Looking through the photos was a surprisingly emotional experience for me--but not in the way I expected. I was flooded with a sense of sadness, knowing that this probably will be our last baby. The photos were the last part of the birth I was still waiting on, so when they arrived they brought with them a bittersweet sense of closure.
Yesterday we had a gathering with friends & colleagues from the university where we work. I also finished Ivy's birth quilt. The months of preparation and weeks of celebration are done. Now it's time to move forward.
With a few exceptions, the photos are in chronological order. I love how the photographer captured what was going on all around the house: kids playing in the attic, birth assistants napping in the living room (they'd been up the night before at another birth), Eric making crepes after Ivy was born.
Before you view the pictures, look at:
For a full-screen slideshow, click on the image below (or click here).
Smaller slideshow here:
Rixa, they are so, so beautiful! And oh, but they are powerful. *You* are powerful. The photos of you working through the intense, final pushing surges, your face so red and arms straining made me tear up. Your power is so obvious in those images, so overwhelming. I could *hear* your warrior roar as you did that immense work.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing. Blessings on you.
I love the pictures. I got emotional looking at them. You were a trooper, and amazing at this. Beautiful pictures!! Thank you for sharing, and showing that giving birth is a powerful, not scary, experience.
ReplyDeleteIvy Claire certainly cooperated by being born in the day time- the light in your room is fantastic. My babies came in the dark.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful family. I love the one where the baby is still submerged.Very moving.
My daughters and I loved the slideshow! It goes great with Bon Iver by the way! ;) What a treasure! I would have LOVED to have these kind of photos. I didn't discover photography until after my 4th daughter was born!
ReplyDeleteAfter she was born, I was really devastated by the idea of not having another newborn. And my husband and I agreed that we'd like to have one more. But now our daughter is 18 months old. A lactation consultant I know who has been practicing for over 20 years says women experience a hormone shift around 18 months that shoos away some of uber-gushy baby hormones, and I have to admit, I am feeling that. After 18 months of sleep deprivation, not really having a moment to myself and not being able to get anything done with our little tornado under foot, I'm ready for some more independence now. We still might be open to another baby, but not now, and frankly there is now a large part of me that would drag my feet at the idea of going through another pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and year and a half of bad sleep. I tell you this because when I experienced those feelings of sadness it was so hard for me to not project them onto the future. "What if I always feel like this?" I don't. And that is a huge relief! Even seeing this slideshow - I could appreciate the beauty of it, I wished I had great photos like that of my previous births, but it didn't make me wish to do it again. I feel great about that!
ahhh....the slideshow made me cry. Love it. (Though, honestly, at 2 days shy of 37 weeks pregnant, what isn't making me cry these days!?)
ReplyDeleteI think my favorites are the ones of Zari. Hilarious, and so precious.
So wonderful to have these memories captured in photos!
The pictures are beautiful! I can understand that sadness at it probably being your last-- I feel that too when I recount my last labor. Or with lots of other milestones my youngest hits. It's all bittersweet.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful and powerful, thank you for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous set of pics! Thank you for sharing them. Miss your beautiful family!
ReplyDeleteI love these pictures. I have followed your blog since Inga's birth and didnt comment til now. Im so glad there are blogsout there showing the joys of home birthing. :)
ReplyDeleteI saw the medal around your neck - did someone give you a medal for your birth? I hope so! That would be awesome. :) Congratulations, 9 months late.
ReplyDeleteI won the medal in a giveaway years ago and kept forgetting to get it out after my babies were born. So this time I finally remembered!
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