Beautiful natural birth at Cape Town Mediclinic | Luka

As with every unique birth, documenting baby Luka’s birth was an incredible experience…

First-time parents, Debra and Francois, contacted me early in the morning to let me know they were on their way to Cape Town Mediclinic, sure that the baby was well on his way.

We were all travelling from Durbanville and had to make our way into town via the N1. Thankfully, the soon-to-be-parents missed the morning peak hour traffic. As fate would have it, I was not so lucky…

I got stuck in the longest traffic jam in the history of long traffic jams… Throughout my journey to the hospital, we kept in constant touch. In contrast to my painfully slow progress, the labor was coming along nicely.

I listening to the radio as a distraction, calming my nerves and trying to put it out of my mind that I might not make it in time (It happens! Time, tide and babies wait for no man!). They were interviewing a South African couple who were in China at the time of the Covid-19 outbreak. The general consensus was that it was just some crazy flu and everyone is simply overreacting. I don’t think I will ever forget that strange moment - stuck in traffic on the way to Luka’s birth, hearing about Covid for the very first time…

After two hours, I finally crawled out of the traffic and made it to the hospital. On time!!!

I found Debra in the halls - pacing with her drip in tow - praying for pain relief. Francois was all-hands-on-deck, supporting his wife through the contractions as best he could.

About an hour after I arrived, the pain relief arrived too, and an exhausted Debra could rest for a bit.

Finally, at 14:45, a healthy, beautiful Luka took his first breath. Needless to say, his elated parents could not have been prouder!

Welcome to the world, little guy!