The day I stepped into alignment as a photographer ✨

For years... Literal years, I have been daydreaming of one day photographing a home birth. Coming from South Africa, it's not something that is often done or widely supported. It's still very much taboo in most circles. Coming over to Australia, it feels like I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Home births seem to be more predominant, supported and accepted.

How did I meet Aleisha? I slid into her DMs and we got chatting! She was 30 something weeks pregnant and was planning a home birth for her third baby. After feeling like she was not fully supported at her first hospital birth, she decided to have a home birth for her second child, and again now, a home birth for her third child. She trusted her body, and had a strong voice to advocate for herself.

When we first met, we shared birth stories, our hopes and dreams for the world of birthing, diving into hynobirthing, birth affirmations, and plans for baby's arrival.

At 10:14am on Sunday, I got the call from Aleisha's mum, to say that she was in labour and progressing quickly. By 10:40am, I was outside Aleisha's home, with a big sign written on the door "home birth in progress, do not disturb". You know, for the nosey neighbours! I left my shoes at the front door and tiptoed down the passage. I opened a curtain mid-passage and quietly snuck in to the most ambient room covered in a wall of fairy lights. Blinds were all closed to create a dark, warm setting. It was divine and cosy.

The mood was quiet and serene. Aleisha was in the zone. Already in deep active labour. And I was a fly on the wall. Gentle hypo birthing recordings and birth affirmations were playing in the background. Friends, family and siblings gathered around, waiting in anticipation for the new arrival.

With each surge, the baby drew closer. The midwives were pacing up and down, refilling the birth pool with hot water, regularly monitoring baby's heartbeat, and unobtrusively checking mum's progress with a mirror underwater. Clever!

After just a few contractions after my arrival, baby came out with ease at 11:29am. Her eyes gazing in the distance, but not yet crying, or making a sound. Baby's heart rate suddenly dropped and the room filled with a different energy. 'Call triple zero!' yelled Aleisha, with a shrill of panic in her voice. It was in this moment that I somehow knew in my heart and soul that the baby was going ok, and I didn't doubt that instinctual feeling for one second. Dad got on the phone immediately. I kept on documenting throughout.

The paramedics were on their way, and the midwives did an excellent job at keeping calm and getting to action. Tears were shed around the room with uncertainty. Within no time, baby's heart rate returned to normal, and baby started peering around the room with a wide eyed gaze.

Aleisha got out the pool, getting ready to deliver her placenta, and hold her baby. "It's a girl, Reece!", she proclaimed excitedly. The paramedics rushed in within a few minutes of the call, not knowing the full situation. The midwives assured the that the baby was now stable and ok. The paramedics waited at the front door for the rest of the duration of my time at the home, just in case.

Baby started feeding, and not long after, the placenta was delivered. Dad held baby in his arms, with the placenta still intact for delayed cord-cutting, while Aleisha lay back against the pool, having a rest and taking everything in. Drained from the birth, she needed to restore her energy with hydration solutions.

The paramedics came into check once more, encouraging Aleisha and baby to go to hospital. But mum and dad felt they needed a bit more space and time. The paramedics still stuck around the front of the house.

Dad cut baby's cord, and held her on his bare chest for some skin to skin bonding. I left them in that moment, so they could rest, bond and restore.

Such an eventful morning! I managed to still made it just in time for a family Sunday lunch at 12:30pm - Conveniently 5 mins down the road.

My heart was full. What a privilege it is to witness something so pure and raw. A new life entering this earthly realm. An unsure calling to my craft, answered in this moment. The one thing that holds me back from this is the part where you potentially have to be on call two weeks before the due date, and a week or two after the due date. Morning and night. A team of photographers maybe will be the answer to this predicament? Who knows what the future holds, and who knows if it would be a feasible thing to pursue. But all I'm saying it that I'm here and I'm ready and waiting to capture more transitions onto earth side, however that may look ❤️✨ Maybe I'm over complicating this, as, I definitely didn't complicate things with this birth, and it flowed perfectly.

After Aleisha received her sneak peek gallery, she messaged to say:

I can't even begin to express how much it means to have these beautiful images! You are incredibly talented and a freaking ninja! I have no idea how you got some many beautiful shots of such a terrifying moment, but I am so glad we have them.

We have named our little girl Olive Elaine Duce.

Thank you for being there, it was an incredibly intense and fast birth and glad my mum was able to contact you. I'd love to catch up soon, so you can meet Olive.

Thank you so much! So incredibly grateful that we connected."

MUM's Birth Story

This will be a LONG Post!

Our beautiful little 'Beanie' is finally earth side.

We welcomed Olive Elaine Duce into our arms at 11:29am Sunday 30th July at 41+3.

3888g

33.5cm head

54cm long

My biggest baby yet!

*WARNING* Some of the images shared are confronting.

Firstly before I begin my birth story I have to mention a few very special and important people.

