Jackie and Matt are one of the warmest couples I have ever met. I imagine they are just one of those couples that everyone just loves because they're love for each other and for their children is so apparent and contagious! So when I was invited to the birth of their second child, I was thrilled.

The story of their birth of daughter Claudia was positive and they seemed very happy with how it all unfolded. Jackie's plans were pretty simple for this delivery. She wanted a natural, unmedicated, supported birth. We met a few times to discuss the "logistics" and practiced some imagery exercises for the pregnancy and upcoming birth. It was quite nice to see how confident Jackie was feeling about her body and her inner strength to get through another birth completely naturally.

March 22nd was the day I got the call from Jackie. She had been contracting quite a bit but wasn't feeling the intensity yet. She happened to have an appointment with the midwives that day and they determined she was 4-5 cms dilated. So they midwife sent her to the hospital being that this was her 2nd baby - it could be quick! So I met Jackie and Matt a few hours later at the hospital. We did some visualizations, some hula-dancing, some of this, some of that. But, contractions seemed to peter out and not much was happening - baby wasn't ready! Jackie and Matt were disappointed but decided it would be good to go home and rest while they had the chance. We all went home and got some sleep (I slept, I'm not so sure about the excited parents!)

The next morning, I heard from Jackie around 6am. Sure enough the contractions had intensified and she knew "this was it." so I met the soon-to-be parents of 2 at the hospital. Jackie was visibly in real active labor at this point. She was managing the contractions incredibly -- breathing through each one with her eyes closed, very focused. Matt and I applied a lot of counter pressure and hip-press action along with some massage. Jackie was so strong. Any nurse who walked in couldn't believe she was in active labor because she was so calm and collected. By 10am, she was ready to have her baby. We all "geared up" and helped Jackie into a comfortable pushing position. She pushed only a couple of times before she and Matt met their beautiful, healthy 9 pound baby boy -- Matthew Jr. How perfect it was. Jackie and Matt were overjoyed as they stared into the eyes of their boy and one another. It was a truly blissful experience.