Born With Midwives at Abbott Mother Baby Center Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota | A Preview of a Unmedicated Induced Birth in Photographs — Gather Birth Cooperative | Unrivaled Doula Support and Artful Birth Photography in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota

This sweet baby decided to come one month early. As a doula, my job is to pivot wherever birth needs to go and help the family I’m supporting feel grounded and safe.

I got an early morning phone call saying her water was broken but contractions hadn’t begun yet. This family had planned on birthing at Roots Community Birth Center, but being a month early required a change in birthing location to the hospital.

I came to the hospital during the early decisions of their induction and to help them feel more grounded and settled amidst this huge shift of plans. The plan was to get a good meal in, start pitocin, maybe sneak in a nap before labor picks up and I’d come back in a few hours.

Once I got back to the hospital, it was only a couple more hours before this sweet baby literally flew out of his mother’s womb. He was born, unmedicated, in the same hands and knees position she birthed her older two babies. This time under different circumstances- preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and medical induction (pitocin).

Shortly after birth, the team recognized their baby needed respiratory support. I remember feeling so proud of my client for feeling well enough to walk over to the warmer to create more time touching, kissing, bonding with her baby before he was transferred to the NICU. Moments that aren’t usually offered to the birthing parent- but she claimed them for herself and her baby. He spent 8 days in the NICU/ICC but now is home growing and thriving with his family.