I met Kristal when she had reached out to me for a home birth for her fifth child. She had had 3 previous home births and a hospital birth so this was an easy decision for her and she was excited to get started! Kristal had a beautiful pregnancy and did so well taking good care of herself, baby and her kiddos even while being so busy! Towards the end of her pregnancy, Kristal received some difficult family news. This news made a significant emotional impact on her pregnancy and made Kristal’s mother worried about preterm labor (though Kristal knew she’d be fine). Emotionally Kristin coped so well as she prepared for the arrival of her sweet baby. She had had all her previous littles during the 39th week of her pregnancy so you can imagine the shock when we saw each other at 40 weeks and 2 days in the office! She talked about how that day had been the one month anniversary of her difficult family news and she did not want to have baby be born on that day if she could help it but wouldn’t mind the next day because it was her grandmother’s birthday! We all kept our fingers crossed and knew we would soon meet little one!
Tuesday came and went and on Wednesday at 40 weeks and 4 days, I received a text from Kristal letting me know things were progressing and she would be ready for me soon. I decided to wait just a tad longer to come but at 5pm, I received a call that her water had broke and I needed to come now! Now I was regretting my decision to wait and worried I wouldn’t make it to the birth even! I raced to Fountain praying I wouldn’t get pulled over and that baby would wait for me, and when I arrived at 5:30pm, I was relieved to find Kristal still pregnant and laboring well! Both she and baby were doing great and I had the privilege of sitting back and watching as she and her husband worked so well together since they had done this a time or two! Eventually, the urge to push set in around 6:20pm and Kristal began to give it her all. I gave very minor coaching instructions as Kristal delivered her baby’s head since she knew what to do and was rocking it! I jumped in briefly to help Kristal with baby’s shoulders since there was a slight delay but then they freed and I let go so dad could catch and give baby to mom! Little one was SO tangled in her cord and I helped dad unwrap it from her arm and body while she recovered from her fast water birth! Little Gabrielle was born at 6:32pm weighing in at 8#12oz, Kristal’s biggest little yet!! She was so sweet and so good to her mommy and daddy! Welcome to the world sweet princess, thank you for allowing me to be present for your quick birth!