Firstly Reece Duce, thank you for doing absolutely everything I yelled for during labour and since giving birth, you've made this week alot easier for me.

Secondly my incredible midwives from New Life Midwifery, Alexandra Midwife & Trish. I cant even begin to express how grateful I am that you were there and able to assist our beautiful girl to breathe on her own and stay calm & keep me calm, those first 9 minutes felt like eternity. The way you held space for me as the emotions released and have continued to be there for us everyday since giving birth and adjusting and helping with our girls ties and latching. There are not enough words in the world to express my gratitude. You are truely special and amazing

To my photographers:

Bestie Zoe Rowe-McQueen! The images you've captured are truly beautiful and I'm so glad you were able to make it in time and be there for

Astrid Saker Photography the images you captured are beautiful and so raw and I'm beyond impressed you were able to capture such a terrifying moment in our journey in such a beautiful way. I hope you continue your journey to photograph homebirths. I love our sneak peaks and can't wait for the rest of the gallery to come.

To my diamond sista Bee Jay , thank you for arriving so quickly and so glad you were able to be there to witness your niece being birthed. I know you did so much on the day, helping in every way you could!! to help me eat and drink and watch over the kids, clean up the mess that was left and just help space for me as I needed. I know you did a million things on Sunday and just know I'm so grateful for all of it!

To my mumma Michelle Westaway . I'm so glad I called you when I did!! I'm glad you were there. Thank you for holding space for me, for being so incredibly loving and supportive for calling the photographers and helping in every way. Thank you for staying the night to help us monitor our baby girl. Having you here gave me so much peace of mind.

To Megan & her team of paramedics. Thank you for being so prompt and patient! Your smile at me when you realised you didn't have to resus a baby was magic!! So grateful for your patience and helping us to arrive at hospital safely. What you guys do is incredible!!

****Birth Story****

If you don't want the details scroll on!

My active labour was 2hours and 2mins, which 32mins of that was birthing my placenta. Olive was direct OP, which means she was spine on spine, I didn't know this till she was birthed. I knew that baby was deep in my pelvis and pressing against my cervix for at least 2 weeks, I assumed I would birth quickly as my other labours progressed pretty quickly also.

Sunday morning 41+3. I woke with some lower abdominal cramping and needed to pee... Yet again! But didnt think much of it as I'd been having prodomal labour for 2 weeks and I still had no signs of losing my plug, as that was what kicked off my last 2 labours.

I got up and got showered and ready to take Tilly to the vets for her 8am appointment . We dropped the kids off at Nana & Poppy Duce's on our way and I'd had a few more lower abdominal cramping but they were short and not so bad. I'd messaged my family letting them know I was having cramping and lower back pain and that I'd let them know if anything ramps up.

While at the vets they asked to keep Tilly for the day and while sitting there the cramping length increased and we declined to leave her there for the day in case I was in labour.

Around 8:45am we were back at Nana & Poppy Duce's to collect the kids and I had a few intense surges while there! Told Reece to drink his coffee, we gotta go! While walking to the car, I got an intense surge and hit the footpath on my knees.

As we pulled up at home I told Reece, I'm going for a shower, my lower back was now starting to hurt consistently and the surges were intensifying. I messaged my mum and sisters at 9:10am as I walked inside and told them that things were intensifying and that they could make their way out if they wanted to, thinking baby was ages away.

While in the shower, things really intensified again and I was on all fours yelling at Reece to get my birth comb to help with pain distraction. I asked him what he was doing and he said cleaning, told him to F**k the cleaning and get the birth pool ready! Thankfully it was already blown up from the week prior when I thought labour was kicking off. So he started filling it and I lost my hot water in the shower. In that moment I had the urge to release my bowels and once I did that the pressure in my pelvis increased and deepened. I called my mum to let her know that things were happening and to hurry up!

9:30am: I was on all fours on the bathroom floor when Reece asked if I had called Alex yet, I said no not yet, I had txt her at 9am but hadn't been able to check my phone as the surges were intense. He called Alex thankfully she was only 10mins away at the clinic and not at home on this Sunday morning! My whole body was shaking, with the force of my surges, I said I didn't need her yet, I was ok. Alex gave Reece 3 examples of if A, B, or C happen to call her back, I just remember Reece asking me to let him know when I was having a contraction. I remember rockong on all fours on the bathroom floor sand yelling out a few times that I was having a contraction. Reece was a busy bee, trying to fill the pool and deal with the kids. By 9:50am he was back on the phone to Alex letting her know that I was progressing fast and she was on her way.

Reece had finally filled the birth pool and I got in and it was cold but I thought it was because I was feeling to hot!

Mum arrived just after I got in the pool and I could only manage a few words at a time. Mum asked what she could do, I asked her to call the photographers, thankfully I'm a list person and somewhat organised and had their numbers on the list.

