The tremendous Tammie Thomas with her daughter's Autumne (16) and Tarasoulfia (almost 12). Tammie is mom to 7 in total, 5 of which she has given birth to - Ashley (30) and Jerr (27) {her bonus children} and August (19), Aaron (would be 17), and Jazper (9). Tammie is a childhood sexual abuse survivor and struggled with finding strength and power in her body for a long time. She has gotten there now and on her bucket list was doing something such as this to celebrate. She is driven to create a space in which other women can heal from sharing her story.
Tammie didn't become a mother until a bit later in life than many, she gave birth to her first at 34 and her last just before turning 47. Her first pregnancy and birth were easy and uncomplicated. Tammie struggled to connect with her second son until about two weeks, she enjoyed those two weeks feeling connected to him before he was born. Sadly, Aaron was stillborn due to small c incompatibility and Tammie was warned against having any more children. She feels his presence around her always and says that she knew her two daughters were coming because of him. Her first daughter's birth was an emergency cesarean at 36 weeks under general anesthesia due to Placenta Previa and Tammie traumatically lost 3/4 of her blood volume. Once she got over the hurdle of her blood transfusion, her recovery was surprisingly easy. Four years later, Tara was conceived and Tammie knew that she was going to be an unassisted homebirth. Her birth went well and while she had hoped to have a lotus birth, three hours after Tara arrived her placenta had still not come out. She was losing blood and had to call and ambulance which was a horrible experience for her. Her son Jaz was a surprise and with him she had an easy pregnancy very much like her first. He was born at home with midwife assistance.
Tammie has breastfed all of her children. August nursed until about a year, she pumped and donated Aaron's milk to babies with AIDS and/or born with drug addictions after his death, Autumn and Tara nursed for about 2.5 years and Jazper weaned shortly before his third birthday.
We are honored to have captured this time of triumph, beauty and celebration in Tammie's life.