Jackie wanted to go into labor on her own.

Her first two babies were inductions, and she wanted to see what it would be like.

They went ahead and scheduled her induction the week after her due date. The clock was ticking.

She wanted to know her body could do this.

She wanted to know the difference between pitocin contractions and regular contractions.

On her exact due date, she got her wish!

They didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl, but dad joked it must be a boy because he was so punctual.

She called me at 6:30am and I hopped in the car heading to Providence St Vincent.

She worked HARD, and she looked like a Goddess the entire time.

Just 7 hours later, her baby BOY was in her arms!

The tears flowed down her cheeks. I saw her husband get choked up too.

She had her third birth exactly the way she wanted.

She had choices, and she was respected.

You can read Jackie’s birth story in her own words below.

Jackie’s Birth Story

Stay at home mom, 3rd child
1st time documenting birth with a photographer!
Baby Owen was born on a brisk Spring day, weighing 8lbs 6oz and 21.5in

I had really hoped baby would come early so that I wouldn’t have to be induced again. I was just beginning to accept that induction number 3 was going to happen when things started progressing. I had called my OB on Friday with a mild concern and she suggested I head to the hospital to be sure my water had not broken and/or that there was not an infection that needed to be taken care of. We loaded the two big kids up and headed to the hospital.

The big kids colored pictures in the bathroom of the hospital room while I got checked out and got confirmation that everything was OK. I was told I was dilating as they would hope but I was not in labor and so I could head home. Trey and I grabbed some sushi on the way home and watched some TV.

Before bed I decided to pump for 10 minutes to see if I could get contractions going. I immediately started feeling them but did not keep my hopes up as I had felt them before and they hadn’t lasted. I went to bed and at around 4am woke up with the pain of the contraction being too strong to sleep through. I decided I should maybe start paying attention to the timing in case this was in fact labor.

Contractions were about 10 minutes apart at this point. Around 5:30 I eventually decided maybe I should get in the bath to help relieve some of the pain of the contractions. By 6, my contractions were getting to be about 5 minutes apart so I woke Trey up and let him know that I thought it was time to get ready for the hospital and that if he wanted to shower before we went, now would be a good time.

I called Natalie around 6:30 to let her know we were planning to head to the hospital soon. I then made the kids a little breakfast to go and then woke them up and got them dressed for the hospital. Everything moved pretty quickly. Our practice run from the night before served us well as we checked into triage in the same exact room we had been in the night before. The kids went with the flow and were champs.

We have no family in town and my parents had planned to be here for the induction with no anticipation that baby would actually come on his own, so we had to take the kids with us. In hindsight, we definitely had other options but that morning it just seemed like a no-brainer that they would be there with us. It was by far my most favorite part of the whole experience. To be able to do it as a family was so so special and something I could never have imagined would go so perfectly.

After the epidural took effect, my son said “mommy, you’re not making those noises like you did in the car anymore!!”

It was one of the most emotional experiences of my life. I was completely overwhelmed the moment I knew we were seconds away from meeting him. I loved that my kids were able to hear Trey announce “It’s a boy!” and to hear Owens first cry.

I pushed for 1 contraction and baby was out! From the time I started timing contractions to the time I had baby in my arms, was 9 hours.

I felt overwhelmed, emotional, and the happy tears were flowing. Trey was beaming with pride.

Everything about the day was absolutely perfect. I could not have planned the timing any better. God had his hand in every single moment of that day. The timing was perfect. Like literally everything just went perfectly, I can’t really explain it. I wouldn’t change a thing.

The best part was being able to experience it without an induction. Experiencing such an intimate thing with my bigger kids. All of us being able to be there

The kids first reaction when we found out that it was a boy was “but we really wanted a baby sister!” Haha!