Every child’s birth story is special and unique, but the story behind this session was especially interesting for me.
The mother booked me months ago early on in her pregnancy for a newborn shoot, with the baby due just when I was returning for my summer holidays. I arrived back ready for the shoot but the baby was not quite ready to come out. We kept in touch and a couple of weeks later I was finally able to go and photograph this family and hear all about the birth. I’ll let the mother tell the story in her own words:
“We always planned a home birth but, when we discovered our baby was breech at 40 weeks + 2 days, we were told an elected C section was the safest option. After a lot of research, we hired independent midwives with experience in vaginal breech and elected to remain at home for the birth of our daughter.
A home birth was very important to us as we believed it allowed me to feel safe within a calm, familiar environment. Following natal hypnotherapy, I had come to trust my body’s ability to give birth and I therefore trusted my instincts to achieve the outcome we desired. I managed to have a natural birth with no drugs. Instead, I used a TENS machine, massage and deployed my hypnotherapy techniques.
Being at home with independent midwives offered more flexibility as the process was not governed by NHS policies/guidelines. This was important as it allowed my body to give birth in its own way without interventions of any kind. The midwives we hired and who attended the birth were Andy Parker from Maya Midwives, and Kathryn Weymouth and Liz Nightingale from UK Birth Centres.
Ultimately we believe the birth experience allowed our daughter to enter the world naturally and in a safe, calm, loving environment. Our daughter is a calm, generally content baby which we attribute in no small part to the manner of her birth.
One other added benefit of a home birth was that we got to remain at home together as a family without my husband having to leave us, as he may have done with hospital delivery. Some of those moments I will treasure forever.”
Many thanks to the mother for writing that for me. It was a very inspiring photo session and gave me lots to think about.