A Planned Vacuum Extraction because of Mom's Brain Tumor | Oahu Hawaii Birth Photographer

I’m sharing an incredible story with you today.

This young mom has an inoperable brain tumor that she has had to live with since her teenage years. When she got pregnant the first medical advice was to terminate because of the intense cranial pressure a delivery would cause. Her partner and her said no and found a doctor that would be on board with looking for a better alternative. I’ve talked about how I love working alongside Dr. Bhattacharyya before but this birth left me soaring.

They made a plan to put Alana on an epidural early on so that contractions and pain wouldn’t cause her cranial pressure to rise and to let her labor down completely so that Dr. B could attach the vacuum extractor and pull baby out without her having to push one single time.

You might ask why a cesarean wasn’t considered? Cesareans are major surgeries and the anesthesia cocktail might have been different. All the doctors were super cautious about Alana’s condition and all worked together to facilitate a safe vaginal birth for her and her baby.

It took 11 more hours from the cervical check that told us she was 9cm dilated and fully effaced for the birth to happen, but the plan worked and baby Bobbie Ilihia was born with one huge pull by Dr. B. I’m incredibly thankful that he allowed me to shoot the vacuum extraction so if you’ve never seen one please scroll down to see this amazing medical feat that helped this family have a perfect, healthy baby girl (and mama only had a very small tear!).

Thank you Alana and Darron for letting me share your story with the world 🖤