The day started pretty early.

I woke up at 4am to prepare to drive two hours to Winchester Memorial Hospital in Ontario.

My dogs were not happy with the early breakfast and sudden disappearing of mommy. But I had to go! M and T were having their second baby at 8 am!! Lucky for me, this was a planned C-section and I wasn’t called in the middle of the night with a panicked father saying ” It’s coming!! HURRYYY” Because a two-hour drive would not have been fun to rush through the night.

After getting a little lost (duh!) I arrived at the hospital with 10 minutes to spare. T (dad) was waiting patiently to be called into the surgery where M (mom) was.

There’s a lot of questions when it comes to photographing births. “Are you there the whole time?”, “What happens if there’s a problem with the birth?”, “Are you gonna photoshop my face?”, “Are you photographing my naughty parts?”. I get it. Having a “stranger” in with you for such an intimate moment can be pretty scary. But the results are so awesome. No, I’m not there to photograph your naughty parts. And yes, you will COMPLETELY forget that I’m there once you are seeing your baby for the first time. The raw emotion during a birth is magical. A photographer’s dream. You guys are real and beautiful. It’s an amazing thing to witness for someone like me.

T and I got called in around 8h30 to gown up and get into the surgery. M was strapped down and we were asked to stay behind the sheet and to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BLUE. As it was sterilized. I was happy to oblige. The last thing I was is to create a complication for some of my favorite clients. Doctors and nurses are usually pretty cool with having a photographer with you during delivery. If we do our job right, we should be not intrusive at all, as all of our focus is on the parents. I’m not really interested in what’s happening down under. The emotion is up here, buddy!

Did I mention that T and M had no idea if they were having a boy or a girl ? WHAT!? I’m way too controlling to not know before the baby comes!! At home, they have a 17-month old big sister named C and we were patiently waiting to see if she would get a little brother or a little sister!!

Then the moment came!! Daddy was asked to peak over the sheet and announce to the room the babies gender! Wow, what a great idea!! So much more personal than having a doctor announce it! The baby came at 8h50am with sweat, tears (even from me) and, a very happy daddy!!  😉

A little clean-up and Lots of skin-on-skin from Mommy. Everything went super smoothly. We then got into the recovery room and waited for the epidural to wear off. After that it was family time and I was done !! Here’s what Mommy had to say about the whole thing.

“Wanting to do something different for baby #2 I decided to look into having Isa photograph my delivery should she be willing to make the hike out to our neck of the woods.

I have had a lot of stress and anxiety throughout my pregnancy due to the PTSD that resulted from my last delivery andpostpartum 17 months ago (still so very fresh in my mind). All the professionals I interacted with reassured me that this delivery would be so much better and that I needed to have faith in that. Deciding to have it photographed actually made me quite excited and I found myself looking forward to the day as opposed to fearing it.

Yes, it is intimate in every sense and that is why I couldn’t have asked anyone other than Isa to do this. This isn’t me in a bra getting into my wedding dress; it is my stomach being held open with clamps, it is me breastfeeding my new baby, it is 1/2 naked me being shuffled from one gurney to the next. These are the most extreme tears of I Love You along with tears of extreme fear and worry, tears of awe and wonder, tears of all the guilty feelings one may feel after delivery when they don’t necessarily want to hold their babe.

Tears of introducing the newest member to the family. Tears from the love of your life thanking you for giving him a child.

I can’t trust capturing these moments with anyone other than Isa.I was at my most powerful and glorious that morning,  as well as at my most weak and vulnerable. I know Isa will have captured it all beautifully and powerfully.

Isa, I cannot thank you enough for once again capturing one of the best days of my life
You are simply amazing and we love you so much!”

Aren’t they the best? Here are some photos from the day.

A really long drive in the snow but, so worth it!

Thank you M and T for having me there with you when C came into the world! <3 Love you guys.