Birth up close
Woman giving birth: Live birth video
Narrator: Samiyyah is the owner of a day spa in Philadelphia. She is 38 weeks pregnant with her second child.
Samiyyah: With the first pregnancy, I delivered in a hospital, and it was very restricting, you know, being confined to the bed, not being able to, you know, move when I felt my body wanted me to do certain things.
Narrator: For her son Safi's birth, she was given pitocin to speed up labor, an epidural for pain management, and an episiotomy (a surgical cut to widen the vaginal opening).
This time, she's planning a natural delivery -- without pain medication and other medical interventions -- at a birth center.
Samiyyah: Yes, I've been told that I am completely crazy for being, you know, for not having the drugs, but I've been there and I didn't like it, so I figured I would try this. It's healthier for the baby; it's healthier for me. So why not? I mean, women, we were designed to do this.
Narrator: Seven days after her due date, Samiyyah's labor kicks into gear. At the birth center in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Julia Rasch, a licensed nurse/midwife, performs an internal exam and starts an IV line to give Samiyyah a dose of antibiotics, since she's positive for Group B strep.
Samiyyah is 3 centimeters dilated, 100 percent effaced, and her water hasn't broken yet, which is common in the first stage of labor.
Birth centers offer a more relaxed and intimate alternative to hospitals for women expecting uncomplicated births.
It's important to choose a birth center with nearby hospital privileges in case of an emergency.
Helping her through her first natural birth is her husband, Arvan. Her mother-in-law, Irena, and 6-year-old son Safi are there for support.
Samiyyah: We've talked about, you know, what he's gonna see, we've shown him pictures, and I think he'll be okay.
Narrator: As Samiyyah's labor progresses, her baby's heart rate is monitored every 15 minutes.
Samiyyah: My goal is to remain calm and try to stay level-headed.
Narrator: As her contractions pick up, she starts experiencing painful back labor, typically caused by the baby's head pressing against the lower spine.
Samiyyah finds some relief by trying a combination of slow steady breathing, constant deep massaging and counterpressure, spending lots of time in a heated Jacuzzi, and trying different labor positions.
Arvan: She's doing great. She's doing great. She's really pushing through.
Narrator: Her midwife feels it's time to break her water with an amni hook, since she can feel the amniotic sac bulging. This is a common procedure and usually helps speed up the labor process.
Samiyyah: I thought it would be painful, but it wasn't at all. Actually it was like a relief of pressure.
Midwife Julia Rasch: Large amount of clear fluid. Beautiful.
Narrator: Her contractions now intensify as she starts to feel the urge to push. This is called hard labor or transition. The muscles your body uses to contract are transitioning from dilating the cervix to pushing the baby down and out.
Midwife: The intensity of the contractions is increasing, and just a certain force is now really behind that baby coming.
Narrator: Transition can be the most painful part of labor -- but usually the shortest phase.
Narrator: Though most mothers dilate nearly 8 to 10 centimeters before transitioning, Samiyyah is only 5 centimeters dilated and is having trouble resisting the urge to push.
Arvan: Sam, do not push. Fight it. Fight it.
Samiyyah: I'm trying!
Narrator: Her midwife agrees her body is ready to deliver. Pushing before being fully dilated is uncommon. This is why each caregiver has to manage her patient's labor on an individual basis.
Midwife: Okay now, take a breath and do it again.
Narrator: Her midwife uses her fingers to pull back her cervical opening as Samiyyah pushes.
The midwife made the right decision, listening to her body. With just 11 minutes of pushing, Arvan and Samiyyah's baby emerges.
Samiyyah: [screams]
Arvan: Good job! Good job!
Midwife: There's your baby!
Narrator: Sami Sarrajj, a healthy boy, is placed immediately on his mother's chest.
Midwife: You did it! You did it!
Narrator: Dad cuts the umbilical cord, and the midwife collects some of the cord blood for routine testing.
It's not over yet. The midwife helps deliver the placenta, and a nurse presses on the fundus -- the upper part of the uterus -- to check how much the uterus has contracted.
Applying pressure is a common practice used by caregivers to help expel excess blood.
Samiyyah tore along her previous episiotomy line, and her midwife repairs it with stitches, which takes 15 minutes to complete.
Arvan: You did a hell of a job... Yeah!
Narrator: Samiyyah is now breastfeeding and bonding with her baby. Incredibly, in an hour, she is showered up and savoring some well-deserved fettucini Alfredo.
It was a fast delivery, with just four hours and 11 minutes of labor. Samiyyah's natural birth is a success, and she's ready to try it again.
