The journey of motherhood, of bringing a brand new human into this world, is not something to be taken lightly. From hearing the heartbeat for the first time, to finding out the gender (if you decide to do so), to feeling those first baby kicks and those first contractions, and the most beautiful moment where you hold that tiny human in your arms; there is not one second that a mother takes for granted. You wonder what your baby will look like, act like, if they will be healthy and if the birth will unfold the way you hope it will. There is so much uncertainty but there is so much beauty and magic in the process of creating a human. We are so busy in our lives that we want to plan everything and control every detail and every outcome. Babies shake our world up, they are born when they want to be born and they enter the world with their own personalities. We can't control any of it. (ok, maybe a little bit.) But, honestly that is where the beauty lies.

I am so thankful to have been invited into many of those pivotal moments for Natasha and Jarrod, in their journey of meeting their newest addition to their family. I photographed their gender reveal; the moment they discovered they would be completing their family with a baby girl. I also captured their maternity session in one of our snow storms this past February, which was perfect, as they are from Fort MacMurray and are very used to beautiful white blankets covering the ground. They were unsure if a birth session was something that they wanted, but after the session they were very pleased that they agreed to having me join them in such an intimate life experience.

"At first I wasn't too sure if I would want a birth session done but I'm so glad we decided to have it done. Laura knocked it out of the park, again. She captured another amazing moment in our lives and I would recommend birth photography to anyone who is thinking about getting it done. When you have the right photographer you will not regret it" - Natasha

tHE BIRTH STORY

On March 1, 2017 Natasha messaged me, "My due date is slowly creeping up, just three weeks now!" She wanted to inquire about a birth session I had previously mentioned upon them booking their gender reveal, maternity and newborn photos with me. I told her that I would still love to capture such a beautiful moment in her life if she had decided that she wanted to go through with it, and she did! I would be lying if I said I wasn't super excited!

The next day Natasha text me to tell me she was 3cm dilated and having regular contractions. She said the baby would hopefully be born that evening. WHAT! I couldn't believe that she was in labour the day after she had agreed to the session! We kept in touch all day and things didn't move as fast as she was anticipating. (Ok, as fast as I was anticipating! Haha) I get so pumped to photograph births; it is such a life changing moment and each birth is so unique in numerous ways. There truly isn't anything as magical as witnessing a baby in their first few minutes and hours of life. Their pure innocence is like nothing you could imagine.

On the following day, we spoke again and her labour hadn't changed much since the night before. Her doctor told her that she was in prodromal labour and could possibly keep contracting for days before she would give birth. We stayed in touch all day and as the hours passed, her labour intensified. Her contractions grew stronger and she was continuing to dilate. However, it wasn't until early Saturday, March 4 that she text me to tell me that it was time to get my butt to the hospital to photograph this birth! Natasha text me at 6:28 am to tell me that the doctor had arrived and she was about to give birth. I arrived shortly after. And after 10 minutes of warrior woman labour, sweet Dakota Elizabeth had entered the world, weighing 6lbs 12oz and 51cm. I remember the feeling in the room when she was born, it was like the love her parents had in their hearts was radiating out towards her. The smile and look of awe on her mother and father's face said it all. She is one well loved little girl.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post!

Until next time,

L xo