Jessica is the photographer behind JRSD Photography (she’s also written about pre-baby body myths on Offbeat Mama). She’s also a brand new mama (as of October 8), and she shared a few of her birth photos in our Flickr pool.

OVERDUE

Espresso

“I scheduled my birth…which is weird as hell to me because I had serious, false labor grade contractions for a full month before my due date. We ended up in labor & delivery three or four times, with me having off-the-chart contractions and absolutely NOTHING ELSE going on. When I finally went in for my induction, more than a week after my due date, I was still only 1 centimeter dilated.”

Induction

Pitocin

“A lot of this experience sort of blends together…and 20+ hours of contractions means I don’t remember at which point I took this shot.”

Monitors

Me, My Hospital Gown, and My Camera Bag Shoes & Hospital Gowns

“Halfway through my labor I finally started to go crazy in my bed, so they unhooked all my various medical accessories and let Mike and I walk around for an hour. We waddled around (I did most of the waddling) and took pictures in the halls.”

Walking

Baby Birthing Mirror

“We did it! Echo Luna Shirley-Donnelly was born 10/8/10 at 10:04pm. She was 8 pounds 7.5 ounces and perfect from head to toe.”

Hello, Miss Echo!

Mike + Baby

Comments on A birth story in photos

  1. I love that these pictures really capture the waiting part of birth. A lot of pictures just focus on the birth part but I think it’s just as important to show that there’s a lot of waiting involved a lot of the time.

    But maybe that’s just me. My daughters birth was over almost before I realized I was in labour, so I love these quiet moments.

    • absolutely!! One of my favorite pictures is of when my doula took a pic of my husband and I doing “America’s Next Top Model” poses in the hallway in between contractions!

  2. Wonderful! I’ve been missing my camera time since I have been pregnant, and this is inspiring… I’m due in 2-3 weeks and who knows when things will happen, but I fully intend to keep the camera in hand! They didn’t have any issue w/ the photos in the hallways? Medical privacy, and all that…

    • They were very cool at my hospital — I’m sensitive enough not to photograph anybody but us, but honestly they didn’t question us at all. I had been taking photographs for over 12 hours in my room at that point, too, so they may have just gotten normalized to it by the time I started wandering around. 🙂 Good luck with your labor and photos!

  3. So awesome!!! I have some great pix from my delivery (my husband suited up doing the Robot before my emergency C-section, way too graphic photos of the actual surgery, etc…) but they don’t compare to the talent and raw beauty of yours. Congratulations on your daughter!!!!!

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