Not only do I get to add a doula (and free encapsulated placenta) to my birth team, I may be able to get what I think every birth should have. Just as I thought I’m just the luckiest pregnant woman in the world with my run of free shit, I get another stroke of luck. After my not-that-boring pregnancy update stemming from my last appointment, I got some amazing info from my midwife. As my doula and I were chatting in the waiting lounge of my birth center, my midwife rushes out relieved to see I was still there. She brings up a previous client, who is interested in an upcoming birth. It turns out that this client is a budding photographer who is building her birth photography portfolio and willing to be on-call to come to my birth, you guessed it, for free!
The only reason I teared up at this chunk of news is because I literally have a handful of nice birth photos of Humnoy. Also, there is no way we could afford a professional photographer. Lack of Humnoy’s birth photos was a bit upsetting because it was such a big event. First-time pregnancy attempting an unmedicated birth in a hospital is kinda a big deal to me. I achieved what many people scoffed at me for, told me I couldn’t (or shouldn’t) do, and it was the day I became a mama! All I had were poorly angled photos of me in labor (courtesy GH) and a few photobombs of a bewildered me behind my family showing off hours-old Humnoy. Other than that, I literally don’t have a thousand words to put to my 8-hour labor, except my birth story.
I contacted the photographer and she was very enthusiastic about birth photography. The only hangup is that the most ideal situation for her to attend my birth must be compatible with childcare for her infant. The ideal situation is after hours Monday through Friday (her husband’s work hours) and the weekend, of course. We both lamented how birth is unpredictable and that it could be literally anything. I joked that Humnoy chose a Sunday ultimately choosing his own name and Bébé could follow suit. Although, Humnoy’s birth was a 9-5 gig, which could be the problem if family birth patterns exist. The photographer did say she could swing it with her spouse’s schedule in order to attend my home birth so that is more reassuring to me to know I’ll be able to have (HD) memories of a possible last pregnancy and birth. I’m just so beyond grateful for all the kindness and generosity in the birth and motherhood community I’ve seen thus far. Here’s to hoping my streak of good luck doesn’t run out come that first contraction, eh?
Of course, here’s my Pinterest board of birth photography. It makes my uterus act up, for sure!
Did you have birth photography?
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That’s awesome! I’m so happy for you that everything is coming together!
I know, I’m so grateful. I don’t know how I am getting so many good things happening. I hope it lasts well into labor and birth!!!
I’m sure it will! Well, it probably wont FEEL like it, but in the end you’ll have a beautiful baby, placenta pills AND photos to show for it. For free!
Thanks for the encouragement, means a lot 🙂
OH MY GOSH!!!! Exciting!!!! I was eyeballing birth photography a few months ago and found this-http://www.dfwbirthphotographer.com/home/ I sort of thought it was amazing and cried half of the time I was on the site! Last month, my cousin videographer told me she wanted to do a birth video for us as a gift! 🙂 Even though ours won’t be as exciting as yours since we are 90% sure of a c section with a baby coming so soon after a c section with our first, and breech, it’ll still be an amazing thing to have! You need to have the baby soon so I can see your amazing pictures!!! 🙂 I’m also jealous of the placenta pills. Everyone thought I was gross for wanting those, and it was just by inconvenience and price that we weren’t able to get them. The stars are aligning for you! So glad!
Oh, I lurve birth videos!
This will be interesting to see. I had c-section and the nurse took several Polaroid shots for us in the operating room and they turned out pretty good.
I think Polaroid shots are so nostalgic! How cool 🙂
I’ve never seen your thumbs up picture!
What. It’s a classic! I look so haggard and I can’t even remember why I even did the ‘thumbs up.’ It’s all from that birth high!