a beautiful beginning: Katherine Araba ‘Aalimah Micah’s birth story

Naimah & Kweku are such a beautiful couple and it was such a pleasure to witness Kate’s entrance into this world. This was my first experience with a couple who practiced hypnobirthing and it was amazing to watch Naimah’s determination & focus as she endured a very long labor and Kweku’s unwavering support. By the time I arrived at the hospital around 10:30am she was complete and feeling some urges to push, but baby Kate still did not arrive until around 2:30pm. And that was after they had already spent the entire night at the hospital with basically no sleep! Her arrival was such an emotional experience I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the room. Kweku was able to catch baby Kate as she came out and made the big announcement “It’s a GIRL!” (They did not want to find out the gender before the birth). They were both overcome with such emotion and immediately starting singing African lullabies to the new love of their lives. It was so precious! Mama chose to keep Kate skin-to-skin the entire time I was there, so I do not have any pictures of her getting weighed, etc., but Naimah emailed with her stats: a healthy 8 lbs 6.7 oz, 21 inches. Kate’s two middle names have a very special meaning as well: Araba- Traditional Ghanaian “day name” meaning “girl born on a Tuesday” and ’Aalimah- Arabic name meaning “scholar”. I hope you enjoy the slideshow with the special lullabye request from Naimah

10.11.11

Love, Kelly