I had decided to take a break from shooting births after my husband had arrived back from his deployment last year October. After all, we had a ton of traveling to make up for! As much as I love photographing births, feeling the rush, seeing the joy, and loving the end result, the on-call lifestyle doesn't usually mesh well with the travel lifestyle I've grown addicted to, and Dave and I had some travel to catch up on.
However, a few months ago Autumn reached out to me, excitedly expecting their family's second baby. She found me a full month before the family even moved to England! I had missed shooting births so much, that I was thrilled at the prospect of the opportunity and was excited to get back into a type of photography that I absolutely love.
Fast-forward to May 4th, the day that the family's lives would be changed forever. I'm not a parent myself yet, but when it comes to bringing a baby in this world I just want to see the baby arrive healthy, whether that's through a natural labor and birthing process or a scheduled c-section. Autumn was scheduled for a c-section, and we were all a little anxious on the morning. Everything went well though and the staff was amazingly accommodating. At the end of it we'd have a chunky baby girl and a happy family because Autumn and Matt were amazing! Baby Lyla was delivered at 8:21am, forever with a Star Wars reference attached to her birthday. But Dad wore his awesome Darth Vader shirt so they were obviously cool with it! She was a whopping 9lbs 2oz and 20in long and I hear she's already very loved by big sister. This birth experience rekindled the fire of births within me. I've got a few more on the books for this year, and I'm looking forward to offering them on a limited-availability basis.
Check out the birth video below:
