of contractions kept stopping after a period of time. It was my hope that after all that warming up, the main event would be much faster for this quiet powerful mama. And that was certainly the case!
Isaiah called just after midnight on the 7th to report it seemed like this was the real deal. Ana and I arrived within 45 minutes and it certainly appeared like Yolonda was in active labor. She had warned us she was a very calm laborer (so calm her midwife had missed her last birth because it seemed so early on) so we had that info. Ana had also seen her earlier in the day when she was having regular (but in restrospect much calmer) contractions and could attest to the fact that the surges we were witnessing that night were much stronger. Yolonda's two oldest daughters were helping out timing contractions and awaiting the new arrival. Very soon after we arrived things shifted into a stronger pattern and before we new it Yolonda had the urge to push. After a beautiful slow gentle crowning baby Taja (all 7 kids have "T" name) was born in the water into Ana's excited, caring hands- marking her first baby catch on American soil! Soon after the other big sisters and brother appeared to great the newest addition to this big happy family. The family preferred to let the cord dry on its own for a Lotus birth so we tucked the mama, baby and placenta (wrapped in a bag and then in a container) into bed before we were on our way a few hours later.
Ana joyfully proclaimed, "These are the births I've always read about! I'm going to dream about this one!" as she reflected on how happy she was to have the opportunity to assist at low intervention natural childbirths in the home setting. It's been lovely to work with Ana and share experiences with one another and it was wonderful to see her so happy to serve this family!
Congratulations to Yolonda and Isaiah and family, and to Ana too!
