A Birth Story: Ava-Rose Kamaria
It was the evening before the Snow Moon when Katarra and her assistant Jessica came over for dinner and a prenatal check-up. During dinner contractions that had mildly started the day before intensified and we all knew that we would probably see each other later that night. Parting ways, we all secretly hoped that the night would go well, as this was a VBAC and during the first birth, I had excruciating hip pain in between contractions.
After Katarra and Jessica left, my husband, my 22-month old son, and I went to bed. An hour later, at 11 pm, I had to leave the bed and move to the kid’s room, to not wake anyone up because the contractions got stronger, and the hip pain slowly but surely got ahold of me. I labored by myself trying to rest in bed. At 1 am, I woke my husband up and told him, that I could not handle the pain by myself anymore. He timed the contractions and called Katarra immediately. At 1:30 am Katarra and Jessica showed up with all their gear in tow. Shortly after, Breann, another midwife followed them. Now, there were four adults and one screaming woman in a tiny kid’s room. This did not bother any of us, in fact, while Katarra and Breann set everything up, Jessica moved things around to where we could all comfortably fit in the room. At this point, I was already standing up because I could not handle laying down during active labor and pushing due to my hip pain. While the whole crew supported me, the clock kept ticking, the Snow Moon had passed its peak and before we knew it, it was 3:30 am. The hip pain got stronger, yet I still really wanted a homebirth. This is when Katarra told me, she could already see our baby’s head. She assured me; the baby would be born within 30 minutes. I confirmed if this was true. She affirmed and so I kept pushing with all the energy that I had left after laboring for two hours standing up. 10 minutes later, our precious baby girl saw the light of this world for the first time. Shortly after, my son woke up, walked into the room, and exclaimed full of awe: “Baby!”
Katarra, Jessica, and Breann made sure, we, as a family, were able to bond and have time with each other, while at the same time ensuring our baby’s well-being. Before we knew, it was 7 am, the house was put together, I was showered, the bed was made, a night had passed, nothing seemed like it had changed, except for the fact that we were now a family of four. The Snow Moon that had accompanied us throughout the whole night was still high up in the sky when the midwives drove home. It was a magical night during which our baby girl, Ava-Rose Kamaria (Bright as the Moon/Moonlight) was born! And as we were sitting around the kitchen table, my husband exclaimed, he could finally understand why families want to have homebirths!
It was the evening before the Snow Moon when Katarra and her assistant Jessica came over for dinner and a prenatal check-up. During dinner contractions that had mildly started the day before intensified and we all knew that we would probably see each other later that night. Parting ways, we all secretly hoped that the night would go well, as this was a VBAC and during the first birth, I had excruciating hip pain in between contractions.
After Katarra and Jessica left, my husband, my 22-month old son, and I went to bed. An hour later, at 11 pm, I had to leave the bed and move to the kid’s room, to not wake anyone up because the contractions got stronger, and the hip pain slowly but surely got ahold of me. I labored by myself trying to rest in bed. At 1 am, I woke my husband up and told him, that I could not handle the pain by myself anymore. He timed the contractions and called Katarra immediately. At 1:30 am Katarra and Jessica showed up with all their gear in tow. Shortly after, Breann, another midwife followed them. Now, there were four adults and one screaming woman in a tiny kid’s room. This did not bother any of us, in fact, while Katarra and Breann set everything up, Jessica moved things around to where we could all comfortably fit in the room. At this point, I was already standing up because I could not handle laying down during active labor and pushing due to my hip pain. While the whole crew supported me, the clock kept ticking, the Snow Moon had passed its peak and before we knew it, it was 3:30 am. The hip pain got stronger, yet I still really wanted a homebirth. This is when Katarra told me, she could already see our baby’s head. She assured me; the baby would be born within 30 minutes. I confirmed if this was true. She affirmed and so I kept pushing with all the energy that I had left after laboring for two hours standing up. 10 minutes later, our precious baby girl saw the light of this world for the first time. Shortly after, my son woke up, walked into the room, and exclaimed full of awe: “Baby!”
Katarra, Jessica, and Breann made sure, we, as a family, were able to bond and have time with each other, while at the same time ensuring our baby’s well-being. Before we knew, it was 7 am, the house was put together, I was showered, the bed was made, a night had passed, nothing seemed like it had changed, except for the fact that we were now a family of four. The Snow Moon that had accompanied us throughout the whole night was still high up in the sky when the midwives drove home. It was a magical night during which our baby girl, Ava-Rose Kamaria (Bright as the Moon/Moonlight) was born! And as we were sitting around the kitchen table, my husband exclaimed, he could finally understand why families want to have homebirths!