…i am putting up a few photos from Sammy’s birth of him breastfeeding for the first time, which (to me) is one of the most beautiful things to witness (next to the actual birth itself).

I am a huge breastfeeding advocate, for the many obvious reasons, and was fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed both of mine until they were two years old. Amelia, almost three now, still likes to sneak into my shirt and find a nipple and try to squeeze the milk out. Is this was too much information to share with my clients? Maybe so. Hopefully the dads don’t read this blog.

That is it for tonight, I am going to get some well earned rest. I spent the day just hanging out with my kids, it was so nice to not worry about business and just chill in the backyard with them, sidewalk chalking, treerope swinging, and sandbox water tunnel making. A relaxing day, for sure. Then I spent all evening working on photos, so a perfect end to a perfect day.

xoxo stacey

ps, I will post more of newborn Sammy’s birth photos soon! Just wanted to get a couple photos up tonight…

pps, I always “go” to my own blog and read the post and look at the photos right after I publish it to make sure it looks ok. And I do have to say what you are probably thinking right now-that is one big breast on my computer screen:)

pps,I meant because the photo is so large on the screen, I was NOT commenting on the size of the breast itself, like you were.

I just wanted to get something up tonight-I just got back from photographing a birth-being a birth photographer is really the best job in the world. I actually charge way less than I would a normal session for photographing births simply because I LOVE to do them. I became a birth doula at age 21 just for that reason and now that my first passion is photography and my second passion is babies (well, my first passion is MY babies, and then other people’s babies and then photography).

Anyways, beautiful baby Sammy was born tonight at 8:17pm, the birth photos are amazing and I can not wait to post them! One for tonight-I will post the color photos from baby A’s session tomorrow-I am on my laptop so the black and white is all I have right now-and no watermark or anything.  Just happy to get a photo up, any photo, just for tonight. Especially a newborn one. I love this baby, she is close to my heart. Love those eyes! Isn’t she gorgeous? True, she is over 6 months old now, I have a million photos to post from before I took my medical leave, so I WILL be able to post photos every day now. Off to bed now!

xoxo stacey

ps, check back tomorrow and let me know if you like my black and white photography better or my color better. I *really* want to know. Do I have the talent for black and white photography? I like to think that people are attracted to the colors in my photos, but just had a client who told me she preferred black and white photography, so I did all the photos in both color and b&w, and so now I am wondering. So leave a freaking comment already! I got over 500 unique visitors to my blog the other day, so I KNOW you are reading this. So tomorrow, i expect some comments.

Birth photography is one of my favorite things to do. It is such an honor to be there when someone takes their very first breath. I became a doula when I was 21-before I even had kids-because I loved pregnancy, birth and babies so much. Put that together with my love of photography, and it is perfect. In fact, I always said that I wanted to someday be a midwife, and someday be a photographer. So, it is a wonderful way to combine the two. I don’t do doula work anymore, only birth photography because I really could not help but capture the birth in photos if I was there as a doula. It would be hard to just focus on being the support, and not document such a momentous occasion.

So, this strong mama is Stacy Ziegler, another fabulous Boulder photographer and good friend. I arrived at the hospital at 10:30pm, went home for a couple hours to take care of Amelia, and then came back in time for her to have her baby early that morning. Alexander (named by his very cute big brother), was 8lbs 11ounces, much bigger than we expected. And they look IDENTICAL. My mother, who had five children, always told me that my second baby would be so, so very different from my first, and that I would be so surprised when the baby came out. But, both of my kids look identical as well. People comment that they look like twins but years apart. While they are totally different creatures as far as their personalities, they do look eerily similar. And baby Alex and big brother Robert could not look more alike. Can’t wait to see little R being a big brother!

So that first photo of the baby was literally a second after he was delivered. The doctor was amazing (Eryn Munks from Boulder Woman’s Care). Congratulations Stacy and Brad and thank you for letting me be a part of your birth!

Hazel, such a perfect name and such a beautiful baby! Her birth was not an easy one, but she has a super strong mom so all is well now. At 39 weeks pregnant, mom found out that she had preeclampsia, so they did an induction right then and there. When Hazel finally arrived, she was not breathing, which had to be the most terrifying moment of her parent’s lives. BUT, they got her breathing soon after and she is now in perfect health. Whew. I have no idea how scary that would be and I know it is one of those things that every pregnant mother worries about. But she is totally fine now and healthy and thriving! And just a gorgeous newborn. Usually, babies look a little wrinkled and smooshed right after being born, but Hazel has the most gorgeous little round face and is so peaceful! I love doing hospital newborn photography.  These sessions take about 20 minutes, since mom and baby are still just needing to rest and get to know each other on their own, and the package includes all the digital negatives. So sweet to be one of the first people to meet a baby on her very first day of life.

I photographed a birth last week, too, and will be posting those photos soon!
xoxo stacey

7/19/12 I can’t believe how many people are loving my birth photos! Please like me on Facebook if you want to see more-I am photographing another birth soon!

Stacey’s Facebook Page

I have really wanted to share these photos for some time now and am so glad that I have finally gotten them up!

I am a big advocate of home births and the natural hospital experience. I know it is not right for everyone, and I am truly grateful for modern medicine in that many women and babies that would have been seriously hurt or died from childbirth can now have cesarean births and be totally healthy. BUT, the cesarean rate is now up to 33%! One out of three women have major surgery instead of delivering their babies vaginally now, and that is totally unnecessary. I became a doula at the age of 22 bc I saw the value in birthing with the least amount of interventions-and that is exactly what a doula can help you do. Honestly, both the birth of my son and my daughter were painful. I did want an epidural through both, and I totally understand why women opt to have epidurals. My son’s birth was just 5 1/2 hours, though, so no time to get to the hospital anyways. My daughter’s birth was only 2 hours, and while I did put on my shoes to go to the hospital, that baby was coming in just minutes whether I liked it or not!  I have posted Amelia’s birth story below.

