One of the things that I love about birth photography is that it not only chronicles a family’s journey bringing their baby into the world, but it allows for that family to reconcile the memories they have with photographic imagery and time stamps of the events of the labor and delivery.

Vivian’s mom has asked me to write my recollection of her birth story since it was a true whirlwind for her! This birth story, for me, is a great example of good communication between client & birth photographer as well as good instincts and experience coming into play.

This was baby #3 for Sarabeth, but her older two were 8 and 9 years old, so it had been a little bit since she had given birth. 3rd babies are known as “wildcards” because they often don’t follow the same pattern as other births and quite frequently throw us for a loop. It was also a SURPRISE gender, which is always so much fun!

The first text I received from Sarabeth woke me out of a deep sleep at not quite 6am.

She gave me all the information I needed. She had been having strong contractions for 2 hours, her water might have broken and she was feeling a lot of pressure. In a birth photographer’s mind, those things mean that baby is coming SOONER rather than later and I need to get to them ASAP! I admit to feeling a little panicked that this was the first I was hearing from her, but later found out that her contractions basically started off strong - it wasn’t like she had light contractions for a few hours and then they gradually got stronger. It was fast and furious from the start!

I got up, dressed, put my (already packed) birth bag in the car and got on the road to meet them at the hospital. They were about the same distance from the hospital that I was, 20-25 minutes.

The next text I got was at 6:30am that they were pulling into the hospital lot and contractions were “on top of each other”. I was still about 10 minutes away.

When I arrived at the hospital at 6:40am, I was not allowed to come back into the room yet - so I texted dad and said, “If she is close to delivery, ask that I be permitted to come back right away”.

At 7:15, I was still in the waiting room, praying that the hospital staff wasn’t going to delay me so long that I missed the birth. I was on pins and needles waiting to hear how dilated she was and if baby was really coming any minute like my gut was telling me. From all the information I had gotten, it sounded like she was in active labor, possibly even transition and would be delivering the baby literally at any moment.

At 7:30am, I finally got permission to come into the labor & delivery room. They had checked her and found that she was 4cm dilated. Sarabeth was shocked, frustrated and in pain. She felt defeated since she was working SO hard, contractions literally 2-3 minutes apart, super strong, and she was feeling like the baby was “right there”. How could she be only 4cm??

I entered the room to find her laboring hard with her husband right at her side, doing his best to keep her focused and positive. The morning sun was bright and was peeking in through the cracks in the blinds, leaving a pattern of stripes and spots on everything in the room.

But I could see that Sarabeth was struggling. As a birth photographer, I’m typically pretty quiet during labors - I don’t insert myself or talk to families when they are in the labor process. But I could see that she was overthinking this. She was thinking, “If I’m only 4cm and it hurts this much, there’s no way I can make it to 10cm!” “What if it takes HOURS more?” “I can’t do this forever!” “I’M ONLY 4CM?!?!”

So, I said to her, “Remember, it’s just a number. Don’t let that number get into your head and make you doubt yourself. I have seen women go from 4cm to holding their babies in a very short time. You are doing so well, you are having strong, consistent contractions - it is not likely that your labor will be long. It sounds like you are in transition, don’t let a 4cm number psych you out!” We all did our best to support and encourage her to keep taking it one contraction at a time.

The nurse brought in the nitrous oxide to see if that would help take the edge off her contractions and make it more manageable. Sarabeth really didn’t want an epidural, but she was already feeling like the pain was too much and knowing she was only 4cm was making her feel like she couldn’t make it all the way to delivery without some pain relief. It was hard for her to get comfortable at all, so she tried some different positions. Moving made her feel nauseous, which was another sign of transition that she was showing. I couldn’t really believe that 4cm number, either!

It was about 8:15am and Sarabeth was feeling increasingly like she wanted epidural pain relief. The nitrous just wasn’t making enough difference. The anesthesiologist was called. She was feeling nauseous and couldn’t focus between contractions or get any type of break - they were coming on top of each other now.

It was at this point that the nurses told us that we would be asked to leave during the epidural placement. Both myself and her husband were told to go to the waiting room until the epidural was done. This made me VERY nervous because I have attended multiple births where the epidural allows a birthing mom to relax enough to deliver her baby within MINUTES of placement…and Sarabeth was showing all the signs of a woman in transition - no matter what the dilation number was! But, we are bound by hospital rules and so her husband and I walked (slowly) out to the waiting area. It was not quite 8:30am.

Less than 10 minutes later, we saw the doctor RUNNING by the waiting room. She called to us, “Come on, I think she’s delivering!”

As we ran into the room, I heard a nurse say, “There’s the head!” and I grabbed my camera and got this amazing capture:

Time of birth: 8:40am. Less than 20 minutes from when we were asked to leave the room for the epidural and she was holding her baby! And it was a GIRL - which she could not believe! She had been convinced that this baby was a boy the whole pregnancy. So it was quite a shock for her to hear the word GIRL in the midst of the chaos! The moments after were a mix of relief and shock and pure, unadulterated joy!

