Elizabeth booked me to capture the birth of her first baby. When she was in her third trimester we jumped on a virtual call to discuss her birth plan and she told me she wanted to have a natural birth. I was so excited for her and gave her all the detail on what and when to communicate with me when she goes into labor.
If you’ve had a baby before, you know that birth is UNPREDICTABLE! They give you a due date but you never really know when your baby is going to come. With my birth clients I am “on-call” and ready to go at the drop of a hat from 38 weeks until the baby is born. Babies can be born in the day time, in the middle of the night, and even on HOLIDAYS!
Elizabeth’s due date was 12/20 and she told me that had a gut feeling that she might go early. Her due date came and passed and we were both getting anxious with excitement. I go to bed Christmas eve and wake up to a text saying that her water broke. I told her to keep me in the loop on when she goes to the hospital. Once she gets to the hospital they keep me updated on her dilation, station and effacement so I can gage when to go to the hospital.
I arrived to UPMC Harrisburg Hospital around noon and she was 8cm dilated and 100% effaced. She was being given Pitocin and still working through labor all natural, like a CHAMP! Elizabeth was doing great and she had amazing Labor and Delivery nurses supporting her and advocating for her. She was able to successfully birth her baby boy naturally, 3.5 hours after I arrived.
Meet Shane David, born on Christmas day
