Can you hire a birth photographer last minute?

April 8, 2024 Morgan Petroski

Hiring a Birth Photographer: Tips for Last-Minute Bookings

Are you expecting the arrival of your little one soon and contemplating whether to hire a birth photographer? Capturing the precious moments of childbirth can be a priceless investment, allowing you to cherish and relive those memories for years to come. However, if you find yourself in need of a birth photographer at the eleventh hour, fret not! Here's everything you need to know about hiring a birth photographer last minute.

The Importance of a Birth Photographer

Birth is a momentous occasion filled with raw emotions, anticipation, and joy. While some may opt for traditional photography, birth photography offers a unique perspective, documenting the entire journey from labor to delivery. These candid moments, expertly captured by a professional birth photographer, serve as a tangible reminder of the incredible strength and beauty of childbirth.

How to Find a Birth Photographer Last Minute

1. Online Search: Start your search by browsing through online directories, social media platforms, and photography websites. Look for photographers specializing in birth photography and check their availability (often best by reaching out to them).

2. Community Referrals: Reach out to your local parenting groups, healthcare providers, or friends for recommendations. They may know of photographers who specialize in capturing the essence of childbirth.

3. Check Availability: Once you've identified potential photographers, reach out to them directly to inquire about their availability. Be transparent about your timeline and express your interest in securing their services last minute.

Tips for Successful Last-Minute Bookings

Navigating last-minute bookings for a birth photographer requires strategic planning and a bit of flexibility. Here's what you need to know:

1. Explore Multiple Options: When seeking a last-minute birth photographer, it's crucial to cast a wide net. Reach out to several birth photographers in your area to increase your chances of finding one available on short notice.

2. Consider Proximity: While a photographer may be available, it's essential to assess their proximity to your birth location. Ensure that the photographer is close enough to realistically make it to your birth in time. Opting for someone local or within a reasonable distance can minimize the risk of delays due to travel time.

3. Open Communication: Once you've identified potential photographers, communicate openly about your situation. Clearly outline your timeline, preferences, and any specific requirements you may have. This ensures that both parties are on the same page and can make necessary adjustments to accommodate your needs.

4. Budget Planning: Last-minute bookings won’t incur additional costs, but instead will typically be a large one-time payment because most people book earlier and pay a deposit, thus lessen their final payment. While preserving these precious memories is invaluable, be realistic about what you can afford. Allocate a budget that reflects the importance you place on professional birth photography. If pricing is a concern and you need an extended payment plan, just ask! A professional birth photographer may be willing to work with you.

Conclusion

Hiring a birth photographer last minute is indeed possible with the right approach and resources at your disposal. By leveraging online platforms, community referrals, and effective communication, you can find a skilled photographer who can beautifully capture the miracle of childbirth, even on short notice. So don't hesitate to reach out and secure the services of a birth photographer to ensure that every moment of your childbirth journey is immortalized for eternity. You won’t regret it.

Looking for a Seattle Birth Photographer or Birth Videographer? Reach out to check my availability!

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Birth of Baby Calvin - Evergreen Hospital - Kirkland, Wa

October 23, 2023 Morgan Petroski

The birth of Calvin.

He arrived faster than anyone expected. I think he was just ready to meet everyone. Inductions are typically long, sometimes they can even take multiple days. Amy’s induction went from a second dose of misoprostol to birth in about 6 hours! As her contractions built, Jeff supported her every step of the way. As the moment of birth neared, Jeff gloved up and stepped in to help catch their baby. There’s something extra sweet about a partner catching their baby. After birth, Calvin had a very short stay in the NICU for observation while he cleared some fluids but soon the entire family of three were reunited back together in postpartum. Little Calvin weighed 6 lb 8 oz at birth and was born at 10:32am on October 21st.

Welcome Calvin!

(P.S. - Check out the cutest little swirl of hair I think I’ve ever seen.)

Birth of Baby Golden - Puget Sound Birth Center - Kirkland, Wa

September 28, 2023 Morgan Petroski

The one truth about birth. Every birth is different. Even when this is your third birth. They still manage to surprise you.

Labor began during a crazy thunder storm on Monday night. We all headed to the birth center only a short time after a heads up, as Diana’s last birth was a quick one. However, Golden had other plans. Her mother worked so hard throughout the night, then night turned to morning, then morning to afternoon. She was exhausted. But the amazing thing about birth is sometimes you surprise yourself. With the care and encouragement of her midwife, her mother, and her husband she gathered all her remaining strength and roared Baby Golden out on September 26th.

It’s safe to say with a build up like that everyone was more than ready to meet this little one. Welcome Golden. You have the strongest mother.

A mother in labor, holds her belly up as she works through a contraction outside under the night sky as her husband touches her belly and supports her.

A midwife supports a mother in labor at the Puget Sound Birth Center.

Husband lovingly kisses his wife's shoulder as she lays in a bed at the birth center while in labor.

A pregnant mother is framed in a doorway during her labor at Puget Center Birth Center.

A husband reaches out to support his wife in labor in the birthing tub at Puget Sound Birth Center.

A family gathers round a birth tub as a mother labors.

A mother grips her husband and mother between contractions while pushing out her baby at Puget Sound Birth Center.

A mother roars as she pushes out her baby.

A mother and father look down lovingly at their newborn daughter immediately after birth at Puget Sound Birth Center.

Puget Sound Birth Center midwife cares for baby and mother immediately after birth.

A newborn baby rests on her mother's chest immediately after birth.

Big brother, big sister, and dad, gather round and admire a freshly born baby as mom and baby rest in bed.

A midwife at Puget Sound Birth Center beams with happiness as she holds a freshly born baby.

Mother and baby take an herbal bath together fresh after birth. Baby is still connected to their placenta.

A newborn baby cries during an herbal bath after birth. Herbs and flower petals float around her in the tub.

Newborn baby nurses while in a herbal bath with her mother while her placenta is still attached for delayed cord cutting.

Entire family takes an herbal bath together postpartum at the Puget Sound Birth Center in Kirkland, Wa.

Newborn baby is swaddled on a bed at the Puget Sound Birth Center only a few hours after being born.

Black father kisses his newborn daughter on the forehead only a few short hours after birth.

Family looks on adoringly at the new baby that was just born at Puget Sound Birth Center.

Birth location: Puget Sound Birth Center

Midwife: Amanda Ferre of Eastside Midwives at Puget Sound Birth Center

Birth of Baby L - Virginia Mason - Seattle, Wa

September 28, 2023 Morgan Petroski

After a few days of prodromal labor and then finally a quick, beautiful, and peaceful labor on the morning of September 25th, Baby L was born. His mother strongly and gracefully birthed him in the water and then welcomed him into her arms. Welcome little one!

A mother labors in the dark on a birth ball at Virginia Mason in Seattle.

A woman hangs on her husband as her supports her through a contraction.

A mother labors in the birth tub while surrounded by her husband and midwife at Virginia Mason in Seattle.

A husband gently touches his wife's arm during labor.

A husband kisses his wife's forehead while she smiles between contractions and sits in a birthing tub.

A mother brings her baby up to her chest immediately after giving birth to him in a birth tub at Virginia Mason in Seattle.

A mother looks up at her husband while holding their freshly born baby with a look of astonishment and surprise about what just happened.

A father leans over the birth tub to take a close look at the baby his wife just birthed and is holding in her arms.

A mother looks adoringly at her freshly born baby in the birth tub at Virginia Mason in Seattle.

A freshly born baby looks up at his mother while still in the birth tub at Virginia Mason in Seattle.

A father cuts the cord of his newborn baby at the hospital.

A father smiles and looks down lovingly while holding his newborn son in his arms.

A mother smiles at her husband from the hospital bed with their newborn son in her arms.

