Christmas has been a different story for us this year. We always knew it was going to be touch and go as to whether or not our due date of Boxing day was going to be realised but when it got closer to the time it seemed more and more likely that Helen would be going into labour sooner rather than later. The build up to Frank’s birth was quite long, Helen was in and out of hospital 6 times in 10 days with 1 overnight stay due to high blood pressure concerns. The only thing to cure this problem was to get this baby out! However we had our own plans as to how this would happen.

Thanks to a dedicated yoga practice and some hypno-birthing techniques throughout Helen’s pregnancy we were very keen to have a natural birth and if possible have access to a birthing pool. One reason why we chose Stepping Hill hospital over others was due to the amount of birthing pools they have available – 4 in total. However with all of the blood pressure concerns our dreams looked likely to be squashed, but we kept positive and made sure anyone who was working with us knew exactly what we wanted birth wise.

So on Christmas Eve and after 24 hours in hospital under observation Helen was dis-charged with a cervical sweep which revealed that we were 2cm dilated already. It looked favourable that a natural labour would proceed and straight away Helen noticed things had changed down there, the pre-labour pains seemed to be more intense and by the time we were home the contractions had began.

A Christmas Day baby was upon us and below is another up-close visual diary as to how things progressed. Let’s just say we had the birth we wanted, beyond and above all of our expectations. Upon arriving at hospital at 6.30am we discovered Helen was now 6cm dilated and our midwife Kay guided us through the rest of the labour and Frank Leo Rutter, weighing 6lbs8oz was born at 9.41am in a birthing pool using gas and air only and the all powerful breath. Kay was like an angel waiting to take us under her wing. The experience of the birth of our beautiful baby boy was so powerful and one we will never forget.

Thank you to Stepping Hill hospital.
Enjoy.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Nikon D600 35mm f1.8 & 105mm f2.8 Macro)