Another beautiful previous class couple who did their best to navigate on their own the first time, but with extenuating circumstances, felt as though their experience was less than ideal, though they had a beautiful baby boy added unto their family. It left emotional scars and brought emotions and additional complications with various issues in the postpartum period for mom, baby and the new family unit. Really open to anything this go around, acknowledging that control was not the goal, we moved forward in preparing for their newest little arrival. They chose a supportive care provider and added me to their trusted birth team. Time was spent planning/preparing/aligning thoughts, emotions and body, all with a very open mind. Fears were discussed and faced and there was much work through the previous birth experience and all that brought along with it. It was not super surprising that she went all the way to 14 days post date, with no strong family history, and still no signs of baby trying to make her way. We implemented some techniques to see if the delay had to do with physical, mental or emotional reasons, like fear release, role play and relaxation positioning. With still no action, we resolved it was still not yet time:) Then, it happened! Contractions began on their own and did not wane. They became a bit closer together but did not seem really well established. I arrived and we did positioning again, just to see if that might help and almost immediately things really picked up and took us all the way to the finish line! Mom and coach worked together brilliantly and baby arrived just over an hour after arriving at the birthplace. They were astounded by how quickly things went and were thrilled to have had a completely new and healing experience under their belt. Mom reported no feelings of post blues and no issues with breastfeeding and other things she struggled greatly with after her firstborn. One of my all time favorite moments ever was once we were at the hospital and the contractions were close and hard and we were within an hour or so of the birth, at the most unexpected time, as soon as they were over, she would get little tears in her eyes (happy ones) and give a great huge smile and kiss all over her supportive coach:) It was so beautiful! She was so thankful to be experiencing exactly and only what her body was creating for her and baby. I share these many and varied experiences, in the hopes that those who might take the time to read, would see the many possibilities surrounding childbirth. The calm, the peace, the romance, the intimacy, the determination in the face of adversity, the ability to trust birth in a healthy low risk situation that is not presenting any warning signs, the healing power of the birth experience, the empowerment and confident parenting that follows etc... SO precious!