Samiyyah: One more. We're going to try for a girl. (laughs)
Narrator: Everyone played a supportive part on the birth team… Even big brother Safi got to announce the news that his brother was born.
Stunning Video Shows Woman Giving Birth In Backseat Of Her Car
Moms
The obstetrician in Brazil never imagined she'd push out a baby in a gas station parking lot.
Dr. Gabriela Correia welcomed her second child, a son named Artur, on Oct. 24.Deborah Ghelman/ Source: TODAY
By Rachel Paula Abrahamson
An obstetrician in Brazil gave birth in her car — and the stunning moment was captured on camera.
In an Instagram video posted on Oct. 24, Dr. Gabriela Correia, 33, is shown having a baby in a gas station parking lot. Correia was joined by her husband, Gilberto Godoy, doula Joana Nunes, fellow OB/GYN Larissa Gomes and photographer Deborah Ghelman, who documented the entire delivery.
While speaking with local news outlet globo, Correia said she and Godoy called in reinforcements when it became clear they weren’t going to make it the hospital in time. Correia was 9 centimeters dilated. Once the cervix has reached 10 centimeters, it’s time to start pushing.
Content warning: This video shows a woman giving birth. If that is not something you wish to see, please do not click on the video.
“I had a good support system,” Correia said.
According to Ghelman, everyone in the vehicle remained calm while running on adrenalin.
“There was no fear, only joy,” Ghelman told TODAY Parents in Portuguese, which was translated, noting that Correia specializes in delivering babies and “everyone was well prepared.”
Ghelman said she’s pleased that the video is grabbing global attention because it shows what women are capable of doing without medical interventions such as epidurals.
“She is in charge of her body and of the baby,” Ghelman said.
Dr. Gabriela Correia and her husband, Gilberto Godoy, are pictured here meeting their son.Deborah GhelmanThe baby was taken to a hospital after he was delivered, but was quickly discharged. Deborah GhelmanThe couple's doula drove them to the hospital. Deborah Ghelman
Meanwhile, giving birth in a car wasn’t the only surprise of the day.
“We were anxious to know if it was a boy or a girl, but we opted to wait and find out in the moment and experience a different adventure,” Correia explained in the interview with the globo. “I just didn’t think it would be so many different things at once!”
Correia and Godoy are now the proud parents of two sons: Dante and baby Artur.
Artur, who was born on Oct. 24, has already been discharged from the hospital and is home with his family.
“He’s super healthy and wonderful,” Correia told the Brazilian outlet. She also thanked her support network.
“Everyone involved in the birth had been with me through difficult times. I went through the loss of my first child, and it was very painful,” she told the Brazilian outlet. “They were with me and supported me during that process. So, it’s a long journey I’ve had with them. ”
NBC News editor Isabela Espadas Barros Leal and photo editor Anthony Correia contributed to this story.
Related video:
Rachel Paula Abrahamson
Rachel Paula Abrahamson is a lifestyle reporter who writes for the parenting, health and shop verticals. She was previously a senior editor at Us Weekly. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and elsewhere. Rachel lives in the Boston area with her husband and their two daughters. Follow her on Instagram.
Shooting plans Woman in labor Woman, childbirth, close-up, woman in labor, maternity hospital
Woman giving birth
Similar shooting plans
HD 00:31
A man shows his hands and takes off his gloves Worker, gloves, hands, fingers, close-up
4K 00:13
Man draws a line with a pencil on paper Paper, line, pencil, hand, close-up
4K 00:08
Man draws a line with a pencil on paper Paper, line, pencil, hand, close-up
4K 00:07
Man draws a line with a pencil on paper Paper, line, pencil, hand, close-up
4K 00:15
Man draws a line with a pencil on paper Paper, line, pencil, hand, close-up
HD 00:27
The bartender collects ice from a glass. Pieces of ice Close-up Arms Cup
4K 00:25
Woman typing on a laptop, close-up hands Laptop, keyboard, female hands, fingers...
HD 00:10
Woman typing on a laptop, close-up hands
HD 00:30
A man plays a folk wind instrument, a woman dances, a close-up of the Urals, Salavat...
HD 00:10
Sky in clouds Nature. Overall plan. clouds Clouds Sunny Blue sky Close-up Day
Similar Newsreel
Maintaining a normal birth. 1986
newborn. Weighing a newborn. Examination of a woman in labor after childbirth .
