I gift all of my birth photography clients a maternity session - so we can get to know each other a little better before one of us is in labor (ha!). It's really become a favorite practice - I've so enjoyed getting to spend more time with my clients, to meet and get to know their partners and other children (and even pets), and to have some fun with the camera, to boot.
Instead of breaking up this family's sessions into two or three blog posts as usual - one maternity, one birth, one fresh 48 - I decided to keep them together so you can get an idea of what the whole shebang includes, so to speak. Below, you'll see the lovely Berriochoa family as they await their twins, at the boys' birth, and their Fresh 48 Session the day after they were born.
It was such a privilege to capture the marvelous story of Ernest and Vincent's arrival and to get to know their strong and determined mama. As her due date neared, one baby was lying breech, and the other transverse (!), so Emily knew a c-section was likely going to be the safest way to bring her babies earthside. We all convened at the hospital on the chosen date, and a quick ultrasound confirmed that the babies weren't interested in changing position. This was the first scheduled cesarean birth I had photographed, and I'm happy to say that it was just as beautiful an experience as I've ever seen. Emily's family was able to surround her before surgery and then stay close by as she was taken back - and then, of course, they were able to meet two very special young men. (Dan and Emily knew they were having boys, and had picked out wonderful names - but made everyone else wait until the birth before they'd tell!)
There was so much love in that room, it was almost surreal.