Home Birth of Tyler Rose, Philadelphia PA Photographer
How do I begin to express the incredible moment when a new baby enters the world, a birth into an amazing family surrounded by support and love. It was beyond an honor to be invited in to Jon and Sharon's home birth to document their third daughter enter the family.Late Sunday night I got a message from Sharon that her water had broken, midwives were on their way. A few hours later I heard from Jon that contractions were four minutes apart and they were walking around the neighborhood to "chase the baby". I met up with these two as they were circling the block behind their house, running into neighbors, and joking in between contractions. Sharon told me later that they thought baby would be out by midnight, but that's the thing with babies, you just never know. And, apparently third babies are wild cards, all bets are off!Sharon and Jon labored through the night, and we waited. Around 5am I gathered in their bedroom with home birth midwives Kate and Tyler from Rising Moon Midwifery. These women were a great team, and created such a peaceful, calm, safe space. Jon was an amazing support for Sharon, right there for her the whole time, giving comfort and encouragement at all the right moments. Seeing them work together to bring their new baby into the world was one of the most inspiring things I could ever have hoped to witness. Even in the deepest throes of labor, this incredible, strong mama never lost her focus. The air in the room almost seemed to stand still as she breathed through each wave of effort. She wanted dad to catch the baby, so along with Kate, Jon reached down and helped bring their child the rest of the way.And in that moment, I wanted to say all of the words and couldn't find any words that could possibly be enough. Their brand new baby girl had made the journey into mom's arms and everyone took that deep breath of relief. I was crying right along with dad, it was such an unbelievable moment. Grandma had been downstairs watching over the two older girls, but made it into the room after she heard the third cry to meet her newest granddaughter. After the placenta was delivered, Dad got to cut the cord, and then a few quiet moments with his new baby girl while mom got "the best shower of her life".
Even though I've done this twice myself, nothing could compare to watching a woman summon all of her inner power to birth her baby. I will forever be grateful to Sharon and Jon for inviting me in as a part of their intimate home birth team, and giving me the honor of creating these photos of the incredible moment that Tyler Rose joined their family.Rachel Utain-Evans is a Philadelphia Lifestyle and Documentary Maternity, Birth, Newborn and Family Photographer. If you're interested in capturing your story, please be in touch!