Hannah was an OB resident at GW Hospital when she delivered her first daughter. She knew she wanted to remember her experience - her inquiry to me stated: "One thing I always try to tell my patients is that birth is beautiful, no matter how it happens or whether it goes according to "plan." Yes, it's also raw and challenging and sometimes devastating, but it's beautiful."
And beautiful it was. She texted me at 8:18am to let me know she was in labor and 4cm dilated/80% effaced/-3 station. Just 2.5 hours later I got this text: "I'm fully dilated. Holy shit."
I'm not sure I've ever made it to GW as fast as I did that day. Thanks to a lovely epidural and laboring down, she hadn't yet started pushing when I arrived.
Sweet baby Charlotte arrived not long after I did...and Hannah got to catch her own baby. It was an absolutely stunning moment.
The following few hours were so full of love, snuggles, and LAUGHTER that it was like breathing in oxytocin and getting a high from it. This was a birth I don't think I will ever forget.
The Birth of