This post is part of Birth Week being held on my blog and on FB. See information at the end of the post about how to enter the giveaway for a ticket to Birth Without Fear’s Minneapolis Meet-up on August 16th, 2014.

It is am amazing feeling when a past client tells you they are pregnant again and invites you back for the birth of their next child.  This mama hired me again so early on in her pregnancy she hadn’t yet found out that she was having twins. When she did find out, my role in the birth was up in the air. Would she be having a c-section? Would I be allowed into the OR if that was the case? The one thing that was for sure is that this mom was committed to trying to have her girls with as little medical intervention as possible and communicated this to everyone along her journey.

We waited and waited and waited. Amazingly these two girls stayed put for over 39 weeks and were head down. Things were looking good for mom to be able to avoid surgery. The only thing that stood in her way was getting through the induction process the midwives and doctors determined was needed.

Mom went into the hospital on a Thursday, just two days shy of 40 weeks, to start the induction. Fast forward to Saturday morning when I started to get updates that mom was at 6cm and having productive contractions. I was tempted at the 4am-ish update to head on in, however it had taken 2 days to get to 6cm, so no one was thinking it was time for me to come. Then came the urgent message at 5:40am; mom was at 9cm and feeling “pushy.” My heart sank as I drove as quick as possible to the hospital. I knew I was going to miss at least part of this birth. . .

Sure enough, the first little girl was born about 10 minutes before I arrived in the OR (typical for twin births in case baby B needs to be born by c-section). The first two pictures in this essay were taken by the doula, Jess Helle-Morrissey.

When I arrived, baby A (Mary), was on mom’s chest working on nursing. Everyone assumed baby B would be arriving shortly and were preparing her for arrival. Two hours pass with mom laboring and no baby B. It was decided that since it was now a “singleton” birth, that mom could go back to a normal hospital room to have baby B with the midwives present instead being in the OR with the doctors and midwives.

Just over five hours after her sister was born, baby B (Emma), was finally here! Mom had succeeded in having her girls without need of an operation. Both were well over 7 pounds each and healthy. It was a beautiful thing to witness this birth playing out the way mom planned and hoped and prayed. Much love and congratulations to this family!!

The Birth Without Fear meet-up is coming to Minneapolis! I’ll be capturing it along with two other talented birth photographers (Peace Love Babies and Jennifer Liv Photography), so we’re celebrating with a giveaway!

All three of us are giving away two Basic tickets (1 each to 2 winners) to the Birth Without Fear meet-up, and you can enter by following Birth Week. You can gain multiple entries to the contest by heading to my blog every day this week and following the instructions at the bottom of the post to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want more entries? You can see their posts, and enter their contest here and here.

I am so excited to blog about this birth! Twin home births are fairly rare in Minnesota, so even though I was really wishing I could attend and document one, I wasn’t holding my breath. So you can imagine how I felt when this couple invited me to join their fairly large team at the birth of their twins.

I got the call on a cold December evening. When I arrived, mama was doing great in the tub. Baby Hazel was born at 2:12am weighing 7lbs 4oz followed shortly by her brother Harland at 2:18am weighing 7lbs 8oz. Everyone was healthy and happy. Kudos to the awesome birth team headed by midwife Victoria Edwards and included midwives Jennifer Freeman Hall, Aly Folin and Kate Saumweber Hogan and doula Gabrielle Hurd.

Here’s a little peek of a sweet pair of babies just four weeks old! Some time in the NICU prevented us to being able to do this sooner, however it is so nice that everyone can be home together now. Many thanks to this beautiful family for having me out for photos. More beautiful pictures of these two to come!

When I first heard I was going to be photographing triplets – I just didn’t even know what to think. It is hard enough sometimes getting one child to cooperate at a photography shoot, not to mention three under the age of one! However this family couldn’t have been any nicer or more relaxed. And the babies – well they were as cute as could be as so cooperative. . . until the end! =)

Many thanks to this wonderful family for having me come and photograph their special little ones!