09/08/2026
She arrived at exactly 40 weeks, after labour began the night before. Almost 6lbs, looking directly up at us as she arrived, born back to back, with her face looking towards her parents.
Her mama moved through labour with movement, sound, breathing, TENS, biomechanics and the birth pool. In those final stages, before the powerful instinct to push took over, she rested.
By then it was around 3am and the energy in the room had changed. She lay on her side, supported through each contraction.
For this mama, the contractions themselves were completely manageable. What she hadn’t been prepared for was the back pain, waves of intense pain that seemed to arrive after the contraction had finished. It was, by far, the most difficult part of her labour. No position, movement or change of environment seemed to ease it.
Until she began to push.
One of my favourite moments came at around 4am.
We knew we were getting close. I’d called the second midwife to join us and, before the final stages began, we paused for tea and honey bagels (accidentally made on onions bagels 🤔)
Of course, the contractions didn’t actually pause. Mama was deep in her own world, bringing her baby down.
But there was something about that moment.
A gathering.
A refuelling.
A quiet reckoning before the next great effort.
Her baby took an enormous amount of determination and will to bring into the world.
And when she arrived, she needed a little time and support to make the transition from womb to world.
We gave her inflation breaths with a bag and mask, kept her skin-to-skin with her mama and left her cord intact.
Her daddy was holding her mama, and her mama was holding her.
(Cont. in comments)
