jaslyn birth

I have had the honor of photographing my dear friend, Jaslyn for a few years now. It has been one of the greatest delights watching her step into motherhood with boldness and grace. Her story has been nothing short of glorious redemption. With her third pregnancy, God gave her a burden to reshape and rethink the journey of bringing a life into the world. She fully embraced the process of letting faith rule her decisions. This included gathering women together from all walks of life to pray and walk alongside her. She advocated for communal motherhood - raising kids truly takes a village and should take a village. No one is meant to do this alone. Her vulnerability is opening up doors for mothers to see the beauty of trust in community and in God to do what He created them to do.

This is her story. And the fruit of radical obedience to God…

“Birth, to me, includes the story of the pregnancy as well, so that is where I’ll start.

This pregnancy, has been a learning journey.. and parenting while pregnant, well… I like to repeat often that “parenting is a purifying process” (that is, if you let it be) 

In this pregnancy, the Lord redefined health, safety, and comfort for me. He gave me a burden for Communal Motherhood, Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum and guided me through it all. He revealed the beauty in vulnerability and asked me to dive in… and in I jumped…

The relationship I had with my Heavenly Father during this time broke something in me. my sense of pride? .. my comfort zone? .. my idea of what my life *should* look like?.. it was probably all three, but when He takes or breaks something, and we ask Him to put His “sense”, “zone”, or “idea”, there is true change. There, is where the deeper work begins to happen. There, is where something new starts. Or maybe, where something sacred and old comes back into being.”

I don’t want to go in depth here, of why I chose a “free birth”, or “wild pregnancy” not because it’s too personal, but because I want to share person to person, not screen to screen. And also because my goal in this post is not to get anyone to choose this, but instead to simply share an experience.

Towards the end of my pregnancy with Lydia, I was mentally preparing myself to make it a few weeks after my due date.. although something in me pushed for getting everything ready by 36 weeks.. so right after getting back from Colorado, a Mother Blessing was planned and my organizing for birth and postpartum really hit… at about 35 weeks we got to celebrate Motherhood all together with a Mother Blessing.

The Lord gave me a specific desire towards every person who I invited to my birth, and because I know His ways are so much better, I did just that, I invited them.. 

The list came out to 17 women who I was honored to call my Birth Keepers.

I didn’t know what was going to happen, I had no idea… my house did not feel big enough for 17 women, my laboring self, my husband, and my two toddlers.. all I knew is it that I loved all of these women, they loved me, and I needed to trust the process, I needed to jump into this Communal Birthing process before I encouraged anyone else to think about doing the same. 

We were blessed to get a picture with all of these women together minus one. (my beautiful sister who lives in a different state)

I was also honored to sit down the day before and make these 17 flower crowns with my mom and mother-in-love for all of these women in my life.. 

The weeks were flying by but the last days of “any day now” were so daunting.. 

I was optimistic and focused on my body and my home.. praying and preparing my mind, and nourishing family and my baby inside of me, and organizing support for postpartum were my top priorities.. 

Just 3 days before labor my dear friend Kenna and I planned a maternity shoot.. little did I know that baby would be here before the next week started!

The last days of pregnancy were filled with normalities of life and gentle “happenings” there was no stop and start labor like my previous two, there was no fear, there was no timeline, and there was no rush. 

We started preparing the birth space and hanging up all of the birth affirmations from the weeks before 

*BIRTH DETAILS* (in depth and raw birth details and pictures included)

Sunday Dec 4th, 2022 -- 39 weeks pregnant

The day had arrived, my Labor Day.. though I did not know it, I was waking up to the day that I would go in to labor with our third baby..

The day prior I had triggered my sciatic nerve and my body needed to get back in line, so decided to stay home from church that Sunday.. it was a perfectly cold day.. the only thing different with my body was that I lost more of my mucous plug but this time, it came with a bloody show. 

This was the first labor I have had anything like this as a sign of labor, and since I didn’t have any other signs, I was aware it could the day, but definitely not convinced.. 

The day went on like normal and since moving around helped my sciatic nerve, I decided to deep clean my house.. I swept and mopped everything.. even my stairs! LOL

By the time the kids went down for a nap in the afternoon, I was ready to sit down and become more in tune with my body, I continued to have bloody show all day and started to realize that the day is probably drawing near.. 

Troy had worked the last couple weeks on putting a claw foot tub and an on demand water heater on the balcony for my postpartum time, and today was the first time we got to use it.. 

After the bath, and a little more fun together… contractions started to appear.. I decided it was just because of the day and all the various activities but was still keeping Troy aware of my symptoms..