Mum made the calls and started organising anything else, while making a cup of coffee, my midwives arrived, soon realising that the pool was well and truly to cold and that we were out of hot water! The mad rush to boil water from the kettle, thermomix and all the pots!

Alex took a few photos as she could see I was progressing fast and concerned my waters would break and my photographers would miss the birth, all while reminding me to breathe, sink into it and reading my affirmations to me, while rushing to bring the pool up to 36°.

I could hear Finley asking questions, and a few voices around me but I was so deeply in my own space and relaxed, I was unaware of all the people around me. I was unaware that my sister and neice had arrived and that both my photographers had made it.

Alex asked me to change positions to allow more room for baby and I tried the positions she asked but I needed to get my right leg up and out of the way. Once I did this baby decend and I had my bloody show and shortly after this my waters broke. I had meconium in my waters but was unable to move, Alex said she could see baby's head and I just breathed with each surge, Alex said to me I could reach down and touch babys head as they were sunny side up, the surges were so intense that I was unable to move, by the time surge ended I went to reach down to touch baby's head but she was already out. Alex was working on unwrapping her cord from around the back of her neck.

11:29am she was birthed!

I lifted her out of the water not yet realising it was a girl, I was just so happy to see our baby! She came up out of the water fine, arms out stretched and good tone, within 30 seconds she started to lose tone and went floppy in my arms. Alex was behind me as I lifted her up and seen her colour change and asked me to lay her back and started giving her some air, after a few puffs, she asked me to move her to the edge of the pool and she let out a big cry and then went floppy again, a few more puff of air and Alex asked someone to call 000 and for me to get out of the pool, we needed her on flat surface, I leaped of out the pool, no assistance, baby in my hands.

Reece called the paramedics and left the room, my sister started throwing towels on me and then grabed the kids. I didnt realise any of this at the time as the world had faded away and it was just me, baby and my midwives in a little bubble. Thankfully her cord was still pumping and baby had a good heart rate, Alex was asking me to keep rubbing her to stimulate her and talking to her, Alex continued to give her air, Trish continued to listen to her heart rate, which dropped a little bit. She finally gave a breath and a cry and started getting tone back. I finally looked and realised we had a baby girl! I turned to Reece and said we have a daughter as I was able to pick her up and give her a cuddle. This was the longest 9 minutes of my life.

A few minutes later the paramedics came rushing in and the look on Megan's face was pure relief as she realised baby was ok and dint need to be resuscitated. I sat on the floor and was just overwhelmed with joy that our baby was fine. Our street turned into a car park with 2 ambulances and the doctors SUV. I am incredibly grateful for QAS and how fast they arrived. They arrived within 7 minutes of the start of the phone call. Divine timing that they were headed through Yamanto at the time of the call and flew up the highway to us!

The attention then turned to me, I needed to birth my placenta and I was bleeding more then I had with my other 2 births. Trish sat with me on the floor and helped bring me back into a relaxed state and concentrate on my surges and to birth my placenta, I knew before my birth that I had a Hb level of 101 which was low. Alex was out speaking to the paramedics and ducked back in to check on me and could see that Trish had the situation handled. Soon after Alex and Trish assessed my blood loss and Alex asked if I wanted the cintocin injection to help speed up my placenta and help manage my bleeding. I agreed as during my continued care and appointments with Alex, we had discussed what could happen due to having low HB level. I agreed to the injection and birthed my placenta not long after. During my placenta birth I was starting to feel faint and dizzy, hot and cold.

One of the ambulances stayed as we had agreed to take our baby girl to the hospital to get checked out by a pediatrician.

It took me, what felt like hours to be able to move to get to the shower, I was so depleted and suffering incredibly painful after birth pains. I was fed, given pain killers and drinking electrolytes. I tried a few times to get up off the floor with the help of being lifted and supported and every time I was lifted, I felt like I was going to black out and was put back down again. By 1:30pm I was still unable to stand and sat on the floor a little longer and decided to crawl to the shower.

Once in the shower I was left alone for a few minutes and I was overwhelmed with emotions and the thought that we could have lost our daughter, along with a million other emotions that flooded over me. My mum walked in and comforted me and Alex came in also. She wanted to do my bloods and give me an IV to help rehydrate me.

I soon crawled from the shower to the bed where I was hooked up to a bag of fluids, fed more food, released more tears and emotions. After about 30mins in bed I was able to stand and get dressed and was helped to the ambulance stretcher in the garage.

About 2:30pm we left home and headed to hospital I am so grateful for the team of paramedics that waited till I was well enough to move myself as they had called ahead and arranged for us to go straight into the birth suite, avoiding ED.

We spent roughly 3 hours at the hospital having little Olive assessed and we are so grateful to be released that same day as I was struggling with after birth pains and just wanted to be home with my family.

We were home by 6pm and my beautiful mumma stayed with us the night to help monitor our girl in case anything happened with her breathing.