If you have spent any time in the birth space… whether you have children of your own, or you’re a doula/birth photographer/midwife/nurse etc… you know that birth can be really unpredictable.

Some moms labor and deliver quickly.

Some can take days.

Some can have false labor for weeks (hi it’s me) and then have long labors, or short ones.

Others are induced either by choice or out of medical necessity… which was the case in the story I’m about to tell. And some can have zero progress for a long time and then deliver a baby quite rapidly.

Enter Julie. Julie hired me to document the birth of their second baby after finding my website on Google. We connected quickly and moved forward in the booking process. I first met Julie and her husband and son for her studio maternity session at East End Loft. All of my birth clients receive a complimentary maternity session and it’s something I’m so happy to gift to my clients. I do this to allow us to meet before baby’s birth day, while also giving them the benefit of beautiful maternity photos to remember their baby by.

A few of the maternity photos, because they’re just so gorgeous!

So anyways, the week of 2/10 rolls around and my boys are down and out with what I suspected was the flu. High fevers, body aches, lethargy, some snot and coughing but clearly miserable. Legit the first time they have been this sick maybe ever, and the first tie we’ve had anything more than a little snot this year. Of course, that morning, Julie texted me that she was being induced that morning – cue some anxiety from me and a little indecision on what I should do… whether that’s leaving the boys with my husband or calling in my amazing backup Mariah Treiber.

The day continues and Julie is keeping me updated… not a lot of progress is happening in labor and things are s l o w moving. 9pm rolls around – they’re going to break her water and contractions have finally picked up a bit. I knew it was about time for me to head in, as this is Julies second baby and things can move pretty fast after waters break. My youngest was being a little velcro baby and that evening I was pretty confined to the nursery rocker, doing skin-to-skin with a very feverish, miserable boy. I text Mariah – Mariah heads to the hospital and arrives around 10pm.

I know this is kinda boring and slow so far, hang in there with me.

Around 2am I receive a text from Mariah. She was at Magee for a few hours and progress was slow, and the nurses and doctors finally declared Julie to be in active labor. The nurses didn’t think anything was going to happen for the rest of the night, and Ryan and Julie were going to settle in to sleep. I give Mariah the all clear to head home around that time.

3:38 rolls around. Another text, this time from Julie that her contractions picked up and she’s starting to feel a little pressure on her bum during some of the contractions. My family is asleep, so I roll out of bed and start getting ready to head to the hospital, not without accidentally waking one of the boys and needing to settle him back down for a little while.

A little while later, I get a text, baby arrived.

Literally my worst nightmare as a birth photographer – MISSING THE BIRTH.

I emotionally beat myself up the whole way to the hospital. I was so upset that I didn’t arrive in time, until I found out what actually happened once I talked to Ryan and Julie.

It was 3:45am. Ryan, Julie’s husband, was asleep on the couch. The nurse was adjusting some of Julie’s monitors. Julie lets them know she’s feeling pressure off and on, and the nurse says to let her know when the pressure is constant OR when it’s about 6am, they’ll check her again.

Y’all. At that moment, guess what happened.

Without pushing, without pain, without ANYTHING.

Baby girl comes shooting out onto the bed.

Ryan is still asleep. There are no doctors in the room, just Julie and her new baby and the nurses who just dismissed the pressure she was feeling.

LOL.

So anyways, I arrived about a half hour after she was born (I think? idk. It was the middle of the night), and captured some really sweet postpartum pictures. I’ll see them again in a few days to document some newborn photos – I offer this to all clients when I miss the birth. Thankfully, I’ve only needed to do this once.

Big thanks as always, to some of the best and sweetest clients I’ve ever had – can’t wait to see you soon Julie + Ryan!

If you’re an expectant mom in the Pittsburgh/Western PA area, contact me to document your birth! Hopefully I won’t miss yours like I missed Julie’s. 😉