Birth of Harmony
by Ariel BK
On Saturday, November 9, 2019, I had my first contraction at 10:33pm. Contractions continued from this point onward, throughout the rest of the evening and into Sunday morning, lasting about 30 seconds, about 10-20 minutes apart. All day Sunday, these contractions increased in intensity and in consistency, though I still managed to hike up a hill to get my last pregnancy Photoshoot in (at exactly 40 weeks)…
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By 7pm, there was no doubt that I was in active labor; the contractions were roaring, as was I, and by 5:17am on November 11, 2019 (11/11✨) Harmony Riot was born of a home water birth, weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and measuring 19.25 inches in length.
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The sun began to rise 🌞 right upon the birth of my placenta, as Benny and I laid with our beautiful daughter in the company of my mom and our incredible midwife and medical assistant. I learned I did not need a doula to do what the wisdom of my Womban body knew and had always known how to do. I don’t believe that I could have felt more empowered throughout the duration of this labor as I did.
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Throughout each phase, my deepest strength was challenged. My body entered a state of ketosis in active labor and my birth team gently forced me to eat, as my body had essentially begun eating itself. My “water” (amniotic sac) hadn’t broken until some point near the moment of birth, even after several manual attempts by my midwife, each in the midst of a brutal contraction.
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I vomited, I defecated, I chuckled, and I wept; I purged, in whole surrender, as I prepared to. And in all of my mental, physical, & spiritual exhaustive efforts, Harmony and I conquered our births, each of us, reborn into a new life as mother and daughter.
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I now hold a newfound level of respect and gratitude for Womben and I am sincerely privileged and humbly honored to walk this Earth so fiercely in this Divine Feminine Essence.
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My dharma is to raise you, Harmony Riot, in the consciousness of this Essence which lives and breathes inside of you. I love you from the depths of my being and I will model to you how to love yourself above all else and then offer that love to the world 🌎
WOMBen… take your power back, reclaim your birth, you just might hold more strength than you realize… I bow to you, Namaste 🙏