Photography by

Casey Louise

May 16, 2025

My Unmedicated Homebirth

Seattle pregnancy photographer Casey Louise shares her own redemptive and healing unmedicated homebirth experience!

Learn more about me

My second and last baby was born at home on August 29th 2024 after long anticipation. I can’t share his birth story without first telling you our journey with getting pregnant. After conceiving our daughter fairly quickly we never expected to have fertility struggles with our second. Almost two years, many fertility tests, lifestyle changes, months of acupuncture and three rounds of IUI later we finally became pregnant. Every month we had to ask ourselves how badly did we want to have another baby, why and what were we willing to do to conceive. I can say on the other side now he was worth every fertility treatment and more. The month before I became pregnant I had the absolute honor of photographing an unmedicated home birth near Lake Stevens, WA. Witnessing and capturing this healing birth experience was incredible and I left deeply longing for a similar experience. My daughter was born in the hospital after being induced. I did have an unmedicated birth with her as well however experiencing induction and three days of labor in that environment left me with trauma to process. I knew if I had another baby I wanted to give birth at home and have a hands off experience. 

Fast forward to 41 weeks and 3 days pregnant I couldn’t believe I still hadn’t given birth! I now know it’s extremely common to go to 42 weeks pregnant especially if you decline any interventions like cervical checks or membrane sweeps. I was very adamant I did not want to be touched at any point. I had started to lose my mucus plug (aka bloody show) and was having mild contractions every six minutes but they weren’t progressing. I had actually been having these mild contractions/ prodromal labor for a couple of weeks. We went in for a standard NST test and we did not fully pass it. After discussing options with my midwives we decided to induce that evening with a castor oil shake. 

At 7:30pm my entire team arrived to my home. The midwives needed to be present the entire time because we were inducing with castor oil. Honestly, the shake was delicious! It had peanut butter and vanilla ice cream and bananas in it. About two hours after the first shake I did have to use the bathroom and my movement was not solid but actually with IBS I’ve had a lot worse. I felt slightly nauseous but again not terrible. I drank another shake with less castor oil very slowly just to make sure labor didn’t stall. My birth team consisted of my midwife Desiree and student midwife Moriah. My close friend Annie was our photographer and my dear friend Becky was the videographer. It was important to me to have both images and video and having both people be friends was incredibly special. Cash was our outstanding doula. My step mom Jody came to be with my toddler Mia and our dog Aubrey. Of course my husband Justin was my biggest support. It was a full house in the best way possible

I was told to go cuddle with Justin and pump off and on every 10 mins. At 10:30 ish we tried to get some rest. At 12:30/1am I couldn’t lay in bed through the contractions anymore. I hopped in the shower and Annie and Becky joined me. We went to wake up Cash to see which positions would be helpful to continue progressing. She came in the bathroom and put on a constellation projector and some calming music. I sat backwards on the toilet and Annie rubbed my back through a contraction or two. Then Cash took over and between her loving back rub and the calming words she spoke I started to sob. Just releasing any fear holding us back. Justin woke up and started filling the birth pool with water. Then he joined me in the shower. I cried a little more with some contractions just allowing the hormones and feelings to pass through me. We switched the playlist to the music I had selected ahead of time. As things were getting more intense I decided to hop in the birth pool. This definitely provided some relief because it gave me more of a break in between contractions. I didn’t want it to slow down labor too much but Cash reminded me it was okay to allow myself a little rest and break. So after about 30 minutes I decided to get back in the shower. Right away things picked back up. I know for sure at this point I started being more vocal. Justin was in the shower with me and in-between contractions we were laughing and kissing and dancing. It was really beautiful. During hard contractions Cash came next to me to let me know this was the hardest part of labor and also the shortest. That was so helpful to have an idea of where I was at. When I started to push a little with contractions I decided to get back in the birth pool. Shortly after I felt nauseous and ended up puking in a bag and filled it up.

I had asked that my toddler Mia be woken up to get a snack and wake slowly before joining us. When she came into the room she decided to join me in the birth pool and I’m so so glad she joined us. Cash helped pour water over my low back, gave me spike filled balls, a comb, cool wash cloth, essential oils and even knee pads for Justin. Annie was a great support with verbal affirmations. Justin held me physically and also did a great job talking to me throughout this time. This part, transition, was the hardest mentally. I had been pushing during it so it made me question why I was pushing so long and whether or not I could push him out. I stayed fully conscious but my eyes were slower to keep up when I would open them. I questioned if someone should check me and I believe Cash said I could try and check myself to feel for his head. I did two or three times and could not really feel him. It was suggested that I wait for the contraction to build and do a big long push at the peak. I wondered if I should have the midwife check me for a cervical lip because I didn’t want to keep pushing without progress. Instead, Justin suggested we get back in the shower or stand up somewhere to allow gravity to help us. So him and I went to the shower together. Right away I pushed and it started to burn inside of my vaginal canal. I could feel his head coming through before crowning. It burned really bad and this was the hardest part physically because I knew I had to push into the pain for it to be over. So after several pushes he finally crowned and I could reach his head with my fingers while still holding onto my clitoris for counter pressure. I pushed more and his head was born. I was told one more push to get his body out and his shoulders and chest were the same diameter as his head so it was hard but I pushed through it and out he came. I did it! I was told to grab my baby and when I took a step back we all slipped! Thankfully Justin caught me and the midwife caught my baby. I sat down on the ledge and you were placed in my arms. I started patting my baby on the back and he finally cried. Born at 5:54am. I was still in a lot of pain until I birthed the placenta and got numbed up for some superficial stitches. I was shocked to find out baby was over 9lbs. 9lbs 4 oz 22 inches long, Head 14.5 in chest 14 in to be exact. 

I was in pure bliss. Despite the healing and first degree tear at my vaginal opening, the next couple of days in bed were maybe the happiest of my entire life. I am beyond thankful to have experienced a redemptive and healing home birth. More than a motherhood photographer, I am your fellow mom friend and peer. Being a mom of two children I can deeply relate to my maternity, newborn and motherhood photography clients. I know how important capturing all of the seasons are for processing, healing and looking back on with nostalgia. My photography clients are so vulnerable with me so I feel it’s incredibly important for me to share in return. Thank you so much for reading my unmedicated home birth experience.  

All images were captured by my dear friend and fellow photographer Annie Lemon with Annie lemon photography. 

Connect with me!

Casey Louise is a motherhood photographer capturing maternity, newborn and family photography in Seattle and surrounding cities; Bellevue, Redmond, Woodinville, Bothell, Edmonds, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Monroe and North Bend Washington.

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