It started last Friday evening, casual and cozy, with Joel, Yolanda, Bianca, then Becky. Henry and Noah and Eric, too. The moon was a pregnant crescent with a star below it.
Joel repaired the piano bench I had broken earlier in the week. 
With the support of Bianca and our two chosen companions I labored at home till 4:00 a.m. Then we drove to the hospital.
Transition was amazingly hard. And amazingly amazing. 
Anna Kate was born at 6:23 a.m. on Saturday, February 28, one week past her due date. Pushing her out was one of my life's most unforgettable experiences.
Welcome, Anna Kate, 8 lbs. 4 oz., 19.5 inches long. Your birth was everything I had hoped for: a safe, loving, natural VBAC. No meds, no external fetal monitoring, no interventions, made possible through Mystery, a supportive husband, an i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. doula, dear friend/sisters, the prayers of dozens and dozens of people. Made possible by my body, made to do just what it did. Made possible by you, Anna Kate, because you made your way through. Welcome, welcome, welcome!
My gratitude to Yolanda for taking all these photos to help me keep those thirteen hours of labor and the following moments in my heart and mind. Being the clergy person I am, I can't help but paraphrase a favorite verse of mine from Ephesians:21Now to the One who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to You be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
7 comments:
what a beautiful account of anna kate's birth. congratulations to all!!
the picture of your beam is just who you are.
thank you for sharing these images....every part of me has been waiting.
i will read this again and again.
and you still make the same sweet face you did when you were a kid (tongue sticking out)... how adorable is that!?!
beautiful, beautiful post.
Libby
Maybe because I'm all filled up with pregnancy hormones myself, but this just made me cry. What joy! What deep, great joy. Congratulations to you and warmest welcome to Anna Kate!
Welcoem Baby! Well done Mama, you look radiant and powerful with your transition mouth OM open!!
My VBAC changed my life! I became the woman I wanted to be at that moment...I was born.
Oh, so happy for you.
Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Thank you for sharing your photos and your experience, very touching. The quote is just perfect.
Ooooh, I'm so happy for you! She was born on the same day as my Dad and Kristin's Naomi. I must knit something, but what??? I'll figure it out. Hope I get to meet her next week when I'm in Newton.
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