"Hearing him cry was like music to my ears and in that moment my heart healed a little bit more.
This birth changed me, I felt like I had achieved what I had always imagined, dreamed, and hoped for. I felt so empowered and proud of myself! "
MAMA: Monique Martin @monique__martin
Photographer: @georgiarogersphotography Georgia Rogers Photography
Obi’s birth was one of the most healing things I’ve ever accomplished, it healed so much pain and heartbreak in one moment.
The birth of our first daughter was a long 36 hour labor resulting in an emergency c-section from this my fear surrounding birth started. We then 2 years later went on to have our second daughter who had an extremely rare severe heart defect which meant we had to say goodbye before we were ready to. The weeks leading to her birth were extremely hard and I just wanted to close my eyes and wake up at the other end. Her birth was a vbac and although the emotional pain of birthing her and not getting those first moments was incredibly painful, the process from first contraction to her birth was a powerful experience.
I was 6 days late for my period and from the second I saw those two positive lines to the moment I held him in my arms felt like a life time of waiting. His birth was so incredibly healing for my husband and I on so many levels. I had preterm labor scares at 32 weeks and spent 7 days in hospital and every niggle from then on out felt like the ‘is this it’ moment. That was until one night at midnight I woke to use the bathroom and it was finally time! I started timing my surges and decided to wake my husband 30 minutes later to call our incredible midwife. When she arrived to check me, to my surprise I was already 5cm. This gave me confidence and reassurance I was ready to take this on. I wanted a homebirth, however my cervix decided it wasn’t going to go past 6cm. This was gut wrenching for me as I spent most of my active labor with my first at 6cm and no more. I decided to head into hospital, where once I arrive my midwife broke my waters, letting baby come down lower and sit on my cervix and help me dilate.
The pain was getting unbearable and I opted for an epidural as I was getting tired and wanted to have the energy to push.
I had my epidural and fell asleep, when my midwife next checked me I was 9cms. My midwife then began to stretch my cervix which finally got me to 10cm. For a moment it looked like I wasn’t going to get there.
I relaxed, practiced my breathing techniques, and began to push. 30 minutes later my beautiful rainbow baby boy of 9 pounds 7 ounces was born into my arms!
Hearing him cry was like music to my ears and in that moment my heart healed a little bit more.
This birth changed me, I felt like I had achieved what I had always imagined, dreamed, and hoped for. I felt so empowered and proud of myself! Welcome to the world my rainbow blessing Obi - meaning heart. Sent from his sister in heaven.
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