On October 19th at 11:23pm, a sweet angel baby boy was born

This first time mom. Her devoted husband. Grandma. Their birth team. Two doulas. The nurses. Everyone supported this amazing warrior mama so much through her very first baby’s hypnobirth which started intensely in labor and delivery security check in, progressed through to her labor room shower and finally resulted in them meeting their sweet boy.

This mama spent her pregnancy energy focusing on hypnobirthing, concentrating, focusing, calming, relaxing, embracing every wave of labor that was to come.

Her team knew how important an unmedicated as natural as possible birth was to her and her husband and they did everything to support and encourage her through every contraction closer to meeting her son.

She arrived in labor and delivery with her husband and her doula from Orchid’s Nest. She breathed and relaxed and let her muscles melt as each new wave of labor crashed over her body. She had prepared to do j-breathing during this earlier part of active labor, a breathing technique that is used during labor to help release (soften) your pelvic floor which gives your baby the space to move down the birth canal, effectively shortening labor.

The simple steps to J-breathing is

inhaling through your nose
hold your breath for a moment if you want to work with a natural surge (contraction)
exhale through your mouth while focusing on your baby moving down and up into your arms
and when you are ready to repeat, repeat at a slow pace
try to visualize the breath traveling down your body and out your bottom
remember: it is absolutely okay and expected for j-breathing to be very noisy

I loved witnessing her focus despite the bright lights of the hospital, the noises, people asking her questions. It was evident she had practiced this amazing focus her entire pregnancy.

She held onto her husband’s back as they traveled from the lobby onto the elevator and upstairs to their labor and delivery room, while her doula supported her back for those intense contractions.

It’s vital that you mentally prepare yourself for when you arrive at your labor and delivery room, you will need to spend about 20-30 minutes back ridden in the hospital bed while the nurses get a tracing on your baby’s heart rate and your contractions before you are able to move freely during labor. While I am not 100% sure if this rule can ever be deviated from depending on your obgyn or midwife, I have seen every client (except those already crowning when they get into their L&D room) have to go through this process. It is vital when your goal is hypnobirthing and unmedicated birth, to not let this medical intervention break your focus through your visualization of your baby descending so you can continue laboring your baby down once you move through this stage.

As soon as my client was able to get out of her hospital bed, her other doula from Orchid Nest, Samara, arrived and quickly stepped in to give my client even more support. The room’s vibes and energy shifted from ‘hospital admittance’ to sacred birthing space.

My favorite photo from my client’s labor is where she is leaning over her hospital bed, with her husband and her mother at her side, and both of her doulas at either side of her, doing the double hip squeeze and the photo is from above. I think this photo is the epitome of supporting the mother and the baby through their journey earthside.

To do a double hip squeeze to relieve the intensity of pressure during labor on the back, having the laboring mom position herself comfortably either sitting, standing, leaning over a bed or ball like my client or on all fours. Place your hands on her hip bones in a W shape and with your thumbs pointing toward her spine. Ise the heels of your hands to squeeze and rotate toward the center and up slightly toward the shoulders. Hold the pressure for the duration of the contraction, and slowly release.

They slowly moved over to the shower where my client used the natural resource of the warm water from the shower to work through what ended up being final stages of labor.

At one point during a surge, it became clear we could see the very top of baby’s head. But remember, with many (and often most) first time moms, there is still a pushing stage. Not all (and not most) first time baby’s quickly slide out so this isn’t always the case of a precipitous delivery, though its important to prepare as if it were so baby is caught (delivered) in a safe manner.

She emerged from the hot shower and baby boy was crowning

She made her way to the delivery bed

As soon as she was on the hospital bed, almost simultaneously in this moment my birth photography client’s OBGYN, Dr. Arcelin, from Women’s Health Partners in Boca walked into the delivery room…

…and with a few pushes, sweet boy was born onto mama’s chest.

You were such an inspiring warrior mama. You are such a strong woman. Your doulas and I were so incredibly proud of you! And your husband was your steadfast rock. If he was nervous at all, we were never able to tell. Your constant and relentless encouragement and being at her side was awe inspiring.

And her team... Her OB Dr. Arcelin of Women’s Health Partners, her amazing doulas Elle and Samara from Orchids Nest. She had the dream team. But then again, everyone at Boca Raton Regional Hospital comprises to make a dream team!

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Words from the mama:

“I am still in shock and awe at what God can do. My pregnancies have been very difficult, from Aaden's loss to complications with Brooklyn's birth (both ending in c-sections). I always dreamed of having a VBAC, a birth without complications, where I could just enjoy my baby. This was it. Having the support of Boca Midwifery made all the difference."

“Everyone was patient with me and my concerns and considered my history. I couldn't ask for more. I had the best support and birth team I could ask for. Everyone was patient with me and my concerns and considered my history. They truly listened to my fears and desires for this birth. Having a midwife and doula who understood my previous c-sections and supported my VBAC journey was so important. I couldn't ask for more. Thank you to Lisa Raynor, my doula, Courtney McMillian, my midwife at Boca Midwifery, Paulina Splechta, my birth photographer and filmmaker, and of course my husband, David. I literally could not have labored nor survived this pregnancy without you." - Jocelyn

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When I first met Jocelyn, I felt an instant connection. Hearing about her previous c-sections really resonated with me and learning of the heartbreaking loss of her baby, Aaden, forged a deep connection between us.

