One beautiful day, Camilla and I drove to the Oregon coast and planted ourselves down on the sand overlooking the ocean. After we had settled in with our snacks and picnic blankets, we picked our chit chatting back up, something we do with glee and ease whenever we hang out. At some point in the conversation Camilla told me she was pregnant. She also asked if I would be her Midwife. As she was talking I was seeing her turn a bright traffic light glowing orange, first her head and hands, then her chest and arms. I knew I was seeing her aura, but this was different than any other time I have seen an aura. Historically when I see auras, it has been confined  to heads and hands, and lasts for up to 10 -15 seconds. She kept on talking, I was not really hearing the words as the aura grew past her body out a few feet. She was a bright orange glowing vision, this lasted for a whole 30 minutes! 

Below are the photos that Camilla and I took of each other at the beach during the aura event. I didn't know the photo of me existed until the writing of this article. Camilla sent it to me with this: "that was my view of you radiant as I was blinding you 🌞"

There was no question. I had my answer, my heart was open and the message was clear. I didn't even ask for time to go home and think about it. I just knew the answer was yes and that spirit was leading the way. I interpreted and felt the color of the aura as spirit telling us that this being was full of passion, light, happiness and purpose. The color was like the sun. Being a TAROT reader, I also saw the Sun card being represented. The foundational meaning of the Sun card is that a new path is being illuminated.

And to you, dear reader, what else do you see in the Sun card?! 

As Camilla’s pregnancy progressed, there were many other moments of spirits' presence and guidance. When there was doubt, when there was fear, when there were challenges, we had not only reason, science & calculations but we also had an added layer of information from our collected intuitions and messages to help make decisions and allay those fears and doubts. 

Camilla felt from early on in the pregnancy that the date the baby would be born was going to be April 11th. The whole birth team had this date in our calendars, along with the 'official' estimated due date of April 13th. She also was in tune with her own desire to have the baby be an Aries, and not a Taurus. Which always made sense to me since Aries is a fire sign and well you know the story about the orange aura! Camilla recounts messages she received and a big event leading up to the birth. 

"I had been telling you that I thought the baby was going to be coming on 4/11 for months because we had all these signs. We had hotel room assignments, the aisles on airplanes, the totals of bills, all ending in 4/11." 

I recall Camilla just knowing from the very beginning, and that the signs just kept coming to validate 4/11. 

"Then the ice storm happened on 4/10. And on 4/11 we didn’t have road access to our house." 

This was a big storm and Camilla lives up a road that winds through a forest. Trees and live power lines were down, and the power was out.  Camilla had been contracting for a couple of days and was heading into early labor when the storm hit! And as we all know, stressful events can stop and delay labor, which this event did not fail to do. Linda Bennett, the other midwife,   and I decided we should get all of our birth supplies to the house, and set up, so that if we still did not have car access to the house when Camilla went into labor, at least we could walk in and everything would be there. 

"On 4/11 you came over to get everything set up. And knowing who the baby is now it makes sense that he played some tricks on us and made me wait just like he made us wait to skip Aries and be a Taurus." 

And then there was the extraordinary marking on the baby's forehead when he was born. It was of course Camilla who first noticed it. A big round red circle outlined by white vernix and the lines on the baby's forehead completed the horns to be the Taurus symbol! He skipped being an Aries by less than 24 hours.. I still get goosebumps when recounting the story. Was the 4/11 message Camilla kept getting actually going to be Mackenzie's birthday or was it a warning about the ice storm? I believe it was both. This is an example where spirit guides and the baby got Camilla's attention to be prepared for something. We were all prepared and went with the flow.

Back to when the birth team arrived at the house with Camilla laboring…

One of the first things was to make sure Camilla and baby were doing fine. I was trained to always work with a second midwife, so there were two of us. Both of us had our handy timex watches, the old fashioned ones with a second hand and a button that illuminates the face of the watch in the dark but is not bright enough to disturb a person in labor. We both habitually wore them from beginning to end while attending births as we were trained to do. We took the fetal heart tones, made sure everyone was taken care of, left Camilla and her doula in the bedroom and went to set up for the birth. 

The next time I went to listen to heart tones, I could not find my watch, anywhere. Which was very odd because of a 23 year habit of always wearing it on my left wrist through births. After I realized it was not to be found, I asked Linda, the other midwife, to use her watch. She laughed and said that it had just dropped on the floor and exploded into many little pieces. We both immediately knew, this was a message. It was so far out of left field as to not be, and I would be remiss if I did not mention, do not underestimate spirits sense of humor! 

It very quickly became clear that the message was to not be attached to how long this birth was going to take. 

This did not mean to not listen to heart tones, that would not be rational. In my experience, spirit does not give guidance that is dangerous or potentially harmful, it always comes from love, and for the best and highest good. 

So we found a digital clock, and proceeded with our duties. 

Linda has a gift that I do not have, she communicates with the babies. At one point Camilla's baby showed Linda that they were not ready to be born yet, as they were having fun upstairs playing with their big brother, Maverick. This further validated the missing and exploding watches. 

The birthing process proceeded with those valuable messages in the forefront and all went beautifully. 

Camilla wanted to make sure I did not leave out of this story that her baby and I are birthday twins! When a baby is born on the Midwife's birthday, I understand that as a big thank you from the baby, from spirit and it is truly an honor. 

My hope for you, reader, is that you enjoyed this article and possibly a validation and recognition of your own gifts.

Special thanks to Camilla for permitting us to share her birthing story and photos with y’all!