Birth is beautiful. It’s one of the hugest of life events, it’s full of raw emotion, joy and ultimately love. It’s an experience that you can only understand by going through it, and one that is not soon forgotten. I love birth. I loved giving birth to my six beautiful babies, and I love photographing the experience for others. I am, among other things, a birth photographer.
Generally when I tell people I photograph birth their eyes widen, they smile through gritted teeth, they repeat the word ‘birth’ and carefully and quietly back away from the crazy lady. Some people get it right away, but others have to be assured that it’s not about the gory details, but it’s all about the miracle.
When Tanysha got in contact with me to photograph her birth I did my usual happy dance jig. I met with her and Annie, her mum, and we spent a couple of hours chatting over coffee and scones. I had made new friends. And then the wait began for the ‘It’s happening!’ call!
I told Tanysha that I expected to be called about 2am, and that was pretty much exactly what happened. 2am and her waters had broken! I asked her to let me know when things stopped being fun. Turns out the fun stopped not long after and I popped my gear in the car and headed over to their house. Tanysha was planning a home water birth. Way cool in my books!
Just LOOK at this haven of gorgeousness!
There was even bunting. Because every homebirth should have a good dose of bunting!
Tanysha, seriously, you made birthing beautiful!
Their elderly cat was pretty close by the whole time. That’s one great thing about homebirth that I’d never really considered, pets!
It wasn’t long before things got really serious, the midwife had popped out and Tanysha had gone from 4cm to pushing in next to no time at all. Annie and I just looked at each other rather wide eyed and quietly determined that we could do this if we needed to! We took Tanysha to her pool and lowered her in.
Within minutes the midwife arrived to save the day and I didn’t have to catch the speedy baby after all!
And with not even a panadol on board, Tanysha delivered the most beautiful baby girl you’ve ever seen.
Meet Thea. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Utterly perfect, Thea.
All 4.06kg of her (or 8lb 13.5oz!)
And there, again, Tanysha, you look like you’ve just come home from a shopping trip, and nothing like you’ve just given birth! What a legend!
Tanysha, I can’t thank you enough for the amazing experience I got to share with you. Annie, thanks for singing along to the music with me, for being my contraction timing buddy and my alley in the whole experience. Thanks also to Simon for the great coffee! You guys are an amazing family, and Thea is so blessed to have you all.