Woman Gives Birth in Car – Tampa Birth Photographer Captures it All on Video
June 11, 2024
They say babies always know when it’s time to come. That’s exactly what happens when a pregnant Mama goes into labor naturally.
This family booked me knowing I would do whatever it took to get there for their birth. The Birth Center they were going to is in Largo so I knew that was over an hour to get there depending on traffic. That morning they called me at 3 am to say things are picking up. I made the conscious decision to get ready and head out before things picked up too much because I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic.
I showed up to a Largo coffee shop at 5am. I brought my laptop so I could edit photos in the meantime. I remember I was editing a maternity beach session that I had taken at susnset a few nights before. It felt especially serendipitous to get to see pregnancies and births come to life in the camera and end up being moments the family treasure forever.
I had just finished up that session and grabbed another tea when I got a call. It was 6:22 and Dad said “we are heading to the birth center”. I am so glad I made the decision to spend my early morning already in Largo which is 20 minutes south of Tampa because when that call came, there would have been no way I was going to make the birth all the way from Wesley Chapel.
It’s shocking how much of an adrenaline rush happens when you are headed to a birth. I could feel the rush as I grabbed my laptop, purse and phone and rushed out to get into my car. Here I am at 6:30 and wide awake, ready to take pictures of this incredible moment of when a family is completed with this last little baby.
I showed up to the Birth center in Largo, Florida before 7 AM. And I actually beat the family and doula there. I noticed right away that the actual birth center was not open yet. Their normal hours would be 8 am but there should be a Midwife showing up soon to attend to this family. I knew that if I just barely got the “it’s time!” call then the Midwife on call probably just barely did as well.
I grabbed my gear and checked my settings to make sure I wouldn’t have to mess with anything after they got there. I was prepared for them as soon as they pulled up.
Then I saw that Kia Soul pull into the parking lot and the doula right behind them. This was the first time I met this family as they booked me from a phone call and just before the “on call” time, meaning Mom was already 36 weeks pregnant so we didn’t have time to do a maternity session and meet up which is how I love to get to know a couple before the birth. I want to make sure that the parents know me enough to feel comfortable and safe to share this moment with them. The pre-meeting also helps me establish what kind of birth photographer they need for that day. Simply put, some families need me to be a “fly on the wall” as Dad and Doula has all the responsibilities. Some families prefer I do my job while also being encouraging. And last but not least, some families hire me because I also have an extensive background in mindset work, Reiki and Massage Therapy during labor (I am a Licensed Massage Therapist certified in Prenatal Massage Therapy)
For this family, they hired me to capture the birth with video and all the moments in between with photography. But back to the story, when they pulled up, there was no time for any thing else. I needed to start taking pictures immediately and I knew that. I could tell by her body language, breaths and gutteral noises that this Mama was already in transition, which means that baby was in the birth canal and on her way out.
Dee, the Doula also attended my birth. She’s extremely professional and I knew she was on the job, she was going to be able to help Mom and Dad through birthing this baby themselves, which was exactly what had to be done.
Let me be clear, no one here “delivered” this baby. When that baby decided to come, it was Moms body and the baby that made it happen. All that being said, we could all recognize that the baby was not waiting for the Midwife to get there. So Dad came out of the Drivers seat and kneeled down on the ground in the parking lot to take a look. He knew she was crowning because he could see the baby’s head.
Dee the Doula took her spot in the driver’s seat to help talk Mom through the process, encourage her and make sure her needs were being met. If she needed more water or physical assistance, she was there to help.
With Dad ready to help catch the baby, Mom started making more deep groans. You will notice in the video this part gets a little more shaky. That’s because I wanted to allow the emotion and realness of that moment to stand strong. I wanted to show all the details and doing heavy editing for this section of the video just didn’t seem worth it. I felt like it would take away from the moment which was already perfect. Call it artists discretion. 🙂
With only 2 pushes, the baby came out with blood and vernix all over her body. Then they checked the sex of the baby and exclaimed “It’s a girl!” As you watch, you will also notice an older lady when the baby came out standing behind Dad. This is the Birthing Mom’s Mother. She made it just in time and her facial expression really shows how happy she was to be there for this moment. This little girl was born in the passenger seat of their Kia soul. Honetly, I couldn’t have made this up. it’s just something that organically happens with natural births. I am a strong advocate of allowing the baby and Mom to work together thorugh this process. When a women is medicated, it often impairs her ability to flow with the birth process. This can be detrimental in many ways. If you look into the statistics, natural birth is by far the best way to go when there are not any factors inhibiting the process. In other words, no “high risks” indicators.
This was probably the most memorable Birth that I’ve ever been able to attend.
I absolutely love the mindset that Hypno birthing brings to the birthing space. There’s a lot of visualization and a lot of allowing your body to open up for the baby to come. Typically speaking, these births happen very fast compared to births.
I had a hypnobirth as well for my one and only birth and my daughter was born within three hours of labor starting. A lot of people have claimed that this video is fake or that it’s a video made to advertise a Kia soul and I promise you that it is not. 😂
This absolutely just happened organically and it was incredible to see so much strength that the mom had in bringing her child to the world despite outside circumstances not being ideal. Welcome to the world Kalina.
