I knew right away that mom and I were a great fit for this Tacoma newborn baby’s first photo session.  I created a woodland organic vibe with lots of neutral and just a touch of fall color based on the information mom shared with me after booking her photoshoot. I was excited to see that she mentioned a critter headband or hat….I was able to use the cutest squirrel headband from The Dainty Miss, one of the amazing local artisans I regularly shop for special props to accent my tiny subjects.  It was a dream having Sadie in my Sumner studio and I look forward to seeing her back again as she grows this year. Mom was also kind enough to offer sharing her birth story with us; continue on below for my favorite pictures and this Tacoma homebirth story.

Preparations for a second child was a lot how people describe it compared to the first. I was much more laid back, letting things fall into place rather than wanting everything to be perfect. My first birth was a lovely and empowering waterbirth at The Birthing Inn and I hoped for a similar experience for my second. I wanted things to be as easy as possible for me during labor and we also wanted to have a very intimate experience for this sacred event, so we chose to have our baby at home. As my “due date” approached I had everything ready; birth pool, freezer meals, my son’s old baby clothes washed, house cleaned. The only thing that wasn’t ready was my baby. Each day that my baby was “late” was harder than the day before. But I am firm believer that babies come on their birthdays so I tried to remain patient. On Saturday, October 8^th my patience was wearing thin so I went on a long walk by myself and for the rest of the day I just relaxed. It felt wonderful to forget about not being in labor and to just have fun with my husband and our 2-year-old son.

At 9:30 that night I had a few strong contractions while nursing my son. They felt pretty regular so I asked my husband what time it was, “9:48”, then I asked again, “9:51” then “9:54”. Annoyed, he asked me why it mattered exactly what time it was. I told him I was having contractions 3 minutes apart and I think they might be REAL contractions.

Over the next few hours my contractions increased so I called my birth team and had my husband blow up the birth pool. All I wanted was to get in the pool so my husband started boiling pots of water along with filling it with the hose. At 3:15 am my water broke. At that time the energy in our home was incredible. I was entering transition and it was just my husband and I there. At 3:30 my photographer arrived. She was amazing at calming me down all while taking photos. It made me feel good knowing she had had 4 homebirths herself and knew what I was going through. My midwife arrived ten minutes later at 3:40 am and asked my husband if he was ready to catch a baby! It was happening and quick!

I firmly believe that a woman’s body will put itself in the right position for the moment during birth and I definitely experienced that. I felt my legs walk my body over to the birth ball in the middle of the living room and I got on my knees and leaned into it. My midwife started putting chux pads under me and I thought, “What are you doing? I’m not having my baby here!” I wanted to get into the pool, but it wasn’t filling up fast enough. I remember hearing my midwife ask my photographer if she could keep time of the birth, she agreed. For a second I realized she wouldn’t be taking photographs if she was timing and I was a little upset but just then the midwife assistant came through the door.

My contractions were extremely intense and back to back now. I had my hands locked in my husband’s through a few more contractions before my doula arrived. I remember looking ahead and seeing the oxygen tank and an infant mask sitting before me and my NRP training as a postpartum RN at St. Joseph Medical Center suddenly flashed in my mind. I quickly pushed that out of my head and looked back at my doula. I was feeling so much pressure and my body started pushing at the end of contractions. I reached down and felt my baby’s head which gave me so much motivation. One more push and my baby was born at 4:04 am. I did it!!! I couldn’t believe how quickly and how beautifully the birth went! I just held my baby and my husband and I stared at our little bundle for almost 15 minutes before we finally looked to see if it was a boy or girl. Throughout my pregnancy I felt so strongly that I was pregnant with another boy, we even had a name for “him”. Surprise doesn’t even come close to describe how I felt when I saw it was a girl!! She was so beautiful. 8 pounds and 4 ounces of perfection. I’ll never forget the look on my husband’s face. He was so happy. Later my husband went to get our son. He had slept through the whole thing. It was a magical moment. I had both my babies together. I had SO much love for my family. My birth team made our couch into a cozy bed and tucked us in to let us snuggle with our new little treasure.

Later that day we talked about what we would call her. For years my husband had always said how much he loved the name Sadie. And as I watched him hold his baby girl so sweetly I said, “OK her name is Sadie. You can have your Sadie!” We named her Sadie June Bird.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!

If you are interested in scheduling a photo session for your newborn baby, I highly recommend booking during your second trimester to ensure availability.  Find out all the details HERE.