My Grace celebrated her 9th birthday a few weeks ago, and as a tradition, my kids like to hear the story of their birth on their birthdays. Grace’s was quite memorable as she was a water birth (the first in the hospital in Illinois I delivered at) and she was my biggest baby, topping the scales at 10 pounds 9 ounces. She was also my first and only birth where someone was snapping photos during the birth. Sure, Bill always had a camera, but most times, it was me or a nurse reminding him to actually take some well after the baby had arrived. I had the luxury of having 2 midwives present during Grace’s birth, and so one was busy snapping photos for us. The idea of birth photos was something I never considered and really thought I wouldn’t want those type of photos. When my midwife asked about photographing it, I was okay with it, but figured it’d just be for their benefit and I wouldn’t want those photos. Then they handed me the images the next day and they have become some of my most treasured photos. Not even from a professional, just capturing some pretty amazing moments. They are not something on display, just tucked away for myself really (well, aside from the one I’ll share with the entire world on the internet.. ha!). I’m pretty good at remembering the details of my births, but as the years fly by, not all of them are remembered… so to have these tangible pieces is priceless to me.
(not so great scan)
I think that’s one of the reason I’m so passionate about birth photography and love it so much. My kids LOVE hearing their stories, but I feel like Grace is extra lucky to be able to have an image or two to SEE her birth story. I love helping parents tell their birth stories, to remember all the little details and emotions from such an important part of their history. It’s the one thing I really wish NOW I had for each of my kids. And I’m a very private birther, which can be a hesitancy in hiring/having a birth photographer. Jodie & I both understand this, and truly become flies on the wall to captures those details, without being intrusive. Or if you need someone to chat with to distract you, we know how to do that to! Ha! So I urge all the expectant mommies to consider hiring a birth photographer to capture your story. A professional would be the best option, but at the very least having someone extra, not Dad who should be focusing on living in the moment…. because, even as much as I see the technical issues in mine, and know they could have been so awesome, they are still completely treasured!
That is awesome that you have that picture of Grace’s birth. I too probably would have probably been hesitant to have photos of my births, but then I realized that was going to be half of Elijah’s lifetime and that made me step outside of my comfort zone. Now, there are no regrets. I cherish those NILMDTS photos you both took. Now I can’t wait to see what you guys capture when Sam arrives here in the next month! The pure emotion that you guys caught in my birth pictures with Elijah was amazing. Feel so blessed to have you guys photograph 2 of my 3 births, now I just wish I would have known you two back when Ray was born!
Amazing! What a gift to share this picture. Beautiful