If you'd like to see Leanne + Steve's little in-home maternity session, go HERE!

I got the call at about 2:30am on baby’s birthday. After a false alarm the week before, it was go-time! Leanne’s water had broken and contractions had started to get steady and little intense. I told them to call me as soon as they felt they needed me, and I got another call about 10 minutes later that it was time to come. I gathered my belongings and headed for my car.

After a 30 minute drive I arrived at their home while mama was in early labour. She laboured for a few hours at home, and since her own mom had quick births, her and her husband decided that they were ready to head to the hospital to meet with their midwife. She was pretty active at that point, and things hadn’t slowed down, so they admitted her.

Leanne LOVED the tens machine, as most moms do, and nobody touching her during birth (which we knew beforehand would be the case), so we were sure to keep the nurses (and dad...haha) informed of this. Baby was in a difficult position at first, giving mama some pleasant back labour, but Leanne did an amazing job at moving during her birthing time and trying different positions to get baby down into her pelvis and turned into a more optimal position. Leanne had a fantastic nurse for the majority of her birth who was very up to date with evidence-based care, we were very impressed! Leanne’s family arrived about 4-5 hours after we arrived, and they patiently waited a LONG time to meet the first grandchild on both sides!

After getting to 10cm, Leanne laboured down for a few hours until she felt the urge to push. After such hard work and perseverance from mama, baby was born at 4:27pm! A solid 6lb 8oz of squishy baby boy! They named him Jonah, and he is perfect.

They spent some quality time bonding and lots of skin-to-skin before moving to their room where little Jonah finally got to meet his entire family.

Thank you Leanne and Steve for trusting me to support you during your birth, it was such an honour. Birth and the raw power and strength of women never cease to amaze me. 

Alyssa Kellert is newborn, birth, documentary family photographer + film maker as well as a birth doula, and is located in Greater Vancouver, BC Canada. Head over to her Facebook page to see more of her most recent work at facebook.com/alyssakellert, or follow her on Instagram @alyssakellertphoto. You are welcome to email at info@alyssakellert.com or use the contact page on this site for more information!