Rin’s Birth

I virtually met Erian about a week prior to her birth.

She was my doula sister’s client, I was just her back-up, but what do you know, I ended up being Rin’s Birth doula.

After providing emotional support via phone, I arrived at the hospital around 10am. Rin had her birth altar set, airpods on, breathing her way through each surge. As I added my sparkles to the birth space (the diffuser with essential oils, adjusted the lighting and added candles) Rin bounced around on the ball and we established a loving foundation for this brand new birth experience. We went over her previous birth a bit and were able to throw out some of those fears/heavy feels.

As she read her affirmations and took deep, slow, inhales, I began to soothe the tension out of her head, neck, and shoulders. The scent and cooling sensation of the therapeutic grade peppermint essential oil relaxed her muscles and the tension began to melt away. The birth alter was moved to the eating tray, as it was portable and Rin wanted the flexibility of laboring in different areas of the room. She relied heavily on the words and images she began to connect to earlier in the pregnancy.

The show ‘Friends’ played low in the background as her husband Tim and I shared some laughs and snacks.

Rin came out of the bathroom visibly more uncomfortable- I knew labor was progressing nicely. She had already expressed how much healing touch and loving affirmations are extremely helpful to her, so Tim and I tag teamed on providing soothing touch, counter pressure, affirming, distracting, and fiercely loving on this mama.

By the sounds mama was making, her body language and her verbalizing some doubt about her ability to continue, I knew she was in baby boy would be earthside soon. The staff came in, and it was ‘go time.’ Rin was the most polite laboring mama I’ve ever seen! Everything she was offered was “No, Thank You” and “Yes, Please”. With a few good pushes, this beauty brought her son into her arms, happily and unmedicated.

Through this experience, Rin was able to meet a new version of herself, more empowered than ever.

*These images were taken on an iPhone, as they weren’t actually from the Birth Documentation package where I use my professional camera equipment.*