I can not say thank you enough to Kim Rodgers of Brink Street Photography in Englewood for doing my birth photography. She was a gentle, supportive person at my birth, and the images that she captured will be cherished forever. If anyone in the Denver area is looking for a birth photographer, definitely check out her website. If you are thinking about having your birth photographed in the Boulder area, please contact me. As a doula and a photographer, being at a birth and capturing those first moments is the biggest honor for me and I can’t think of any other way to best use my skill and talent:)

Anyways, check out that tub shot of Amelia being born! Everyone always asks, so I will say up front that Kim was standing on the bench that is in my shower that is right next to my bath. She leaned over the glass door to get that shot from above and used a wide angle lens. Beautiful Kim! I have that photo blown up in my office and I know one day that Amelia will be just as grateful to have it.

Sunday morning I woke up at 5:45am with a few contractions. They were stronger than brackston hicks but still not quite the real thing.

Monday morning, three days before my due date, I woke up again at 5:45am but with no contractions. I put on my hypnobabies Early First Stage to get back to sleep. I dreamt I was talking to a father of toddler twins, and I was having a strong contraction and he was excited that I was in labor. I woke up then (at 7:30am) and just knew that I was, in fact, in labor.

I went to the bathroom, got back into bed and just noticed them for ten minutes or so. Then I went into our office and told Adam that he better cancel his appointments for the day. He was so excited! I got back in bed and just noticed and timed the contractions. They were 8 minutes apart, and manageable.

Early labor video

I spent the next couple hours walking around and having the contractions. I called the midwife and the birth photographer to tell them to both get ready. My contractions really were manageable and okay. I had been pretty nervous about handling the pain during this labor as Elijah’s homebirth was so painful and I was worried that it would be the same.

The birth photographer arrived around 11am, and I tried to make her comfortable. But then, the contractions started to get a lot stronger. I ran the bath, hoping that would help as it did during Elijah’s labor. It just felt much better to walk around during this labor, so I got back out.

The midwife arrived around noon and told us that the house smelled of gas (not a good thing to tell me since I worry a lot about that kind of thing). I am not sure if it was just a coincidence, or if there was something psychological that happened when she arrived, but I started asking to go to the hospital so that I could get an epidural right after she arrived.

She checked me, and I was only at 6cm. I could not imagine going through hours more of this. The pain had suddenly gone from a 7 to a 10 and I could not stand it at all. It was incredibly unbearable, and yet somehow I kept getting through each one.

The week before I had spoken with my midwife about how to signal if I really did want to go to the hospital, and had told her that I would get dressed and walk out the door. No one seemed to be taking me seriously, so I put on a dress and started to walk downstairs. I got as far as the office, and the other midwife checked me again. I think she told me I was 8 or 9cm at that point.

I honestly thought she was straight up lying. The other midwife had checked me not even ten minutes earlier and I was at 6cm. How does one go from 6cm to 9cm in less than ten minutes?

I started to walk downstairs while everyone was telling me that if I did go to the hospital I would not have time for an epidural and I could likely have the baby in the car. I just did not believe them, I thought they were trying to trick me.

The second midwife brought out a birthing stool and told me she wanted to check me one more time before the hospital. I agreed, and the contractions were just a tiny bit more manageable on the stool. She told me I was just about 10cm with just a lip left. Yea right! Barely a half hour had passed since 6cm. Still, I trusted her and agreed to get back in the tub and see.

So, we went upstairs, Adam got in the tub with me, and I just got really quiet and went inside. The birth video actually looks peaceful. I had just a few more contractions in the tub just waiting to feel that infamous need to push, and it never really came. I asked the midwife to check again, and she said I could push if I wanted to. So, I did. I pushed once and could feel her head come down. It hurt so much so I pushed again and gave it all I had and out came the head! Once the head was out, I knew that the hardest part was over. I gave myself a little break until the next contraction and then pushed the rest of her body out into her daddy’s hands. It was such a relief!

She started screaming as soon as her mouth hit air and she went straight into my arms. She was covered in vernex and was so pink and loud! She was perfect.

We waited a minute and I tried to include Elijah in the moment, then we went into the bedroom to deliver the placenta. All was well. The after-contractions hurt much more than they did with Elijah, but any pain was better than that half hour of going from 6cm to 10cm. Amelia latched on about an hour after birth and has been breastfeeding like a champ every since! She was 7lbs 2oz and 19 3/4″. Almost exactly the same as Elijah was.

The midwife had to count her birth as precipitous as I went from 5cm to 10 in about 2 hours…(I think it was shorter than that, but she is counting from when she is guessing I was at 5cm).

Here is Amelia’s birth video. It is such a private and special time to have on film, but I also know that this video can help people feel more comfortable and at ease with their own births since, for some reason I make it look easy, so I guess I am going to put it out there for everyone to see… There is nothing too private or too R on here-it is pretty mellow and clean:)

Elijah is just in love with her. He comes home from school every day and asks “How is the baby doing?” and then he holds her for awhile. I did well, too. No tearing, no swelling, nothing. I felt better one day post partum than I did in my whole third trimester.

Overall, I am  happy that I was able to give this experience to Amelia. She was awake and alert from her very first moments and really, what is two hours of pain in the big scheme of things? She is now 7 months old, chubby, happy, in love with life, and always ready to explore and discover new things. We are so in love with her.

And here she is today…my love.