As a birth photographer, I am aware that babies do their own thing, come at their own time and follow no set schedule. Babies can come early, late or at a supposedly scheduled time! A couple of months ago I experienced something super amazing, stressful, exhausting, and incredible. I had a scheduled induction happening, and that same morning, a twin mama whose birth I was also capturing went into labor! I stayed in contact with both moms, getting dilation updates, and communicating about what stage of labor they were each in. Dalila, my singleton mama was induced, and her labor escalated faster than Kristoin’s, my twin mama. This is how my evening went!
4:30 PM -
Dalila let me know she was at a 5, so gathered my stuff and headed to St. Mary’s. She had already gotten the epidural, and was hanging out in the room with her mom and cousin! Her contractions had slowed a little, and she was still dilated to a 5, so we just had to play the waiting game! For the next few hours, we passed the time by working, sleeping, or doing word searches. At one point, Dalila wanted her hair put into a bun and while her cousin tried his very best, he gave up and I took over! Wearing my own hair in a bun 90% of the time definitely gave me the skill to help there! Dalila’s partner wasn’t able to make it to the birth, but she was still included! They facetimed for a bit, before Dalila tried getting some rest. Her labor had stalled, and contraction were no longer consistent.
8:00 -
Dalila had to make the choice about getting a C-section. Her lack of progression was a concern for the Doctor and Dalila took some time to talk with her care team, as well as her mom and partner and they made the decision to go ahead with the C-section. Her family took the time to pray, and then she was wheeled to the OR while her mom and I gowned up and waiting to be brought back to the OR as well.
Baby Skylar was born a little after 8pm, and the doctors were quick to reassure mom that she made the right choice to get a C-section. This baby had folded herself into mom in such a way it took a couple of nurses applying counterpressure and a doctor carefully dislodging baby girl to get her out of mama! She came in to this world ready to stretch it out and be free.
She is absolutely perfect.
At 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 inches long, Skylar was a chunky little thing, with a beautiful head of hair! She was weighed, measured, and cleaned up, while mom was getting stitched up, and I was able to capture some of her gorgeous features! She was then swaddled, and mama finally got to meet her sweet baby.
Meanwhile -
Throughout the night I had been getting updates from Kristoin about the progression of her labor. She went to labor and delivery around 1-2pm, and was around a 4-5cm dilated. Her contractions were intense, but her labor progressed slowly. I left St. Mary’s at 9pm, and went straight to Highland’s birth place where Kristoin had just received her epidural. When I got there, she was laughing with her husband Cory and the nurse, and was still at about a 5.
For awhile we played the game of hurry up and wait. Rush around getting everything ready and then wait, since we have already established babies don’t follow any schedule and they arrive when they want to! Kristoin’s plan was to have a vaginal birth, but with twins, she would need to give birth in the OR room, just in case. Towards the end of the night, or early in the morning some would say, Kristoin’s labor increased in intensity. Even with the epidural, she was feeling the contractions and the nausea was hitting pretty hard.
It was early morning when it was finally time. She was dilated to a 9 and it was time to move to the OR. Because it wasn’t a C-section, Cory and I were not required to wear the full gown, and instead just had to wear a cap and booties! Kristoin was wheeled off, and we joined her in the OR shortly after
It was finally time to meet the boys! Baby A, Lincoln came first, with a short umbilical cord so Dr. Bellman wasn’t able to place him on Kristoin’s chest, but Dad was still able to cut the cord! Baby B, Jensen came a few minutes later, and he was able to hang out on mama’s chest while dad cut the cord! Because both babies were early, they did need to be checked asap. So they were whisked to the warmers.
Baby A, Lincoln was doing great, breathing on his own, and chill as can be, but Baby B, Jensen needed a little help, so the care team gave him some oxygen. Both boys are beautiful and perfect. They were born at 34 weeks, but were good sized little dudes!
Lincoln was: 6.8 pounds at birth
Jenson was: 5.13 pounds at birth.
It didn’t take long before finally, they were able to be wrapped up and mom was able to hold both her boys outside of her body together for the first time.
This was such an amazing experience. I’ve captured a good amount of babies being born to this world, but it was pretty magical to see it happen and document the journeys for 3 babies in less than 12 hours. I left that hospital around 8am, exhausted, hungry, and so proud to have been invited into the delivery room of two amazingly strong women, to document their birth story.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Birth is my absolute fave!