I’m Having a C-Section… Now What?

Our local hospitals here in Northern Utah aren’t very supportive of photographers in the operating room, unfortunately. You may be wondering: Does this mean we can’t work together anymore? Can we still get meaningful photos from my baby’s birth? What might change about having a photographer as part of my birth team?

Jessica, pictured above, envisioned a vaginal birth for her second baby. When she found out he was breech, and their attempts to turn him head-down were unsuccessful, she was scheduled for a c-section. With the entire birth plan out the window, it was time to figure out what our new arrangements looked like.

Thankfully, birth photography shoots offer us plenty of time to get a wide variety of photos from the day your sweet little one is welcomed into the world. From detail shots of your delivery space, to members of your birth team, you snuggling your baby, their first bath, cute first outfits, dad cuddles, the newborn exam, vitals and statistics, and more.

In Jessica’s case, this was actually her second baby, and her sister-in-law was watching their toddler during the day. Auntie brought big brother to meet him in the hospital, and Jessica wanted photos of them meeting for the first time. This little guy actually spent a couple of hours in the NICU to help him with his breathing for a while, and I came to the hospital in the early evening, before Auntie brought over their toddler. That gave us some time to do introductions, and get some photos together with just them, before her husband went down to the parking garage to greet his sister and their older son.

I came downstairs with them, and photographed big brother running down the hall with a birthday present for lil’ bro. We walked him up to the Maternity floor, and took a bunch of photos of their first introductions, a gift exchange between brothers, auntie snuggles, baby’s first bath, skin to skin, nursing, and more.

Jessica reacts with joy after receiving the first image previews later that night.