Birth of Baby Ronan - Puget Sound Birth Center - Northshore Midwives - Kirkland, Wa

May 25, 2023 Morgan Petroski

The Birth of Baby Ronan

Lara so graciously wrote out her birth story to share. Together she and her husband Aaron welcomed baby Ronan at 1:09 am on March 24, 2023, his due date! He weighed 8lb 11oz. Here is her birth story in her own words:

I'm a planner; I wanted so badly to know what day I would get to meet the little hitchhiker my husband and I picked up in Norway last year. As the due date approached, I fully expected to go days over it, maybe even a week, maybe two. On the evening of May 22nd, just 30 hours from his due date, I started to feel some light cramps while I sat working on the 3000 piece puzzle I hoped to finish before the baby arrived. I ignored it and let Morgan know before going to bed that night but I wasn't so sure that it was actually labor. Through the night the cramps kept coming; they weren't painful, just bothersome enough to make it hard to sleep so I took a bath at 2am and then went back to bed to get as much sleep as I could. Around 5:30am I awoke and the cramps were still coming and going but more regularly now. I decided to time them for an hour or so and notified Morgan again since it seemed this might actually be the real thing and spoiler, it was!

I labored at home all day, my husband helping me however he could - overall, it was pretty manageable. It was so helpful to be able to text with Morgan and get reasssurance and advice throughout the day. Our midwife Sadie asked us to come in to the clinic to get checked around 6pm to see how things were progressing. I was shocked to learn I was dilated to 5cm already since to that point the contractions were pretty easy to manage. On her advice, we went home and waited for the contractions to get more intense. Morgan came to our house around 8:30pm and by that time I was needing a lot more focus and support to get through the contractions. My husband was holding my hand, applying couterpressure, and helping support my belly from behind through each one, which really helped take the edge off the intensity. Morgan timed the contractions and advised that we start heading to the birth center. I was nervous about the car ride but I was able to use the TENS unit which definitely helped.

Once at the birth center I was excited to get in the warm tub and, dang, did it feel good to be in the water! Morgan set up a fan to keep my face cool and handed me a spiky ball to squeeze, which made each contraction bearable. Soon after getting in the tub I felt my body bearing down and I felt like I needed to push. The only problem was that I was only 8cm dialated and my water hadn't broken yet. To keep things progressing, Sadie broke my water on the bed and then Morgan had me do sidelying releases through three contraction on each side. Despite feeling the need to push I had to blow through that urge so I didn't damage my cervix. This was the hardest part. I remember my husband's calm support as I tried to mentally stay above the waves. I don't remember thinking much, I was just doing and focusing on being relaxed, open, and in control of my mind when my body felt out of control. I felt a tinge if exhaustion and desperately wanted to get back into the tub so I asked Sadie to check me again. To our surprise, I was fully dilated and the babys head was decending!

It was now about 1am on May 24th, our baby's due date, and I got back in the tub and I was allowed to push with my body. The knowledge that my baby was almost here reinvigorated me, I was smiling, the water felt good, the pushing even felt good. I got to look into my husband's caring eyes and sqeeze his hand. Soon I felt the head crown and with the next push it was out! But, there was a problem: the shoulder was stuck. The midwives instructed me to get out of the tub and I did. Kneeling on the floor next to the tub I prayed a simple, quick prayer that the baby would come out ok. I felt the bones and my midwife's hand and with the next push the baby was out. The relief was euphoria - I didn't process that the baby was dark purple or that it hadn't cried yet. I look down and saw my son laying below me and then, a cry. He was perfect and healthy and I felt wobly but well cared for and accomplished.

Our little family laid back on the bed and I breastfed my son for the first time as Sadie delivered the placenta. We could breathe and bond and be proud of our healthy son and the work we and our team put in to getting us all to this moment safely. While the birth wasn't perfect, I feel all the ways I wanted to feel about it. I felt capable, heard, cared for, and free to be in-tune with my body. I am so grateful to Morgan for preparing us so well for the birth and for supporting us every step of the way through it; and for Sadie our midwife from Northshore Midwives, who showed us such a high standard of care and professional competency through preganacy, birth, and the postpattum recovery. I am also so grateful to have the experience captured so beautifully in Morgan's photos, they are treasures to me.