One incredible morning in March 2015, the most astonishing thing happened. I birthed my sweet second daughter into my very own hands, on my bed, while my husband snapped a picture.
No one else was there, save the cat (hiding somewhere I’m sure) and our older daughter, who was sleeping soundly in the room next door.
I had expected to have an entire birth team with me when she arrived, to be relaxing in a tub in our living room, for my big girl to be at a friend’s house and a photographer to be capturing important moments of labour, birth, and the early hours after. But things didn’t happen the way I’d planned or expected.
The thoughts you have whilst giving birth. Post continues below.
My husband showed me the now-famous picture not too long after she arrived, as the doula supported me in nursing the baby and we waited for the midwife to come. The moment I saw it, I knew the photo was a thing of power. I just couldn’t have imagined where it would go from there.
Many now know what happened with the photo one year later, after I shared it with a private Facebook group dedicated to discussions and support around childbirth. It was banned. New York Magazine wrote about it. It went viral. The world took in this image.
Top Comments
The reason for the nastiness is precisely because the photo depicts a woman in her power. Thus it becomes a target for all those who are uncomfortable with that on any level. I don't think she needed to explain herself to the haters. Stand proud of what you represent: a woman's power and also her courage in being vulnerable.
how sad - because the truth is any parent would still nurse a terrible horrible flame of blame against the baby sitter no matter how much they intellectually know it to be baseless.