The baby exam and meeting her siblings was so much fun. Vivian was the sweetest thing and her siblings STILL didn’t know if she was a boy or a girl - so we put her in a gender neutral green wrap just to keep it a secret a little bit longer! Her big sister was hoping for a girl and her big brother was hoping for a boy. So we knew it was going to be interesting to see their reactions!

When he heard the word “GIRL!”, he turned and walked right back out the door! HA!!

Even though he wasn’t happy to hear that he had a sister and not a brother, he quickly fell in love with her and these two were just the sweetest things ever!!

So, now you can see how much of a whirlwind Birth Photography can be! It’s a delicate balance to be on call, ready to head out the door at a moment’s notice, judge with the information given when it’s time to meet a family at the hospital, trusting your gut, and know what signs to look for to know that delivery is imminent!

Welcome to the world, Vivian! You are so, so loved! <3

Here is the story from Sarabeth’s perspective:
I was 2 days past my due date when I woke up in the middle of a very painful contraction. I didn't think much of it because I had been having painful contractions for weeks that never went anywhere. I even woke up about 1 am that same night with contractions but they had stopped after a few minutes on my birthing ball. When I rolled over to get out of bed to go to the bathroom I felt a weird popping sensation. I immediately thought my water broke but when I stood up I didn't feel any water dripping. I walked a few feet to my bathroom and as I squatted down to the toilet I felt a gush of fluid come out. At this point I was pretty sure my water had broke but was still questioning it but I yelled to my husband and then got in to the shower. I hadn't had any other contractions since the one that woke me up so I didn't think I was in labor but I wanted to go to the hospital to get checked just in case it was my water. While I was in the shower I called my mom to come over to watch our other kids, I told her not to rush that we had plenty of time. 10 minutes later my contractions were 5 minutes apart and intense. I called my mom again and told her change of plans to get there now. She was at our door and we were in the car heading to the hospital less than 10 minutes later, my contractions were 3 minutes apart by this point. It was a 25 minute ride to the hospital, and by the time I was dropped off at the door for him to park the car my contractions were on top of each other and I couldn't talk or breathe. When we walked in to labor and delivery all I could get out was "lots of pressure" and when they asked me what number birth this was I held up the number "3" one of the nurses said "let's go" and rushed me in to triage. I was hooked up to the monitors and checked, I was only at a 4 which is where I had been for 2 weeks. I kept saying that wasn't right that what I was feeling was further along but the nurse said that's because I was at 0 station and I was feeling pressure from the head. The baby's heart rate wasn't where they wanted it to be and I had to stay in bed until the doctor could check on me. This was very frustrating for me because I had wanted a natural birth and felt the need to walk around. I was admitted and taken to a room. The doctor came in a few minutes later and said the heart rate wasn't coming up and even though my contractions were on top of each other they weren't doing what she wanted either and I may need to start pitocin. We changed positions a few times and tried a peanut ball but at this point she thought maybe an epidural would be the best to relax me to get the heart rate up. I was still feeling pressure so they checked me again and I was still a 4. I agreed to an epidural. Not 10 minutes later the anesthesiologist was there and I was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had asked everyone, including my husband to leave. There was an emergency so the anesthesiologist had to leave but was supposed to be right back. Almost immediately after sitting up on the edge of the bed I felt the need to push. I told the nurse and she said I needed to lay down to be checked, I told her I couldn't move. She walked out, I'm assuming to call the doctor. I don't remember lying myself down in the bed, but I must have because as soon as I did I felt my baby's head between my legs. I started what I thought was yelling help over and over but apparently I wasn't very loud because my nurse came to my door and asked if that was me saying something. I said “I need to push!”, she ran over and said "I see the head, whatever you do do not open your legs" and ran out. I could feel the head coming out more and my body involuntarily pushing. A bunch of people came running in and my baby was born seconds later, I wasn't sure who was there or even if my husband made it in. He later told me that he was sitting in the waiting room on his phone when he saw the doctor running down the hall and he followed after her thinking that she was being a bit dramatic until he walked in and saw the head coming out. He made it to my side just as she was coming out. My baby was placed on my chest and an embarrassingly amount of time later the nurse said "well do you want to know what the gender is?" My husband was the only one to know the gender and he was supposed to announce it. Everything happened so fast and I was in such shock (and honestly I was 100% sure it was a boy) I didn't even think to ask. My husband announced that "it's a girl" and I remember immediately sobbing, shocked was an understatement. Vivian Rowe was born at 8:40 am, exactly 3 hours and 10 minutes after my first contraction. I went from 4 to 10 cm in 10 minutes. No time for an epidural!