Welcoming Monroe | Birth Photography: Witnessing a Water Birth
I arrived at Heather and Matt’s home to find her greeting me on all fours in the floor of the foyer, mid-contraction. In that instant, I knew I was about to witness something like I’d never seen before.
For the next eight hours, my attention became completely engrossed in documenting, in the most authentic way I could, the unfolding of that day.
Here’s a photojournalistic story of Monroe’s journey into the world…
“Whether you're a mom of one or a mom of ten, you choose baby formula or you breastfeed, you stay at home, you go to work, you feed your kid a vegan diet, you give them popcorn and popsicles, we are all apart of the same club. Motherhood. We all understand. We feel the lack of sleep and the loss of memory together. We feel the overwhelming happiness, love, and the exciting firsts. We all chose to bring a baby into our world and forever change what our days look like. The joys, the stresses, the coffee, the wine, the tears, the thousands of diapers and piles of laundry. We willingly gave up an enormous piece of ourselves, our freedom, in exchange for selflessly caring for someone else. That makes us all united.
We are all one in the same, experiencing so many of the same hurdles and indescribable moments of happiness. We are a sisterhood, a lifelong sorority. We share unspoken understanding and empathy. I feel it all the time. Instant acceptance, an instant friend. No matter what our differences are, we are still connected in a huge way. An understanding smile as we pass each other in a restaurant with temperamental children. This sisterhood is forever. This is Le motherhood.”
- Heather Grimm, Le Motherhood Blog
Heather is one of my most favorite people. We met a couple of years ago through several mutual connections, and since that moment, I’ve felt like I’ve known her my entire life. Yes, I realize this sounds a little insane fangirl, but Y’ALL, I can’t help but gush over women who are positive and uplifting role models. She’s a wildly artistic, beautifully articulated mama who keeps it real, humble, and practical with her poised execution of this adventurous rollercoaster that is womanhood. From recipes to educational tools, creative ideas for family activities and home decor, to just simply blending the messy and the beautiful of everyday life, Heather is a mover and shaker when it comes to inspiration and connection in motherhood.
Heather asked me to document her birth and I had no clue just how much it would move me to my core. Let me clarify. With every single birth I’ve witnessed it feels as though I gain a little more appreciation for the beautiful and powerful gift it is to be a woman. WE MAKE HUMANS, and seeing that played out in real life along with some of the most organic emotion found in this human experience, is well, pretty stinking breathtaking.
Upon receiving a text from Heather early that Monday morning letting me know that labor might be in the coming hours, I got myself ready in case the “it’s time” text came soon. A few hours later, I arrived at Heather and Matt’s home to find her greeting me on all fours in the floor of the foyer, mid-contraction. In that instant, I knew I was about to witness something like I’d never seen before. That is exactly what happened.
For the next eight hours, my attention became completely engrossed in documenting, in the most authentic way I could, the unfolding of that day. Heather has also chronicled the entire experience, hour by hour, from her perspective on her blog here. If you’re curious about the honest details and happenings of birth and other motherhood topics, you’ll probably find it fascinating and insightful.
Here’s a photojournalistic story of Monroe’s journey into the world…
9:45am: I arrive to Heather and Matt’s home. Her contractions are strong and she’s timing their frequency. She and Matt grab the last few things from the house, kiss Pryor goodbye, and make their way to the car in-between contractions.
10:10am: After a few stops to reposition herself in the car and work through contractions, Heather is in the back seat of their SUV. I see her crouched and working through contractions as I follow them in my car, the whole time eyes glued with curiosity on what she’s experiencing in the car in front of me.
10:45am- We park and head up to the Alternative Birthing Center at Ochsner Baptist. We are ready for the moment of truth: the cervical check. It felt like everyone in the room was holding their breath. Heather is 7cm dialated. She and Matt breathe a sigh of relief as this indicates that they’ve made it past a part of laboring that provided a traumatic experience with her first pregnancy. You can read more details about this in her post.
11:00am- Heather gets in the tub, where she anticipated she’d be most comfortable during the next part of labor. The room is peaceful and jovial as Heather and Matt exchange jokes. Matt feeds her fresh fruit, her doula provides some calming lavender essential oils, and her entire team encourages her with words of praise and affirmation.
11:00-12:00pm- Contractions continue getting stronger and more intense. Matt and her doula, also named Heather, hold her hand through every contraction. Her doula also keeps an ice cold rag with lavender essential oil on her neck and face.
