Location: Ponte Vedra, Florida

Birth photographer and videographer: Dallas Arthur Birth Stories & Support

Midwife: Samantha Crickmore of First Coast Midwifery

Mom/client and her husband: owners of Lighthouse Chiropractic

As the co-owner of Lighthouse Chiropractic with her husband, Mayre supports the pregnant and postpartum women of our community day in and day out. And so it was such a joy to witness her get her own dream birth! It was a beautiful sunny morning, filled with extended family and children and the BEST Puerto Rican coffee I’ve ever had in my life! I was honored to be asked to create Mayre’s birth film. Here is her story!

It all started on April 30th at 2am. I woke up with painful and uncomfortable contractions that didn’t allow me to stay in bed. Those contractions felt very different from the ones I was already having since 37 weeks.

I proceeded to work out each contraction on my exercise ball with my breathing techniques, I was walking in circles around my bedroom because I didn’t want to wake up anyone around the house, especially  my husband. I opened my contraction tracker app and started to track them and thought to myself, “If these contractions haven’t stopped by 6am, I’m definitely having this baby today.”

Contractions were 10 min apart and slowly they were getting to 2-3 min apart of each other. I stopped tracking them at 8am. Contractions were getting more intense and closer to each other quickly over time. At 5am my water broke and that was the moment where I realized “This is really happening today.” Soon I was meeting the 4th love of my life. I was so happy! I was 41weeks +2 days.  God was teaching me patience, so I can relate to my patients. Being pregnant for the  fourth time, the wait was long. I was used to giving birth at 40weeks or earlier.  

Hubby was so happy, he woke up everyone in the house telling them that my water broke and that baby Santino was coming. He proceeded to fill up the birth pool which he quickly realized he bought the wrong hose (LOL), so he had to improvise to fill up the pool with warm water.

I texted Dallas (videographer) and Sam (midwives) to let them know what was happening to me. Dallas responded right away and told me to let her know when I wanted her at my house, she was ready and excited…we were waiting for a week for this day. Dallas arrived at my house at 6:47am, recording every bit of what was happening around, she has great skills. So much that she wasn’t a bother at all. Her presence is one of peace, calm, and great energy.

He also prepped the bed, and in between he helped me with hip squeezes to ease the pain of the contractions.

He was my biggest support, and I felt his love all morning and also his nervousness for me and our baby. 

Then my sister in law Denise arrived at 7:50am, my sister Michelle at 9am, and Sam, at 8:40a, after going to my old address (LOL), I guess we never updated it!

My team was complete and I felt confident to do what my body was ready to do. I got inside the birth pool and was ready. As soon as Sam got to our house, I felt confident to push with every contraction I was feeling.

Adam said that I was going to give birth at 10am, and he was so right. 

During contractions my mom got nervous and almost fainted. This was her first time at a home birth. I had meditation music on to focus on my body and my baby showing up soon.

I cried a little because I was so tired, different than the previous births.

I got desperate because the contractions were like never before. They felt like an intense sharp pain to my pubic bone and lower back, almost like my bottom was ripping in half. It was such an intense pain. Santino was so close, I could feel it…at almost 10am I felt his head and thought to myself "It is now, or wait till another painful contraction"… so I chose to push with all the energy I had left to see my baby. And at exactly 10:00 am Santino was born into my hands, the first time I had caught my own child.

I felt so relieved to see his beautiful face and hear his first cry.

I was expecting a “gringo” baby, but he came out with dark hair, and dark eyes. He looked more like my first baby Sebastian.

In that moment I thought to myself “It was so worth it:” the nausea, the hospitalizations, my diet change, those miserable first five months of sickness, the sleepless uncomfortable nights, the pain. All that vanished at soon as I had him in my arms with my husband by my side, my biggest support.

I was so happy to see all of my family members around us.

My dream came true…to have a birth without complications. It was truly a day that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Now we are complete, we are a happy party of six. Thank you God for the miracle of life. I'm blessed!

I felt like I was floating on air as I left this birth. (Maybe it was the amazing coffee Mayre’s mom made, ha!) To see a big family gathering around to witness the birth of their newest little love gave me goosebumps. I thought about Mayre’s long pregnancy with all its difficult challenges, and that made the moment when she bravely reached down and caught her own baby even more powerful. Mayre, thank you for welcoming me into your moment of triumph!

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