The beautiful Dani Boettcher White {currently 7.5 weeks pregnant} and her daughter Ophelia (5). Dani had been training to be a midwife herself when she learned she was pregnant with her daughter. The pregnancy came as a surprise and even though she and her now husband had been together for awhile, they needed to spend some time sorting out whether or not they would parent, and if they did, if they would do it together. By early second trimester they were all in and haven't looked back since.
Dani had a healthy pregnancy and planned to birth at home. She had a team of three midwifes, her husband, mother and sister present for the birth. Her mom had come in early and was scheduled to fly home the following day which left Dani a bit stressed that the baby hadn't arrived yet. She and her husband headed out for a date and her mucous plug came out but she didn't tell anyone. They made it through dinner and a movie back at home with just a couple of contractions but as they all got ready for bed, a contraction brought Dani to the floor. She knew the baby was coming and hoped in the shower as her sister went to tell her mom, knowing she'd be thrilled. Dani called the midwives over sensing things were moving quickly, and labored into the early morning hours. She pushed for two hours, getting stuck at a crown for about 15 minutes and her midwife had to help her cervix out of the way a bit which was quite uncomfortable, before Ophelia was born without complication around 3:00am. Dani says that she wanted quiet through her labor and had asked everyone to be quiet when the baby was born but the second Ophelia came out, the room erupted in cheers and her daughter joined the chorus before she was all the way out.
Breastfeeding went well and their only real hiccup along the way was a bout of thrush around Ophelia's first birthday. They continued to nurse until her second birthday, which had been Dani's goal and when she reached it, realized she was ready to be done.
Dani says that as a women who gets to see and support other women during the most vulnerable and the most empowering moments of their lives, she has been amazingly influenced in her own perspective as a woman and mother. She wants her daughter to grow in an environment where positivity is modeled and she isn't picking up negative self talk, where nudity is normalized and bodies are empowered. She hopes to succeed in that perspective personally and in turn, continue to pass it along to the women she works with as well as her own children.