On Dec. 23, the day before Christmas Eve, I got to be a part of yet another joyous birth- the birth of my dear friends Season and Jayson’s first daughter. Last summer, Sam and I photographed Season and Jayson’s wedding, so it was extra cool to be a part of their baby’s birth as well.
Season and I are pretty good friends…we’ve gone camping together, we’ve hung out together, gone to parties together, but I always thought, in the back of my head, "No one can be THIS sweet, ALL the time. No one." I thought that she must be faking it, or only showing me the nice side of her, and that once she went into labor, I’d see the TRUE Season….the side that most people hide, but that gets revealed when hard labor hits. (Because really, who can spend energy on faking niceness when they are pushing an 8 pound person out of their body?)
Yeah, I was totally wrong. She stayed positive, happy, and POLITE her entire labor. She didn’t swear, didn’t hit anyone, said please and thank you when she needed something…she was IN-CRE-DI-BLE! I’ve been to many births, but I have NEVER seen anyone labor like Season did. It just goes to show that she actually IS as wonderful as she seems to be…there’s no faking it with this girl!
She gave birth at St. Joseph’s Hospital at their Midwife’s Clinic. She did it with no medication, in the water, and still managed to look absolutely GORGEOUS the whole time. I’m incredibly jealous… after I gave birth to both my kids, I looked like a truck had hit me, then backed up over me and hit me again!
Here are Season and Jayson about halfway through the labor:
This birth was even MORE special to me because I got to work with one of my absolute dearest friends, Lacey. I met Season and Jayson through Lacey, and we’ve all become close friends. Working with Lacey was FANTASTIC! I was Lacey’s doula and birth photographer for the birth of her son, Luke last December, and this was the first birth she’d attended since she’d had him. I think from now on I will be bringing Lacey along to ALL of my births…she was A-MA-ZING!!!!!
Can you even believe this birthing tub? It looks like it belongs in a 5 star hotel, not a hospital!!!!
Gotta love filling out the necessary paperwork….
Jayson wore the appropriate t-shirt for going to a birth…..(and no, he didn’t do it on purpose. It just happened to be what he was wearing when they left for the hospital)….
Season’s mom was at the birth, as well….Season had a great crew of labor support!!!
Thank you SO MUCH to Lacey for actually getting pictures of me at the birth…now there’s photographic proof that I was there!!!!
At 9:52pm she started pushing……
….and at 10:14pm little Mira Jackson was born!
At almost 9 pounds, this little girl is a CHUNKER!!!!! Lookit her chubby cheeks!
21 inches long…
Season and Jayson: Congratulations! We love you guys so much! Thanks for letting me be a part of your birth!
And little Mira: Welcome to this big, beautiful world! We can’t WAIT to watch you grow up!!!!!
Sarah,you did such of great job with captureing the emotion of this birth,i was crying and i don’t even know these people : )I am glad they let you share these.
Awwwwwwwww, so sweet! Another great Sarah-doula-ed birth.
These are really fantastic! You captured it all. What a great memory this will be for Jayson and Season. They look so happy. Welcome to the world little Mira.
Sarah you made this day perfect! Thank you for helping me through the best day of my life so far! We love you!
Sarah, these photos are beautiful! My sister just invited me to photograph the birth of her daughter. I am very excited but usually photograph outdoors and with as much natural light as possible. Could I ask what lens you used primarily for this shoot?
Cassandra- I used my 430ex speedlight flash to add extra light (it was very very needed) and I used my 17-55mm 2.8 lens. If you scroll through my blog, you can see other births that I’ve done…Maybe that will help give you some inspiration for your sister’s birth! GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!
Lovely. Thanks so much. I definitely will take a look through your blog.
[...] into the world, and how she’s almost a month old! I was the doula and birth photographer for Mira’s birth in December, and last week I visited Mira and her mom Season for Mira’s newborn [...]