Brian: My family’s been here [in this house] since I was 8—so, 16 years. It’s nice. It’s where she was born. She was born on the bed.

 

Cori: We had a birthing tub and I would walk back and forth, getting in and out of the tub.

 

B: The entire house was freezing, but she was hot. I kept going in and out of the pool with her, so I was freezing. The tub was warm but she had the fan follow her through every room, so I fell asleep in the tub.

 

C: I was in labor 23 hours.

 

B: She was crooked. Her head came out misshapen ’cause she was crooked, so it took the labor a couple extra hours.

 

C: My doula had me do these weird exercises to get her to straighten out a little more. It was painful but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

 

B: As soon as Maizi came out, she was battered but she was like, ‘Oh, I want my baby!’ Like there was no pain anymore.

 

C: I wasn’t as tired anymore, I was like ‘Oh! Excited!’ In between the contractions, I tried to rest a little. I kind of zoned out when I was going through the really rough ones like I was somewhere else almost, in meditation mode.

 

photos by Holly Feral