When Jessica, a fellow photographer, asked me to photograph the birth of her son I was HONORED!  One for her to think I was good enough to capture such an important event in her life and for another, it's one of my favorite things in the world of photography.  Birth photography and videography are a passion that I've only been blessed to photograph 8 times in my life (this makes 9).  We talked about the date and kept up with her progress.  I have to say, this was the PERFECT birth.  Not only did she deliver on a Saturday in the morning but it only lasted 4-5 hours.  It was pure perfection.  

When it comes to photographing such an intimate moment, I try my best to make sure the mom is comfortable in knowing that I am a modest photographer.  I ask all of those important, very personal questions before the contract is signed via a questionnaire.  Jessica was open to my artistic vision and trusted me.  WHAT AN AWESOME FEELING!

During the delivery what I witnessed was a mom of one about to be two, calm and collected.  She knew exactly what she needed to do with her body to help her and baby progress.  When I walked into the room, she was standing and swaying through each contraction.  Smile on her face and hand on her belly. 

All birthing mothers go through the "let me check your cervix" check and Jessica was ok with this capture!  It's the moment you think "how far can you go there, lady".  I had both of my kids via C-section but you mom's out there that went through labor know this all too well.  

As the labor progressed, all I saw was the love this family has for each other.  Yousef is deeply in love with his wife.  Every chance he could he was showing his appreciation and holding her hand, seeing what she needed, checked on the babies heart rate, kissed her deeply, and played with their first born with just as much love and compassion.  It was honestly a beautiful thing to see.  The love is there, the respect is there, the family is a strong family that is bonded with the good stuff... permanent bonding agent of the strongest kind.  Their good friend was there to watch big brother while mom went through the birthing process which was pretty quick.  There was a couple of hours at a standstill, everyone went to get lunch and gave her some time to rest and much to everyone surprise, that's all she needed to be fully ready to push.  Everyone was called back....

This was the very moment the doctor was called....