I got the message that Katie and Josh were ready for me to come and document the birth of their sweet girl on the evening of February 9th. I arrived to their farm in the country just before 9:00 p.m. and got straight to work. Of course Katie had already been hard at work... for 15 hours. I watched Katie labor in water and on land for hours. It was expected that her daughter would arrive at anytime. So myself along with her attentive husband and wonderful birth team (doula, student midwife and midwife) stayed close by while we waited.
Katie's birthday is February 9th and we thought there was a good chance that her daughter would arrive before midnight. But, as we all know birth is unpredictable. Midnight came and went. On February 10th we joked that this little girl must have wanted a birth date all her own... sharing was just not an option. Katie was incredible to watch. Strong and positive as her body did the hardest job it would ever do. She labored throughout the night and early morning...
When the sun came up the morning of the 10th I teased Katie that her daughter must understand how important these photos would be and decided she would wait for better lighting to make her appearance. We watched the sunrise over Josh and Katie's property and we each spent some time encouraging this little girl to make her arrival. "Come on baby! It's your birthday! We can't wait to meet you!" Katie had been laboring for 26 hours by the time the sun rose that day.
By the afternoon of the 10th baby girl had still not made her appearance. Katie made the decision to go to the hospital hoping that an epidural would allow her body to relax enough for her little one to finish her journey. She had been laboring for just about 36 hours by the time she had her epidural. She is a warrior.
After 10 more hours of pushing at the hospital - Katie and Josh decided that they had tried everything they could to get their little one out and it was now time to proceed with a Cesarean.
We later found out that when Katie's water had broken her baby had gotten stuck in a funky position - and there was no way she would have been able to come out vaginally.
Adabelle Rose Miller finally made her much anticipated appearance at 4:44 a.m. on February 11th. Almost 50 hours after Katie's first contraction.
Watching Katie labor was an honor. She is undoubtedly one of the strongest women I know. She worked so hard and made all of the right choices for her and her daughter and at the end of two VERY long days she finally got the prize she had been waiting for.
Welcome to the world, Adabelle.
You are so loved.
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