*Warning: Photos of uncensored birth are herein*
As mentioned, I photograph all kinds of love. I started out professionally as a birth photographer and believe that birth is a beautiful natural event with all rights to be documented as much as a wedding. If you disagree, this is not the blog post for you!
It was an absolute honour when my oldest friend asked me to photograph the birth of her fourth child. Her last, she said. We’ve been friends since we were in diapers ourselves and frequently my mom will drag up an old image of us as two naked toddlers running through the sprinklers.
Fourth babies come fast, and this little guy was no exception. C messaged me around 5pm to say she was starting to have regular contractions and I jumped in my car and headed out to meet her, in prime rush hour, driving in the HOV lane the entire time. She was birthing about an hour from me and I was determined to not miss this last babe. I arrived, frantically trying to find my way through Abbotsford Hospital, hoping I hadn’t missed anything. Luckily labour hadn’t started to quite ramp up yet and I found her and her husband J chilling in the hallway out for a walk.
Her husband was calm and collected, just like her. She worked through each contraction with a calm quiet, and found herself laughing and snacking on stale hospital bran muffins in between contractions. As she quickly progressed, it became more intense and she managed to work through it bravely and with the utmost strength. Once it was time to push, baby Bensen joined us earth side very quickly and it was beautiful to watch them fall in love with the newest member of their family, finally complete.
Thank you to this lovely family for allowing me to capture such a beautiful and intimate moment in their lives, and to share the images that resulted. Birth is an extraordinary and beautiful life event, and it’s an honour to be present at such a beautiful moment. After all, it is where we all begin.
xo K
