Can birth photos help you?
I’m constantly trying to tell people about the astounding shift that happens at the very moment a mother’s baby is finally born. There’s a mind-boggling amount of things going on in your baby’s body (and your own body), but that’s info for another time. I’m talking about your immediate, personal experience.
There is this minute of your life where you are doing the most intense, hardest thing you have ever done and then in that same minute you suddenly are experiencing joy unlike anything you’ve ever known.
The pain is gone and instead you have your new child in your arms.
There are so many ways that can play out and different ways people describe it, but the essence is the same: You do an astonishingly big and wonderful thing in your body and there is a specific moment when your baby who was not born is now out in the world.
And it’s like…
What just happened?
And really, we could ask ourselves that about the whole birth. What just happened??
There’s so much. So. Much.
How do you process it all? The emotions, the series of events, the timing, how things looked, who was there and what they were doing, the positions you tried, how you were supported and cared for, the adjustments to the plan, your baby and all those first firsts. It all adds up to your birth experience, but you were probably intensely focused on what was going on with your body and maybe even had your eyes closed for a lot of it. And when you’re done, you’re so tired.
I’m a big fan of telling birth stories. It helps so much to say what we experienced. Even when I was there, I love to hear the birth story from the parents’ perspective.
And then there’s birth photos.
I love their beauty and how birth photos help us remember. I love the way they help us see and cherish. But one more huge thing they do is they help us process.
Birth photos can help us clarify our story. Fill in the gaps and see what we didn’t see. And it also allows us the space to return to the emotions. To go through the story in a more intimate way than our words alone can do.
I’ll be honest, sometimes that’s a hard thing to do. But it can also be a freeing thing. And it can be a precious and beautiful thing.
Of course everyone wants pictures of the baby, and rightfully so, but don’t forget that on this day you are going to shine. Don’t ignore your incredible work. You are valuable. You are something special. Your birth is important and there is no reason not to celebrate it with amazing art of what you have done as you welcome your child into the world. It will help you on the hard days. It will give you joy on the good ones.
If you’re wondering if you should hire a professional photographer for this, read here.
If you want to take the next step in making this happen for you, contact me here.
