Author: Tanya Walker

Sometimes we are brought back in time. Pulling from the edges to lift up memories that are tender to us. There are moments that I stop and realize how many years I have been attending births. 
As I looked across the room I saw long curls and that same sweet demeanor, easy and grounded, then a child and now a woman, standing before me. She was 11 then attending the birth of her sibling and now she is a 30 year old, attending as a doula, nurturing this powerful beautiful strong mother laboring in front of me. 
When I think of my own children homebirth is all they know. 
Sometimes we talk about the fact that we are shepherds at your birth governing the edges of what’s normal and safe. We keep our hands off unless mama is wanting support. We respect that this is your journey. That is exactly how this strong mama rocked her birth. So focused on letting go with each wave she powered through each moment. She climbed into the birth tub and pushed her baby out with her husband and 6 year old at her side. 
Welcome sweet baby to your beautiful family. 

The wind was howling. 
A hawk above soaring in the sky, balancing through the waves and gusts of a blustery spring night out in the country. 

Indoors it was similar as mama focused on finding her balance as she was being pushed through what seemed like her own endless gusts and waves. 

At times it was total silence and stillness you could hear nothing but the night, at other times that familiar birthing song that our ears understand so deeply. As mama gets the strength to walk and utilize gravity her husband joins in, hand and hand they walk around the kitchen island as if it were a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park. As I listen closer, I realize he is singing We Are the Champions by Queen, except he inserts you for we. 

Tender moments before larger mountains to climb. Gushes and gushes of waters spill like crashing waves on the shore. Mama works with her baby, works with her body . She becomes mighty and invincible strong and just like that an Angel came earth side.

Sometimes the sweetest of things we have to be patient and just wait for. That is how this beautiful birth started. 

Water broke and as the hours and day passed, nothing. The waves began out of the stillness of the night shooting her like a rocket into transition where all she could do it make it across the room and onto the floor. 

Transition is that space that most women feel like the task at hand is impossible where they try with the few words they have available to convince us they couldn’t possibly do more and yet they do. 

Moments pass as husband and wife work together squeezing hips and endless tender words of encouragement are whispered. 

There are frogs in the background from a nearby creek singing with excitement and as mama lays down to rest they magically seem to stop for a moment before they resume their private whimsical serenade. 

Deep low moans that becomes her laboring song. 

She states out loud the names of her circle of sisters that had birthed before her gleaning strength in the moment from their own power stepping into the consciousness of how many woman have gone before her and how many will follow her because of her own story. 

In the early morning stillness she gives birth to their second child, their first home birth. 

A husband and wife navigated the intense sacred nectar of birth and as we left them tucked into bed we know they are savoring the sips of this new journey one sweet moment at a time. 

We adore your sweet family.

ecial place in our hearts. We fall in love over and over and over again. When we birth with a family several times it grasps our heart with even more intensity as we watch the family we initially fell in love with become a family of 3, 4, 5 or 9. It’s a journey of growth that makes us feel young and old all in one breath. It leaves us with tear stained faces of love. Each birth different, each time a mama falls through the looking glass until she returns with her baby in her arms. Some stories will be long, some short and some with a one glove, one handed catch. Some in a bathtub when mama wasn’t even ready for us to come; with cheerful giggles of the magnitude of it all, we wouldn’t change it for anything. 
Welcome little boy, bundle of joy. Welcome to your sweet family. I am so grateful to have watched your mama become a mama 3 times now. Born on 4/16/24, sooner than we were expecting and so fast my assistant missed it. 7 lbs 14 oz of pure love.

Raining grace in between surges. Gentle laughter sounded like music. The glow of twinkle lights in the darkness. The full moon and lunar eclipse hung in the night sky. This mamas endurance pushed her through her pregnancy waiting for her love to travel home at the best time from far away lands. As it happened her honey arrived and mama let down her body and labor began. Fast and beautiful baby entered on his love wave into arms that craved his arrival. Welcome sweet baby to your sweet family and your amazing mama!

We often tell our first time mothers when they ask about labor that it is their bridge they will cross. We will stand in support and as witness but ultimately it is their dance with their baby with their joy, their fear, their endurance, their mind, their body. 
In Each birth, moments are found in our team that find our cheeks glistening with tears. Today they were my cheeks as I watched the intense work this sweet mama was doing. Strong and beautiful and hit the point we all hit where control is beckoning to give way as we fight for it. Today I listened to the words you are crossing your bridge and becoming a mama bear and some how the magnitude of her beauty and force over took me. There is a primal place that we find in birth. We all become Alice in Wonderland as we slip through into another world and confront the parts of ourselves we meet on the other side of the looking glass.
And as if it were all a dream when we hold our newborn baby in our arms it somehow slips away as silently as it came.

Baby’s silken skin. Little sighs. Cleaning tiny feet that in a blink of an eye will walk a million tiny steps. Moments for mama and daddy that will never be forgotten yet so many memories will be etched and carved that someday it will feel long ago. Unbelievable moments will give way to the weight of tiny voices chattering, laughter and plans. Each little one comes in with such a huge story. In a lifetime it seems to become so finite that first moment and yet tonight in the heavy scented air of Jasmine it was everything. Welcome sweet baby boy, weighing 11 lbs 7 oz, born at home 3/12/24. You weren’t as big as your older brother, but your birth had a story of its own we will always remember. Congrats, we love your sweet family. ❤️‍🩹

You know we trust in birth when our biggest fear was the local mountain lion. This mama tried so hard to have her baby in the dark of night, outside, in the cold and in the rain. With the smell of blood and sounds of birth, we got her into the house just in time to welcome her 9 lb 9 oz baby in the world. This was a repeat family of mine, this time she gave birth to a son, in a yurt, on beautiful property, next to a creek of running water. This time she had to work a lot harder than with her first. This one goes into my book, I will one day write. We love your beautiful family dearly. 

This family had their first baby with us at the Birth Center and this time around they decided to go for a home birth! Their first was born in the middle of a big storm so they wanted to avoid driving up and down the grade in labor and with a newborn. She labored beautiful in the comfort of her own space, and welcomed a 9 lb 5 oz baby girl right into their bed where we tucked them in to enjoy their sweet family of four! Congratulations! We are so happy to be with you for both of your beautiful children.

This sweet mama was induced with her first baby but had a good hospital birth. She was planning another hospital birth with her second until late in pregnancy when her OB told her she was no longer offering births at the hospital she wanted to birth at. So they took the opportunity to explore all of their options. She had known some women that had home births with us, so after meeting she quickly gathered together supplies in preparation for a home birth. This gorgeous mama labored beautifully with her husband by her side, and pushed out a healthy baby boy weighing 9 lbs 2 oz into the birthing tub! We are so happy for you guys!

This sweet family got their Homebirth! They had planned a home birth with their first baby but because of CA laws, she had a long induction at 42 weeks of pregnancy with her midwife in attendance. This time around this baby was pretty cozy as well at 41 weeks plus 5 days, so after deciding to go for a castor oil induction, by evening, this beautiful mama was heading into the peaceful home water birth they had dreamed of. A Beautiful baby girl born at 7 lbs 10 oz. Congratulations! We are so happy for you guys.

This sweet mama always knew that she would birth at home. This wasn’t norm for her family but it is what always felt right to her. She didn’t think she wanted a water birth but after many hours of labor surrounded by her family she found herself in the bathtub, and this is where she was able to let down into the waves of labor and welcome their beautiful 7 lb 7 oz baby into their arms. Witnessing a first time mother in her power will never get old. Congratulations! We feel so blessed to know your beautiful family.