The Birth of Sunny

I turned down a country road just as the sun burned through the last whisps of a thin cloud. The sunlight rolled down the whitewashed asphalt and filled the cabin of my van as I tried not to accelerate into an outrageous speed.

22 minutes out. Nicholle’s last message was only two words. Hardcore here. Things seemed to be picking up quickly. I arrived to The Birth Center with waves of adrenaline crashing into me. One deep, long breath before opening the door and walking back to her room.

Such stillness. You could hear Nicholle’s own deep breathing just barely above the sounds of her playlist from her iPhone across the room. She was fully in transition now and had arrive only minutes before I had. The pool wasn’t even filled, but we she was working through her contractions with a practiced peace of an experienced mother.

I hadn’t met Nicholle in person until this moment. And I approached the tub with all the joy and excitement of hundreds of hours of birthing attendance puts into you. Small smiles escaped her as her husband Jacob tried to be her everything. Every word of support, every breath of contentment, every release of pain. Their love was evident and their connection palpable as I watched them. Nicholle commented later that she felt she was falling in love all over again in these moments.

The waves of Nicholle’s contractions crashed in stronger and stronger as her baby rapidly began descending. She leaned forward to rock again on her hands and knees, Jacob murmuring words of encouragement like a constant flow of positivism. Within moments, she exclaimed her baby’s head was crowning and with the help of her midwife, Nicholle reached into the water and brought Sunny to her embrace for the first time.

There was this serenity that just blanketed itself over all of us. Sunny was an exceptionally quiet baby and she was totally content in her mother’s arms. We all marveled at how beautiful she was and the hair she had as the tub slowly drained away the last evidence of Nicholle’s hard work. She easily transitioned to the bed while Jacob held his daughter skin to skin.

Nicholle commented the best part of birth is this singular moment postpartum of reveling in your own body again. Blue late afternoon light flooded in from the window as she eased into the real bed at the birth center. She enjoyed these few moments to herself as a singular being again before initiating breastfeeding and the hours and days and months to come of snuggles.