I’m a little behind blogging this home birth in Baltimore. All of my births have been hospital births so it was very exciting to finally do a home birth. Laura called me the day before her due date if I remember it correctly. Her doula had referred her to me. (Her doula is was very soothing to her during the birth and kept her calm and energized. If you would like her contact info please email me or you can find her on her Facebook page, The Best Birth Possible.) I told Laura to let me know when she was at least 5cm. We live about 30 minutes from each other. Her husband, Francis sent me a text to let me know that things were progressing a bit faster and I should probably come. It was the longest 30 minute ride of my life. I hoped to get there before baby arrived and I admit I ran a few red lights to get there. No one was on the road, no worries.
I arrived around 9:30pm and there was a lot of waiting. First babies in my experience take the longest be born. Laura was doing wonderful but her water hadn’t broken so at 9cm the midwife broke her water and a few hours later baby girl Vanessa was born. The birth team and I were all talking about how small Laura was during her pregnancy and we were trying to guess the birth weight and we were all wrong. She was a chunky 8lbs even. Her little cry was so precious. I caught myself wanting another baby for a few moments. Photographing a birth can do that to you.
Thank you Laura, Francis and Miss Vanessa for letting me be part of your family beginning. Congratulations to all of you!
Enjoy the photos everyone. I warn you there is placenta photo, lol. And all midwives have been blurred for privacy reasons. 
