From Trust to Triumph: Welcoming Baby Cinco at Home

Baby Cinco

I’ve been under Midwife Nicole’s care for two of my pregnancies, and after 12 years, I finally had the home birth of my dreams. I gave birth to my fifth baby, a beautiful 7-pound baby girl, “Baby Cinco” on June 8, 2025.

I was approaching 40 weeks when Nicole checked on me earlier that day and found I was 2 cm dilated. Baby had a few decelerations, so out of an abundance of caution, she recommended stress monitoring. While waiting, I did laundry and prepared to send my other children off—just in case.

That evening around 6:40 PM, my contractions began picking up, and when I called Nicole, she could hear it in my voice and was already on her way. She arrived at my home at 6:53 PM, checked me at 6:58 PM, and I was already 7 cm. At 7:00 PM, my waters ruptured, and everything moved incredibly fast. Not time to fill the birthing pool and shortly long after, I delivered my baby safely at home.

Nicole kept me calm, informed, and safe every step of the way. She is an excellent midwife, and I am deeply grateful for her care. Beyond the birth itself, she connected me with a postpartum doula who truly made a world of difference during my recovery. She also introduced me to additional resources that supported outside of being a mother.

As a Black woman, I don’t take surviving childbirth lightly. With the maternal mortality rate for Black women continuing to rise, it is truly a privilege to be alive after giving birth—and that reality deserves to be named. I am honored, grateful, and proud to say that I survived childbirth, and I credit intentional, compassionate, culturally aware care for that outcome.

Thank you, Midwife Nicole, for walking with me, advocating for me, and helping make this birth experience everything I hoped for and more.