At about 3pm My mom came and got the kids to give us some time together and we went on a walk up to the shop to air up my birth ball for me to have a good seat for my sciatic nerve.. it took me such a long time to actually decide I was I labor!

The walk and the few contractions I had, gave Troy the idea to get out the birth pool and finish setting up the space.. everything died down and the kids came home at about 6pm and we had dinner and got them ready for bed…

By this time (around 6:30) I had informed by Birth Keepers to be aware something or nothing could happen that night.. 

I was still having contractions but I never timed them because I didn’t want to get in the headspace of tracking anything.

I tried laying down when the kids did around 8pm and that’s when I noticed that maybe this was the night.. I couldn’t lay down because it made the contractions worse so I came back downstairs and Troy and I started playing mancala.. we drank tea, he cleaned up the house, and we opened up our hearts to each other and to the birth experience.. there was no one to decide I was in labor except for me.. It  was a beautiful thing. 11/11:30 pm, I decided it was time, this was it, Labor is happening.. Troy made three calls.

By midnight everyone had made it, there were 13 women there supporting me, my husband at my side, my 2 sleeping children in our home, and very soon, another life would be joining us..

December 5th 2022…

IT WAS HARD to make the call, to invite people in, to be vulnerable, and to let my guard down.. 

I had opened up and invited, everyone was there, and I heard the Lord ask, “Now do you want to open to *everything* I have planned for you in this?”

I came out of the bathroom and there was a circle of women praying. 

A circle of life, love, and support.

I stepped in and released any fear rising up in me, the fear of being naked, loud, vulnerable, failure, unknown.. all of it. I wanted to be open.

From that point on, there was no fear me, not once did I become scared or anxious.. Thank you Jesus.

After we prayed, I welcomed touch, different laboring positions, and anyone’s water or tea offer. 

My labor was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Even now, with my almost 2 month old baby laying on my chest, the joy and peace of her birth is so tangible…

I labored downstairs with everyone’s support until about 1:30 am (I think) with things moving quickly but very manageable. 

I soon moved upstairs into the birthing pool at 2:15 and enjoyed a birth pause, the contractions slowed and I regained my energy by beginning to take little naps in between contractions.

*RAW BIRTH PHOTOS AHEAD* 

I could feel my cervix opening and my waters bulging.. it was so encouraging but I also was so ready to trust the process and not rush anything.

The kids stayed asleep right until about 20 minutes before she was born, such a blessing. 

I felt the intensity building in the pool and realized that it was too hot to push so we started cooling it down and using a cold rag.. intensity kept building and contractions were becoming painful…

I knew what was coming next, my least favorite part.. she was coming through my pelvis and it felt like by bones in my hips were being opened.. this is when Troy encouraged me to get out of the water and let gravity help.. I reluctantly agreed, knowing that it truly would help.. at 2:45am I got out and moved over to the edge of the bed..

All the moving triggered back to back contractions (definitely the worst 10 minutes of this labor for me) but it helped her down and I gave one big push and my water broke instantly and she dropped down. 2:49am

All the adrenaline kicked in and I got my second wind, phew! That part was over and I felt so ready to meet this baby!

I make it back into the pool and tell everyone that I love them. 

I ask for Jed to be there (I think he was downstairs at that moment) and I started pushing.

2:53 am

I was so aware that my body could do this without me forcing her out so I pushed her out as slow as I could to allow everything to stretch slowly.

We could see the head slowly starting to appear at around 2:55 am and she was born at 3:02 am, Our baby GIRL! Lydia Lee-Ellen Klaassen

18 of us closely gathered around supporting one another, worshipping the Lord, and welcoming new life… nothing short of miraculous.

**RAW BIRTH PHOTOS**

Soon after she was born, Troy got in a held our newly born child while I delivered the placenta, then both kids got a turn in the water with us…

I made it over to my cozy bed where I was fed and given tea and water, and covered with warm towels and blankets..

I little while later we cut the cord and weighed (6.8lbs) and measured her..

Then, as a family of five, the house became quiet, and we all fell asleep, well mostly everyone.. I dozed in and out while nursing and falling in love with my new baby…

0-2 weeks Post-Partum was everything that I had prayed for.. the support and love I received is what I pray every woman can experience after birth..

Thank you Jesus for new life. I pray that through all of this, You are glorified. 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask ✨💕 @jaslynklaassen

I would also like to thank my mom, my mother in love, Tessa, Jessica, Shay, Lindsy, Emily, Ana, Piper, Kenna, Amber, Andi, and Myah for supporting our family during this beautiful experience.. and for all of you who have continued to help before and after birth. Thank you all 💕"