Oh, no, I got caught!
I’m known for my “hands-off” philosophy towards birth, meaning avoiding disturbances of the instinctual processes of mother and baby unless absolutely necessary. This includes even subtle things like touching the baby or talking unnecessarily immediately after the birth. The initial moments post-birth are precious and part of an instinctual process as the family meets their baby for the first time and kicks of some important physiology for birthing the placenta, breastfeeding and emotional bonding. The joke after this birth was the clients’ midwives and photographer teasing me about getting caught on camera touching a baby. I love that this family invited me into their intimate space and welcomed me participating in greeting their beautiful baby, but always good to reflect: are we as attendants in there because it’s appropriate and wanted? Or just because we are on auto pilot and can’t help ourselves?
Philosophizing aside, I couldn’t be more in love with this strong, beautiful woman, beautiful family, their beautifully perfect birth, and their beautiful birth-assistant dog who was a big help through the process. Beyond gorgeous.
Photo Credit: Jodi Kaldestad, Birth Photographer