Brisbane Wedding Photographer | Jonas Peterson | Australia | International

November 2006.

It was raining the night Noah was born. In a country in the middle of its worst drought in a 1000 years, the skies opened and drenched Melbourne in water. In the birth suite I could hear the rain pounding the windows with a rage I’ve never felt before. Of course there would be a flood the night Noah was born. The symbolism escaped no one. It was also obvious he had no plans to come out. It didn’t matter what we did, no creams or drips would force this little man to enter the stage this cold and rainy morning.

I had put a CD together with music both Jac and I love and for every time it went on repeat, I could see the doctors getting more and more concerned. To make matters worse, the whole room smelled of lavender, roses and lemon because of an oil burner a friend of ours had given us. On a heart monitor we could see Noah’s pulse go up and down because of all the drugs the doctors gave Jacqui.

The world smelled of lavender, roses and lemon.

And the rain kept falling.

The contractions got worse and worse, but Noah just wouldn’t budge. To the sounds of “It must be love”, I heard Jac whimper quietly, when the next song started she passed out.

It was an odd mix.

1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois – Sufjan Stevens
2. Scythian Empire – Andrew Bird
3. Hoppipolla – Sigur Ros
4. Fruit Tree – Nick Drake
5. Breathe – Alexi Murdoch
6. It must be love – Madness
7. Sister Winter – Sufjan Stevens
8. Odi et Amo – Johann Johannsson
9. Here’s to the future – Ken Stringfellow
10. Svefn G Englar – Sigur Ros
11. Hymn For Her – The Magic Numbers
12. Casmir Pulaski Day – Sufjan Stevens
13. Somewhere over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

And just like everything else that night made perfect sense, Noah was born to a song I’ve always loved. After 24 hours in hospital the midwife told Jacqui to push. After two quick ones, and less than ten minutes, our son popped out to the sounds of the most beautiful ukulele in the world. It was seven in the morning. As I looked out the window, the rain suddenly stopped, the sun appeared behind heavy clouds and I called my family in Sweden.

Noah is born.

The sun is shining.

It’s a wonderful world.

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