Husband to the Midwife

Jeff Wyatt (Office Manager / Birth Photographer)

“When I was growing up as a kid, never did I think that I would end up working in a birth center, let alone becoming a birth photographer. Growing up, my lifelong dream was to be a pilot, which I did become while I was at Letourneau University in Longview, TX. So, how did I go from the aviation industry to the world of natural childbirth? Well, it’s simple, I married a midwife!

“After finishing at Letourneau University, I moved back home to Southern California. After being home for a few months, I ended up visiting some of my old colleagues at the aviation company I worked for prior to leaving for college. During this visit, I actually ended up talking to the general manger about a job opportunity. So, I filled out an application and was hired as the evening shift supervisor. And who else worked the evening shift? Yep, my future wife!

“Starting the first night we worked together, Alex and I would spend the last hour of our shift talking and really getting to know each other (and of course watching episodes of “Friends”).  One night, we were talking about our career ambitions, and I remember Alex telling me she wanted to be a midwife.  Full disclosure, I had no idea what a midwife was or what they did!  Since I was trying to impress Alex, I didn’t want her to know that I had no clue what a midwife was, so I pretended that I did, and that night after work, I went home and did an internet search to learn more about midwives.  Until that point, I had always thought babies were born in the hospital, since after all my mom had had two c-sections, which was considered ‘normal’ practice back in the day.  Well, I was fascinated to learn that babies can be born safely out of the hospital, and in some countries, midwives attending a birth was a normal practice.  Thus, my journey into the world of natural childbirth had begun!

“When Alex and I were starting our family, we both knew we wanted our kids to be born out of the hospital with midwives.  My first experience with an out-of-hospital birth was with our daughter Keira, who was born in a birth center in 2006.  I loved the freedom that Alex and I had to do our birth plan.  I felt involved in the whole process, and I loved being near Alex the entire time, encouraging and supporting her, as she gave birth to our daughter in the tub.

“When it came time for our son Hunter to be born, Alex was in the middle of her training to become a midwife, so we decided that a home birth was our best choice.  This time, I felt even more involved and confident, having gone through this once before.  During early labor, our midwife suggested that we take a long walk around our neighborhood while she watched Keira for us.  With each contraction Alex had while on our walk (which included a steep hill), our doula and I would take turns with Alex leaning forward on one of us, while the other supported her belly with a rebozo.  On one of the contractions, an elderly lady came out of her house and nervously asked if we were alright and if she should call an ambulance.  I looked right at her with a huge grin and said, ‘No, we’re good!  We’re just having a baby!’.  During this birth, we were both able to fit in the birth tub together, so I got to hold and support my amazing wife in my arms, as well as be right next to her as she birthed our son into her hands.  As you can see, I love our birth stories, and they are two experiences I will never forget.

“Ever since I met Alex, she has always been very passionate about being a midwife and natural childbirth.  Well, that same passion has since grown in me too.  Whether or not I am actively involved in your birth experience by capturing those moments for you with photography, I like knowing that I am still able to help make your experience as amazing as possible by maintaining the birth center, filing paperwork, or taking on whatever tasks needs to be completed, since this frees Alex up to focus on just being there for you!  

“When I’m not at the birth center, or working on Heritage work at home, I am a devoted husband, a dad of two teenagers, and a full-time zookeeper for our 5 cats and 3 dogs.  I also have a passion for nature and aviation photography, I am an avid sports fan, and Alex and I love quoting lines rom our two favorite TV shows ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’.

“One final note. As you get to know me you will learn that I absolutely love working side by side with my best friend in the entire world, and I love being the ‘husband to the midwife’!”