Essentia Health Delivery in Duluth, MN and perfect timing

Michelle texted me late one September evening, letting me know she and her mom were on the way to the hospital: her water had broken. Current best practices indicate that babies are delivered with a 24 hour window, in order to minimize the risk of infection to the baby. Contractions hadn’t really started when I arrived, and so I introduced myself to Michelle’s mom. ‘They’ say that timing is everything. In life, in love, in work. For myself, I think perfect timing is never more evident than in the delivery of a baby.

 

I’d met Michelle and her daughter Addison (plus her stuffed puppy!) for a hot beverage at Empire Coffee.  In our conversation, I’d learned that she and her husband Joe were making a move from the city to the country, trading their apartment in Duluth for a hobby farm in northern WI. As we talked more, I learned that her husband Joe would likely not be at the birth, but would be completing military training. It was a difficult decision and one they’d not made lightly; the birth mages would give Joe a glimpse into what he’d more than likely miss: his son making his way to earth.

 

Perfect Timing

Michelle texted Joe—recently returned from the field after a grueling training and unreachable until that early, early morning—informing him  that her water had broken . . .meaning he had twenty-four hours from now to make it to Essentia  in Duluth, MN . . . from Georgia.

 

 

Amazingly, baby waited. And waited.

 

And when Joe arrived, with plenty of time to deliver within the 24 hour window, contractions began with gentle intensity until it was time to push. 20 minutes later baby boy made his entrance, his entrance witnessed by both his mother and his father. Perfect timing in every sense possible.

 

Michelle and Joe: thank you for allowing me to document the beautiful delivery that unfolded in those 24 hours: sandwiches, hugs, kisses, plane rides, exhaustion . . .and ultimately, the moment when your family grew from three to four.  It was an absolute privilege and delight.