the birth of mya danelle :: northern virginia birth photographer

I am having a hard time knowing what to say about this birth, only because there is so very much to say. This birth spanned three days from the time Jenna went into the hospital to get induced. At every birth I am privileged to witness, the strength of a birthing woman amazes me. But this time….with the deck stacked against her…Jenna didn’t just amaze me. She blew me away. She never wavered. She was on pitocin for 22 hours before getting an epidural, and she only got the epidural because it was recommended to her so that she could get some rest and hopefully finish progressing. She never said “It’s too hard.” At one point she did say, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this” – a full twelve hours before her baby was born. You know what? She kept doing it. She stayed strong. And when her temp started rising and baby started showing some distress, she made the brave choice, the strong choice, to have a c-section – a c-section that she didn’t want, but that was necessary for her and her baby.

Behind every cesarean and “unnecesarean” is a woman of courage. In that moment, it doesn’t matter how that woman got to the operating table.

It doesn’t matter if the surgery is necessary or unnecessary, what matters is that it takes extraordinary courage to say:

“Cut me open. 

I love my baby so much, that I will do anything to get my baby out of my body alive. 

Lay me out, cut me open 

because I love my baby so much.”  

That is courage. That is bravery and sacrifice and mothering in its purest form. That is the willingness to lay down your body and risk your life that your child might be born, that your child might live.

Cesarean mothers are BRAVE.

Read more: http://avital.blogspot.com/2011/01/cesarean-courage.html#ixzz2VFjStbfc

Jenna, you are amazing. You are strong, and you are brave, and with that strength and bravery you brought Mya into the world. I was privileged to witness your strength and to tell your story.

Many thanks to my fellow birth photographers, Shawna Sherrell and Emily Pearl Goodstein, for stepping in to cover this birth story during the hours I had to leave this birth in order to go home and teach a day of violin lessons. You girls are INCREDIBLE and I am oh-so-thankful for your willingness to come at the last minute and capture important moments from this story. I am in your debt!