Happy Birthday Ambrose | Pensacola Birth Photographer

Being a Pensacola birth photographer, I’m often asked if I have any crazy birth stories. I’ve had some mildly impressive stories over the years, but nothing like the day I’m going to relate to you here (and over the next two birth stories… as they all intertwine).

Erin knew well in advance that she would be delivering early. With a tear in her umbilical cord causing major blood pressure issues for her, Maternal-Fetal Medicine wasn’t even confident she’d make it to 36 weeks. After being hospitalized and on bed rest, she ultimately did and was scheduled to be induced a month early, on a Wednesday.

The Monday night before Erin’s induction, I received a call from another mama, Priscilla, who was due that coming Thursday. She was in labor. She labored all through Tuesday and then it stopped. So I went in to Sacred Heart Hospital at 8 am Wednesday morning to be with Erin as planned.

Things were rocking and rolling for Erin even before Pitocin was started, but she wasn’t in too much pain. Then around 10 am I got a call from another mama, Courtney, saying she was in L&D triage with a headache and waiting to hear if she was going to be induced. On the prospect of facing possible back-to-back births, I decided I’d better run downstairs and eat something before Erin’s labor picked up.

As I was finishing my sandwich, Erin texted to say they were starting Pitocin. Knowing things would go fast from here, I headed back up, stopping to check in on Courtney on the way. They were still waiting.

By the time I got back to Erin’s room, she was starting to labor hard. I photographed and helped her husband, Nathan, support her through contractions on the bed. Within a few minutes, we moved from the bed to the bathroom where she labored on the toilet. The pain was really intensifying, so I suggested she hop in the shower for some hydrotherapy.

As soon as Erin got in the shower, I could see that something had changed. She was on her hands and knees, in a lot of pain, and I asked her to see if she could feel anything between her legs. She reached down and immediately told me she could feel the baby’s head!

Nathan and I were frantic, looking for the call button (totally overlooking the emergency ripcord in the bathroom!), before we decided I should just yell down the hall for help.

Not wanting to go too far, I stepped out the door and yelled… and no one came. So I ran down to the nurses’ station to tell them to come and then ran back to the room. Erin was delivering her own baby as I reached the bathroom, so I dropped to my knees and began photographing like a madwoman.

I was able to capture Erin the moment they looked to see if baby #4 was the boy they had been hoping for. And finally, after three girls, they had a boy!

But we still didn’t have any medical professionals in the room!

So I ran back to the desk yelling I needed help because this baby was OUT! And nurses came running. No one could believe she’d already delivered… because it has been less than an hour since Pitocin was started.

They got Erin and baby Ambrose back to the bed and Dr. Medlock joined us to deliver the placenta.

And THEN…

I get a text from Priscilla’s husband, Jared. They are at the hospital, back in labor, and EIGHT CENTIMETERS DILATED! Thankfully, Erin and Ambrose were just settling in for some skin-to-skin time, so I took a few minutes to move some essential gear over to Pryscilla’s room and document her getting checked in. It didn’t look like she was going to deliver any time soon, so I want back to Erin, Nathan, and baby Ambrose to finish up.

In perfect time, nurse Ally was ready to do Ambrose’s newborn exam and vitals and I was able to finish documenting everything I normally would before heading back down the hall to await my second baby of the day.

Click play to watch Ambrose’s epic shower birth and come back in a couple of weeks for the story of birth No. 2 of my tripleheader.