The child is born 1989
Pregnant woman stands at the window in maternity hospital and looks out into the street. Doctors are walking down the corridor. View from window maternity hospital . Medical
Oh thank you doctor. 1990
Chamber maternity hospital, woman taken away - commonly. Corridor of the maternity hospital , doctors are passing by, a woman is on a gurney in the corridor
Introduction 1974
newborns. Woman is breastfeeding her baby. A doctor is talking to a woman upset about something . The doctor is standing by
Leningrad Newsreel No. 19 "Tribuna - 88" 1988
newborn babies. Doctors attend deliveries . A woman enters maternity hospital with a bouquet. Sister carrying a newborn
Rush hour 01/09/1997 1997
ordinary maternity hospital ? 3. Today, unfortunately, many patients are forced to purchase medicines for childbirth . 4.Basic
For the child to be healthy 1989
Pregnant woman and her husband are sitting on the couch, looking at books. Large - book "I'm expecting a baby". Large - watch
earth close up 1977
Land close-up plan
Lebedev close-up 1977
Lebedev close-up plan
Billions for millions 1971
home - commonly. Doctors and husband are parturient in maternity hospital - Wed, total. Young woman in labor on the bed - kr. are blooming
What newborn babies look like in the first minutes, photos of childbirth | 72.ru
This shot was taken a few minutes after the baby was born. The birth took place at home, the father was next to his wife throughout the whole process
Photo: courtesy of Marina Piskulina
Someone prefers to give birth alone and strictly under the supervision of doctors, someone at home next to the closest people, and someone takes her husband or mother with her to the hospital. And only a few decide to give birth under the gun of a camera.
Such photography, says Tyumen photographer Marina Piskulina, is a completely new direction for our city. It is possible to discuss the moral side of such a photo shoot - whether it is good or bad - for a very long time. But a fact is a fact: these are very frank and heartbreaking pictures. They evoke their own emotions in everyone: from tenderness to shudder.
Today, together with Marina Piskulina, we are showing you photos of the birth of two babies.
This mother decided from the very beginning that she would give birth at home. Next to her at that moment were a doctor, husband and eldest son
Share
Filming took place last summer. Today, this baby is almost half a year old
Share
According to the photographer, the umbilical cord was not cut for the newborn child (it fell off by itself after five days): “He was not blue-violet, as I saw babies in our maternity hospitals. An ordinary pink baby was born immediately, and it is impossible to forget. Nobody took him, didn’t pull him, didn’t weigh him, didn’t examine him, didn’t climb into his nose and mouth, didn’t shine devices in his eyes ... He was just born and from birth was on his mother ”
Share
The older child from the first minutes began to reach out to the newborn baby
Share
Dad immediately took his son in his arms
Share
Another shooting of partner births took place last winter. The girl gave birth to a baby in the walls of the Tyumen perinatal center.
The baby has just been born
Share
All mom's emotions are on her face. Tiredness from childbirth is closely intertwined with the joy of touching the long-awaited baby
Share
In the perinatal center, just like at home, after the birth of a child, they immediately put it on the mother's chest
Share
This baby is already a year old. A little more, and he himself will see this unusual photo session, capturing the first minutes of his life. And he can be understood: after all, he was inside his mother for nine months, without contact with the outside world
Share
How do you feel after viewing these photos? Would you like to take on such a shoot? Write in the comments - let's discuss.
As a rule, not all men agree to partner births. The 72.RU journalist found three dads who were next to their wives from the beginning to the end of the birth of a child. They cut the baby's umbilical cord. Men honestly and frankly spoke about how they felt at the time of the birth of the baby.
Last year we told you the stories of three women from Tyumen who decided to give birth at home. In one of them, the delivery room was replaced by an inflatable pool, the second did not know the sex of the child until the last, and the third had to persuade her husband for a long time.
On World Children's Day, we looked into the albums of Tyumen photographers who specialize in shooting newborns and chose the most touching pictures. Most of these babies are only a few weeks old. They still cannot talk and walk, but they already create a warm atmosphere around themselves and their loved ones. Just look at the pictures of newborns, from which the heart really stops.
On the topic
-
April 28, 2022, 08:31
This year, the most adult woman in labor became the Tyumenka, who was 50 years old -
31 December 2021, 14:45
In Tyumen, the woman gave birth to -
22 in Tyumen. March 07, 2021, 06:30
The first cry and obstetricians in anti-plague suits — 11 shots from maternity hospitals, from which goosebumps -
December 20, 2020, 18:05
this year -
January 23, 2019, 08:01
“Where did I go? Why does she scream like that?”: the stories of three dads from Tyumen who were present at the birth -
November 20, 2018, 16:17
Stories of three women from Tyumen who gave birth at home
Maria Tokmakova
Journalist 72.