On a warm February morning, I received a message from Gini to say that the day had finally arrived. Her baby had chosen his birthday, albeit a little later than she was expecting. The midwife was on her way but driving from a distance away meant that she wouldn’t arrive for at least an hour and a half. I had a feeling that this birth might be quick and I wanted to ensure Gini felt supported so didn’t waste any time getting out the door.
I crept into the house to find Eli racing around getting the birth pool filled and Gini expertly working through her surges. Thankfully Eli’s Mum was also on hand -as Gini’s waters broke it was becoming increasingly evident that this baby would be arriving before the midwife. I tossed the camera aside to bucket hot water into the birth pool and stopped to hold Gini’s hand when I noticed her unattended for a moment. Her baby’s crowning head was in her other hand so I just smiled and reminded her to keep her baby under the water as it emerged. But she knew what to do anyway, her body knew, it was already happening.
With no time to check camera settings or warm towels or make any kind of plan, everyone stepped into their instinctual roles and baby Brooks swam into the hands of his family.
When I started out in this work, my whole purpose was to show the world what birth could look like. What birth CAN look like! Gini showed us all that morning not just what birth can look like, but also the postpartum moments when birth is undisturbed. Take it in. K. X