A Precipitous Indianapolis Birth — Indiana Birth Photographer

I met with Tricia when she moved to Indy pregnant with she and her partner’s first child. After meeting with her, I gathered a better sense of why she preferred to birth at our local birth center, Sacred Roots Midwifery. She expressed having experienced previous trauma at a hospital that left her feeling uneasy with birthing her baby in a hospital setting - reasonably so! I was to be her doula, and that was so exciting since she was one of my first clients after obtaining my doula certification and training. As time went on, Ophelia grew and grew. Tricia was feeling good in her pregnancy with no concerns of any complications. We had a lovely summer session out by Eagle Creek and it was gorgeous. Peep some of them below!

One day towards the end of their pregnancy, Tricia let me know that her waters had broken and that she was heading to the Birth Center to confirm. When she got there, she told me that they immediately transferred her to the hospital because there was meconium in the waters. This means that the baby had passed a bowel movement in the womb. Birth centers and some home birth midwives transfer births where mec in present in the waters for extra precaution in case the baby needs extra care after birth. Tricia was nervous, but also in full blown labor at this time, so on they went. They drove as fast as they could, parked in the front of the entrance and wheeled Tricia in. When I arrived, Tricia appeared to be in transition and near pushing. With the help of nurses, we soothed her into pushing her baby out. Ophelia was born within minutes of my arrival! It was definitely a whirlwind, but thankfully their hospital experience was far less traumatic than expected. Once we all took a breather and Ophelia was safely earthside, I ran to the entrance of the hospital to move their vehicle into a proper parking space before someone decided it needed a tow! I couldn’t imagine having gone through a precipitous birth of your child to find that your vehicle was towed in the process! We all had a good laugh about that.

One takeaway from Ophelia’s birth for me was that sometimes birth doesn’t always go to “plan”, as loose at that plan may have been. Even though Tricia and her partner, Brandon wanted so badly to birth out of hospital, their in-hospital experience helped them realize that not all hospital staff lacked caring for their journey. Birth is sacred and should be cherished as such, by anyone and everyone involved in someone else’s story!