It didn’t take long for me to get hooked on birth photography. My last 3 have been natural births and I can’t explain how much emotion comes out of such an experience. Candace (Mommy to Annslee Grayden) was like another big sister to me growing up. She was 4 years older than me and took me with her wherever she went before and after basketball practices. It evolved us becoming great friends and led to lots of rides in her red mustang and even a beach trip that was one to remember. Hah It’s always such a treat when someone that I grew up with gets married and has a baby. Getting to be there for the birth of her baby girl was surreal. I often tell my long time friends at newborn sessions or baby sessions that if you would have told me back then that I would be taking their baby’s pictures in 10+ years from then I would have NEVER believed you.

Well there we were! Sitting in a delivery room with her husband Evan, their son Christian, both sets of grandparents and several of her friends and other family members. In typical Candace fashion she was just sitting in indian style on the bed just chatting it up. No pain meds. No epidural. Makeup was on and hair was looking good. She literally laughed and giggled through the contractions. I didn’t expect anything less! We all encouraged her and reminded her that if she wanted an epidural to get it! Absolutely not!! She was doing this thing natural, and boy did she own it.

So we all sat around talking and watching Evan comfort her as best as a husband can during a natural labor. He was so good, so supportive and patient. Evan’s dad was a pro at fanning with a pillow and trying to keep her as comfortable as we could. Natural births are so different than
“normal”  births with epidurals. Standing there watching someone in such pain that you cannot take away or even relieve in any way. You want to say something that takes their mind off of it even for a second. But it’s mostly just standing and snapping those intimate shots during the toughest of times.

There are moments during labor that you will never remember. Everything is dragging on but at the same time it’s flying by. I have preached on why I love birth photography in a previous post, but it comes down to one simple thing. The day your babies are born are the best days of your lives. Why wouldn’t you want to remember every moment of that journey?

Here’s her journey…

For the best quality, select “HD” in the bottom left corner of the video and expand to watch in full screen.

https://vimeo.com/88833217