My first (amazing) experience as a birth photographer!

At some point after becoming pregnant and giving birth to my little guy, just over 1 1/2 years ago, I have, admittedly, become a bit obsessed with the miracle of life.  I, very fortunately, had a wonderful birth experience for which I am extremely thankful for.  Please don’t get me wrong, it was more challenging, both physically and emotionally, than I had ever imagined it would be.  That said, I had an strong support team surrounding me and an intimate natural birth experience at Valley Birthplace Birth Center.  Here is my birth story blog:  http://melissahassey.com/2012/08/im-a-momma/

After my experience, I realized that I truly wished that I had had photographs taken.  I was so very much in my own, very focused, “little world” during labor and I would have loved to re-live those moments again through photographs.  I began thinking that birth photography was something that I would want to pursue at some point.  Fast forward about a year…. I was managing a table at our community yard sale.  There I met a nice woman, Melissa.  She was interested in buying a few pregnancy books and we got to talking.  It turns out that she is a doula.  We exchanged cards and talked about cross-promoting each other.  (PLUG:  MELISSA FULLER DOULA SERVICES!).  Soon after meeting Melissa, her dear friends, Kelly & Joel, who were looking forward to birthing their baby at Valley Birthplace, contacted me and were interested in hiring me as their birth photographer (yay!).  Melissa would be their doula.

As Kelly’s due date came and went, I was anxious to get “the call”.  I left my phone on next to my bed for weeks.  The only day that we knew I couldn’t photograph was January 31st because I was contracted to photograph a wedding that day (blog: here).  As destiny would have it, my phone rang around 7am on the 31st.  It was Melissa.  Joel & Kelly were on their way to the birth center.  Ahhhhhhh!  My In-Laws were coming to watch Wesley at 10am.  I needed to leave for the wedding by 10:30am, at the latest.  I quickly called my sister who lives down the road and she was able to take care of Wesley until my In-Laws arrived.  I got dressed and ready at lightning speed and drove over to the birth center expecting to capture at least a little bit of Kelly’s labor, but certainly not the actual birth.  I was a bit bummed but also extremely excited.

To my surprise and delight, beautiful baby Charlotte Adeline was born right around 10:20am (10 minutes before I had to leave for the wedding!).  It was absolutely AMAZING!!  Kelly did such a fabulous job working through the contractions.  Her support team (or as she says “birth dream team”) was equally as impressive.  Having labored and birthed in the exact same hot tub and bed, I felt very connected to Kelly and the entire experience.

I truly still can’t believe that things worked out as they did.  Baby Charlotte must have really wanted her photograph taken that day to arrive in such a timely manner.  I literally ran out of the birth center minutes after the birth and headed to the wedding, shaking and full of adrenaline.  What a beautiful and eventful day it was!!

Here is the story from Kelly’s perspective, which I loved reading: http://kellyalberts.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-birth-of-charlotte-adeline.html

My main interest as a photographer is to experience life and to capture other people’s lives, preserving their memories, using my camera.  I’ve said it before, but can’t say it enough: I am constantly astonished by and grateful for the way that strangers allow me into their lives during such intimate times.  I am very thankful that this is my job.  I’m not smart enough to be a surgeon, I’m not rich enough to donate all of my time and money to great organizations, but photography…. yeah, I can do that.

Thank you again and again to Kelly, Joel, and, of course, little Charlotte.  You all are amazing.  Congratulations and enjoy every moment together!