I understood her journey on a personal level, having experienced two unplanned cesareans myself with my babies and neither of my births went as planned.

But Jocelyn had something I didn't: an incredible birth team that included a midwife, doula, and her birth photographer. Seeing the support she had from Boca Midwifery, I was excited to see how her labor would unfold. But I was also a little nervous for her, admittedly, and felt like we all needed to pray together that this mama would be able to experience a healing VBAC after her loss.

I was so excited for her to experience a VBAC and to meet and hold her baby immediately, and I knew it in my heart that this could only happen with Boca Midwifery. They understood her medical history and they cared for her the entire pregnancy, but it was a delicate journey Jocelyn had been on, from experiencing the loss of one of her children and complications with her daughter Brooklyn's birth, and I was anxious to witness the birth of baby Riley. I didn't know if we would witness her having a vaginal delivery or if we would have to go into the operating room. I feel the entire labor and delivery staff was rooting her on at Toppel Family Place (The labor and delivery unit of Boca Raton Regional Hospital in East Boca [off of Glades Road, just east of I-95]).

A lot of birth workers uncover a deep passion for their work due to their own emotional and personal history, and with me, it is completely true. Originally, I wanted to test the waters four years ago when I photographed my first birth. But once I captured that birth for my client, I knew this is where my heart belongs and its become so much more than photography over the last four years.

In all this time, four years, I had never witnessed a vaginal delivery after TWO CESAREANS. I had attended many VBACs (vaginal delivery after cesarean) with Boca Midwifery, Women's Health Partners, Dr. Skeete down in Ft Lauderdale, and vbac home births with midwives Gelena Hinkley, Sandy Lo, Mary Harris. But I had in all this time never seen a mommy successful deliver a baby vaginally after having two previous c-sections. And the reason I haven't before seen a vbac after two c-sections is not entirely that the trial for a vbac after two csections failed with previous clients. It's not that at all.

Pros & Cons of VBAC

Many people question the safety of VBAC, but reading through legitimate, backed medical research (such as mayo clinic, cleveland clinic, and going just straight to the National Institute of Health and combing through the latest VBAC research studies, you will see that is merely a myth, and so it begs for us to discuss the pros and cons of VBAC. I do hear a lot of people saying why would you want to go through a vaginal birth if you could just schedule a smooth and calculated repeat c-section.

I will urge you to pause and view this interview I did with Dr. David Lubetkin, who partners with Midwives Courtney, Nikki and Ryan at Boca Midwifery, where I ask him about the pros and cons of VBAC. I think if you are a mom in south Florida and you’ve had a c-section before, and would like to know whether you qualify for a Vaginal Delivery with your next pregnancy after your previous C-section, it’s good to hear from the OBGYN who’s practice has the highest success rate of VBAC in Palm Beach County and Boca Raton:

It's that often times the mommys who have had two csections stay with their provider who automatically schedules a repeat third csection for them with their third delivery. These moms are simply not aware of the option to try for a vbac after two c-sections. No one has even told them that its physically possible to achieve. And what the benefits to having a vbac are instead of scheduling a repeat cesarean. Most of the vbacs I have documented in my four years as a birth photographer here in south Florida have been moms who had a c-section with a practice (sometimes traumatic, physically or on an emotional level) and change practices, hoping for a more positive, empowered and supported experience for their subsequent pregnancy to a practice heavily experienced in achieving safe and successful VBACs. Many of my VBAC birth clients with Boca Midwifery have exactly this story.

As Jocelyn's entire birth team stood around her during her final pushes, I thought to myself, "this is happening, this mama is going to meet her baby right now"

I felt the tears begin to swell up in my eyes, I tried to hush them and focus on capturing this incredible moment. I stood near mom's shoulders, making sure that her midwife was blocking any angles that would prevent Jocelyn from being able to share photos from her birth story with her family and friends, I looked up at Jocelyn and her husband David, they were smiling at each other, at their doula and midwife, at me. Their doula, Lisa Raynor, was proudly beaming a smile back at them and at me. Baby nurse Donna was eagerly waiting to meet their sweet baby, also wearing a proud smile for mama. Her midwife, Courtney McMillian, was focused and positive and their nurse Peggy knew this moment was about to happen.

This moment would contribute to the shift in the change of the world's view of birth. A successful vbac after two cesareans for Boca Midwifery, for the labor and delivery staff at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, but most importantly, a footprint in the history of birthing women, showing them, that with the right support and birth team for your pregnancy, skilled vbac professionals who have a great deal of patience and success rates, a vbac after two csections is possible.

Knowing this fact, it put chills on my back.

Knowing that maybe someday, I too could experience a vbac, after my two unjust csections with previous providers and birth teams who had failed to support and encourage me in the ways I needed.