A story popped up on web magazine slate.com today that piqued my interest, as I’m sure it did for many mummas out there.
The article, These C-section babies were photographed at less than 20 seconds old, contained amazingly beautiful images of newborns as they were lifted through their mother’s ‘sunroof’.
Some bubs were plump and pink, some grey and floppy, some curled up, some pasty or upside-down, some had legs outstretched, some were already screaming.
What a breathtaking moment in time to capture on film.
I won’t lie, I didn’t want to have my baby via C-section. I had planned (as much as you can plan a birth) to do it all naturally. But the health of myself and my bub was far more important than what I hoped and imagined my birthing experience to be.
But the upside is I have some incredible photos of Millie at the very moment she entered this world, pics I might not have had if it had been a natural birth.
Millie shortly after her caesarean delivery – cleaned up, dressed and snuggled in my arms
Millie was born via emergency caesarean at 36+1 weeks. After an ultrasound found she might not be getting sufficient blood flow, my obstetrician booked me in to have my baby that very same evening.
Everything was a bit of a blur. I’d just finished up at work and that morning was in the salon getting my hair done.
Before I knew it we were on our way to hospital and frantically deciding on our shortlist of boy and girl names.
I’m surprised we remembered to bring a camera.
In the operating theatre and ready to go – *GULP* – Glen joined me and the screen went up across my immobile body.
Somewhere between utter nervousness, exhilaration and wanting to faint and/or throw up, I remember my anesthetist telling my husband that he’d take photos for us, if we’d like.
He told Glen to just take it all in rather than be looking through a viewfinder (I think he even encouraged Glen to take peeks over the other side of the screen…which he did).
By this stage the anesthetist’s job was done and, standing behind my head, he had the grandstand seat.
He took the camera from Glen’s hands and snapped away, capturing all the action that I couldn’t see.
The first photo of Millie’s little face popping out of my stomach is phenomenal.
He even snapped the first family photo of the three of us together.
I’m so very grateful to have these pics and looking at them now brings a tear to my eye.
It’s the moment three lives changed forever.
And my two-for-one anesthetist/photographer was worth every hard-earned cent we paid him!
Read the full slate.com article here (be warned that the images contained within the article are of births as they happened and the goriness might offend)
Do you have treasured pics from the very moment your baby emerged? Leave a comment below