Birth of Baby Wiley - Puget Sound Birth Center - Kirkland, Wa

Meet Wiley. After a quick labor, she was born into the water at Puget Sound Birth Center on her father’s birthday!

I met them very very briefly at their house just as they were collecting the final things and jumping into the car to head to the birth center. All Wiley’s older siblings ran out to say goodbye to mom and give her belly one last hug.

After approximately 30 mins at the birth center and 2 mins of pushing she was here! Covered in so much birthday frosting (vernix) that it ended up all over mom and dad too.

Just after she was born her grandmothers (her middle-namesakes) and great-grandmother arrived to greet her as well. It truly felt like a birthday party with so much joy and oxytocin flowing in the room.

Wiley Amara Laurie Havanec
July 8, 2024
7:29 pm
8 lbs 4.5 oz
21” long

SNEAK PEEK BIRTH PHOTOS

Birth of Baby Waylon - Puget Sound Birth Center - Kirkland, Wa

Birth of Baby Ronan - Puget Sound Birth Center - Northshore Midwives - Kirkland, Wa

The Birth of Baby Ronan

Lara so graciously wrote out her birth story to share. Together she and her husband Aaron welcomed baby Ronan at 1:09 am on March 24, 2023, his due date! He weighed 8lb 11oz. Here is her birth story in her own words:

I'm a planner; I wanted so badly to know what day I would get to meet the little hitchhiker my husband and I picked up in Norway last year. As the due date approached, I fully expected to go days over it, maybe even a week, maybe two. On the evening of May 22nd, just 30 hours from his due date, I started to feel some light cramps while I sat working on the 3000 piece puzzle I hoped to finish before the baby arrived. I ignored it and let Morgan know before going to bed that night but I wasn't so sure that it was actually labor. Through the night the cramps kept coming; they weren't painful, just bothersome enough to make it hard to sleep so I took a bath at 2am and then went back to bed to get as much sleep as I could. Around 5:30am I awoke and the cramps were still coming and going but more regularly now. I decided to time them for an hour or so and notified Morgan again since it seemed this might actually be the real thing and spoiler, it was!

I labored at home all day, my husband helping me however he could - overall, it was pretty manageable. It was so helpful to be able to text with Morgan and get reasssurance and advice throughout the day. Our midwife Sadie asked us to come in to the clinic to get checked around 6pm to see how things were progressing. I was shocked to learn I was dilated to 5cm already since to that point the contractions were pretty easy to manage. On her advice, we went home and waited for the contractions to get more intense. Morgan came to our house around 8:30pm and by that time I was needing a lot more focus and support to get through the contractions. My husband was holding my hand, applying couterpressure, and helping support my belly from behind through each one, which really helped take the edge off the intensity. Morgan timed the contractions and advised that we start heading to the birth center. I was nervous about the car ride but I was able to use the TENS unit which definitely helped.

Once at the birth center I was excited to get in the warm tub and, dang, did it feel good to be in the water! Morgan set up a fan to keep my face cool and handed me a spiky ball to squeeze, which made each contraction bearable. Soon after getting in the tub I felt my body bearing down and I felt like I needed to push. The only problem was that I was only 8cm dialated and my water hadn't broken yet. To keep things progressing, Sadie broke my water on the bed and then Morgan had me do sidelying releases through three contraction on each side. Despite feeling the need to push I had to blow through that urge so I didn't damage my cervix. This was the hardest part. I remember my husband's calm support as I tried to mentally stay above the waves. I don't remember thinking much, I was just doing and focusing on being relaxed, open, and in control of my mind when my body felt out of control. I felt a tinge if exhaustion and desperately wanted to get back into the tub so I asked Sadie to check me again. To our surprise, I was fully dilated and the babys head was decending!

It was now about 1am on May 24th, our baby's due date, and I got back in the tub and I was allowed to push with my body. The knowledge that my baby was almost here reinvigorated me, I was smiling, the water felt good, the pushing even felt good. I got to look into my husband's caring eyes and sqeeze his hand. Soon I felt the head crown and with the next push it was out! But, there was a problem: the shoulder was stuck. The midwives instructed me to get out of the tub and I did. Kneeling on the floor next to the tub I prayed a simple, quick prayer that the baby would come out ok. I felt the bones and my midwife's hand and with the next push the baby was out. The relief was euphoria - I didn't process that the baby was dark purple or that it hadn't cried yet. I look down and saw my son laying below me and then, a cry. He was perfect and healthy and I felt wobly but well cared for and accomplished.

Our little family laid back on the bed and I breastfed my son for the first time as Sadie delivered the placenta. We could breathe and bond and be proud of our healthy son and the work we and our team put in to getting us all to this moment safely. While the birth wasn't perfect, I feel all the ways I wanted to feel about it. I felt capable, heard, cared for, and free to be in-tune with my body. I am so grateful to Morgan for preparing us so well for the birth and for supporting us every step of the way through it; and for Sadie our midwife from Northshore Midwives, who showed us such a high standard of care and professional competency through preganacy, birth, and the postpattum recovery. I am also so grateful to have the experience captured so beautifully in Morgan's photos, they are treasures to me.

Midwife: Sadie Whitten of Northshore Midwives
Birth Location: Puget Sound Birth Center


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Sedona's Birth - Puget Sound Birth Center - Kirkland, Washington

Sedona’s Birth Story

A quick progression and arrival

Amelia’s two previous births were both very punctual so when her third baby went past 40 weeks, each day felt like a huge waiting game, but as we all know babies come when they are ready.

I received the first call a little before 5am from Amelia saying she thought she was in early labor and that her contractions had woken her up. Able to talk just fine on the phone, I told her to keep me posted. However, I was suspicious when she told me her contractions woke her up, so after hanging up I changed into my dart-out-the-door clothes and laid back down. But not for long. Around 5:30am she called again saying things were picking up and they were going to start getting ready to go to the birth center where I would meet them. Again, she could still talk through her contractions, but trusting her body she knew things were moving swiftly. I made some hot tea and waited by my phone for the cue to leave. She texted me one final time at 6am saying they were headed out the door and she couldn’t keep on top of her contractions. Off to the birth center we all rushed.

Since I live only about 10 minutes from the birth center, I arrived before her and waited in the birthing suite with the midwives. A few minutes later Amelia and her husband Ryan arrived. Amelia slowly worked her way down the hallway through each contraction. They quickly filled the tub for her as both her husband and midwife took turns applying counter pressure until the tub was ready. Her husband turned on her playlist as she continued to labor. Once the tub was ready she was able to climb in and receive some brief comfort from the warm water. After only 7 minutes in the water and a few intense contractions, she felt the urge to push.

Three minutes of pushing later at 6:58am, baby Sedona was out and in her mother’s arms. Amelia and her husband had only walked into the birth center 22 minutes earlier. One of her midwives hadn’t even made it to the birth center yet! This strong and powerful mama labored for just over 2 hours between home and birth center and birthed her beautiful rainbow baby quickly and gently in the water.

Now the twist was that although Amelia knew they were having a girl, her husband Ryan didn’t know. So Ryan found out right after baby was born. The original plan was for it to be a surprise for both of them, but Amelia accidentally found out mid-pregnancy and Ryan decided he wanted to keep it a surprise. So they both wrote down their predictions. Ryan wrote down what gender he thought the baby was, and Amelia wrote what she thought Ryan’s guess would be, and they revealed them to each other while relaxing and recovering in bed afterwards. They had a good laugh when they found out they both guessed wrong.

Welcome baby Sedona!

SLIDESHOW
(view Sedona’s complete birth story)

IMAGES
(a few select favorites)