Moms, that first, miraculous moment of holding your newborn is probably seared into your memory. Cradling them, right there, in your arms, forms one of every mom’s most intense experiences. Were you able to freeze that moment in the timeline of your ʙʀᴀɪɴ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ or is it all a blur? There’s no feeling that compares to the moment you become a mama, but one that feels just as sweet as seeing your partner with your baby for the first time. Regardless of how your baby came into this world or how this tiny human was created, there’s just something about seeing the person you love the most with your child.
Birth photographer, Monet Nicole Moutrie from Denver, Colorardo in the U.S. has been photographing ᴄʜɪʟᴅʙɪʀᴛʜ for the last eight years. In this incredible series of powerful photos she captures the joy, relief, love and sheer exhaustion that women feel in the first moments that they hold their newborn babies. Monet became a birth photographer after witnessing and photographing her older sister’s last birth. After three hospital births, Monet’s sister decided to ɢɪᴠᴇ ʙɪʀᴛʜ at home and invited Monet to watch the process from start to finish. She said: “I didn’t have children of my own, and I was ᴍᴇsᴍᴇʀɪᴢᴇᴅ by what the female body was capable of.”
When asked about why she enjoys most about photographing ᴄʜɪʟᴅʙɪʀᴛʜ Monet explains there’s always plenty of surprises. She said: “Each birth is completely unique. Although births do tend to follow a pattern, they always manage to surprise us! When I get called to a birth, I know there are a thousand different possibilities. The variety is incredible and makes each birth just as exciting as the first one I shot.” Not every woman is able to have the birth experience that she hoped or planned for, and this can be disappointing for some mums. Monet’s powerful photographs are able to illustrate that each of these births – regardless of whether they are ᴠᴀɢɪɴᴀʟ or ᴠɪᴀ ᴀ ᴄ-sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ – produce an emotional and joyous result.
Monet’s work is incredible. The intense emotions she captures in these raw moments are amazingly powerful. To see a mother hold her brand new baby in her arms for they very first time after a marathon of a ᴄʜɪʟᴅʙɪʀᴛʜ – and the emotion that goes with it – is a remarkable thing. The relief, exhaustion, joy and instant love parents feel at our children’s birth is an absolute life highlight. And to have that moment captured and treasured for a lifetime is a wonderful gift.
“Don’t ever apologize for your behavior or choices during birth. When you own your experience and take pride in your journey, you help other women do the same thing. No matter how you did it, you just brought a human being into the world! The world should be kneeling at your feet.”– Lauralyn Curtis. In this incredible series of powerful photos, she captures the joy, relief, love, and sheer exhaustion that women feel in the first moments that they hold their newborn babies.