12:28pm: My eyes feel glued open to all that’s happening in front of them as Heather works through the increasing intensity of each contraction. At a point during this time, I could see her transition into a place where her body seemed to take some sort of natural control. Her water breaks. The next few moments fluctuate with rapid moments of intensity. Heather’s midwife tells her that with the next push she’s going to reach down and grab her baby. My eyes are still glued wide open. With the next push Heather catches Monroe in her hands, the vivid intensity of the moment painted on her face better than any words could articulate…
12:30-2:30pm- Heather climbs out of the tub and onto the bed where they wait for the placenta to be birthed, still attached to Monroe. In the words of Heather, “Seeing them connected is such a wild experience! His little lifeline, still attached to him. SO COOL.” Matt then cuts the cord almost 20 minutes after the birth and the placenta is preserved for encapsulation.
Heather and Matt spend the next hours enjoying the pure bliss that is their newly changed life and introduce Pryor to his baby brother, Monroe.
A few weeks later I received a handwritten note from Heather in the mail that further reached in and touched pieces of my soul. In the most delicately written words strewn together, she shared with me what the photographs of that morning meant to her and Matt:
“Our birth photos are more than just documentation. They are highly personal and emotional for us because of how life-changing of an experience that was for our family, of course, but they are also so much more!
We found ourselves discussing, analyzing, deeply appreciating individual photos throughout the gallery. The art you’ve created is similar to that of a painting in a physical gallery. The angles, the framing, what you chose to include in each shot, the mindfulness. The importance of what you didn’t include, perfectly choosing which moments would be better suited for monochromating imagery, the expressions, the details, the genuine human interactions.”
What she wrote gave my heart something that I’ll cherish forever.
Demi | Baton Rouge Birth + Motherhood Photography
Demi's birth day was full of beautiful human connection, support, and love. As Duston held Deirdre's hand through every painful contraction and kissed her forehead every-so-often for supporting reassurance, I found myself watching from the other side of the room with the most content grin painted on my face.
I hope you enjoy a glimpse into some of the intense, quiet, and love-filled moments captured during Demi's first few days in this world...
“If time has taught me anything, it’s that our differences are what makes this life unique. None of us are exactly like the other, and that is a good thing because there’s no right way to be. The room mom, the working mother, the woman without children, the retired grandma, the mom who co-sleeps, the mama who bottle -fed her baby, the strict mom, the hipster mom, the one who lets her kid go shoeless, or the one who enrolls her baby in music enrichment classes at birth--whoever, whatever, you are, you’re adding spice and texture and nuance into this big beautiful soup of modern-day parenting.”
Girl, Wash Your Face - Rachel Hollis
I could sit here and blab in a multitude of pieced together words about the scope of emotion I've felt over the past few months, learning so much about myself, life, love, family, and entrepreneurship, but no words could truly articulate how overwhelmingly beautiful the learning experience has been.
Demi's birth day was full of beautiful human connection, support, and love. As Duston held Deirdre's hand through every painful contraction and kissed her forehead every-so-often for supporting reassurance, I found myself watching from the other side of the room with the most content grin painted on my face. There's something about the various ways that partners show support for one another during births that sends a reminder to the core of what life's about. Similar to the ethereal feeling that comes over me when couples recite custom-written vows to one another, it's just one of those moments where I feel like I have to pinch myself and ask if it's real life that I make my living documenting moments that make people feel in such monumental ways. I could not be happier than to be where I am right now, in this moment.
I hope you enjoy a glimpse into some of the intense, quiet, and love-filled moments captured during Demi's first few days in this world...
Welcoming Rodge | Baton Rouge Birth Photographer
After the weeks leading up to Rodge's birth, the moments scaling in emotion in the hospital room, and spending a few hours hanging with them when they were settled back home after his birth, I left feeling like I truly connected with them as a family, documenting this beautiful budding season of life with raw authenticity.
Here are those days...
“Good news! Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow you’ll count to ten before you lose your temper, and maybe they’ll eat every bite of the dinner you made and say something so hilarious you’ll think, Man people without kids are totally missing out! You will experience every kind of day as a mama, and you will need to accept the grab bag of good, bad, ugly, awesome, magical, and miserable days as a parent. You don’t have to get it right all the time. You don’t have to do things like anybody else’s mom.
You only have to care.”
Girl, Wash Your Face - Rachel Hollis
As I've taken on a new realm of photography with birth photojournalism, it's been such an exhilarating journey. From the hours of connection, quiet, and vulnerable moments during laboring, to the sleepless and unsure first days of parenting, we have several weeks of fairly consistent communication and time spent together. By my clients keeping in such contact with me about their unique journey, feelings, and even struggles during this time, it allows me to truly enter into their lives, hospital rooms, and homes with my role as a quiet observer.
Before contacting me to document their birth, I knew Sarah and Justin only as acquaintances and sibling-in-laws to a close friend of mine. After the weeks leading up to Rodge's birth, the moments scaling in emotion in the hospital room, and spending a few hours hanging with them when they were settled back home after his birth, I left feeling like I truly connected with them as a family, documenting this beautiful budding season of life with raw authenticity.
Here are those days...
