Home Birth Session | Washington DC Birth Photographer

It is crazy…even after all these years, when a mom begins to moan and breath her baby down, I feel the physical sensations of birthing a baby. I find myself holding my breath then breathing rhythmically. I feel a sense of panic mixed with determination and grit. And I have to remind myself that I’m the photographer (or doula) not the mom.

Most moms will get to the point during labor where they believe they can not go on. This birth was no exception. Birth brings you to the point where you truly believe you have nothing else to give.

But it isn’t true.

There is no way but through.

So I often reach down and hold momma’s hand and remind her that I was where she is. I didn’t think I could go on…. her mom was there, she didn’t think she could go on….and her grandmother, and every woman on earth who has born a baby has gotten to that point where she didn’t think she could give one more bit of herself to her baby.

And yet.

We all did.

And so she does.

And her baby is born.

While I watched this momma give birth, those feelings were amplified by the fact that 14 years ago to the day, I had given birth to my first baby. Seeing her bring her baby boy into the world, and watching her husband help her was an incredible blessing.