Sister Birth Blog

Our first two prenatal visits happened over good food in fun restaurants, totally in keeping with Becca’s love for “fancy” things. She’s a boy mom, so engaged in her community and her kids’ schools, and she was on the brink of welcoming a fourth son, with her favorite nurse midwife by her side again. Because […]

During our first official prenatal appointment, I got to act like a one-on-one childbirth educator, walking through the nitty gritty process of labor and birth, including labor stages, emotional signposts, fetal descent, cervical effacement and dilation, partner support and all the rest. It was so fun to put on that education hat for a few […]

Before I launch right in to the amazing goodness that awaits us here, let me begin by saying that somehow this Grand Rapids birth photographer and videographer has NO births scheduled for October or November! I’m not sure how it happened, and truthfully, I’m willing to accept that my good father God knows that I […]

Sometimes you barely make it in time for a birth. Sometimes — especially with second babies — you get a text saying she’s “only 4 cm”.. and another one a half hour later saying “come now. pushing.” Haha.  So I arrived at Jake and Nicky’s house to find baby very near to crowning. She was […]

I’ve found this to be true for myself, and for lots of other mamas, too, it seems: that with each baby, we get a little bit better at postpartum. Especially for those of us, like Kim, who have been voraciously reading amazing books like The First 40 Days and The 4th Trimester, digesting their concepts […]

Kim and I were friends before I began Sister Birth, having been introduced by a mutual friend and sharing some common interests. I was so excited when she got pregnant for her 4th and decided that this time she would have a home birth. And I was pleasantly surprised when she contacted me 30-some weeks […]

This spring I took a leap, and signed up to take a birth films class with Monet Nicole. Though the cameras I shoot with have HD video capabilities, it always seemed like an intimidating feature. Even when I could figure out how to take short clips that looked OK-ish,  I had no idea what to […]

Hazel today, at age 7 June 1st was the 7th birthday of our firstborn. Here is her birth story. Its LONG because her birth was, too. 😉 Note: all the photos in this post are courtesy of Jennifer Holshoe, who was a birth photographer and student then, and is a wonderful midwife today. THE BIRTH […]

I am definitely NOT just being trite when I say it’s one of the better parts of my job to be invited to photograph or attend a second (or subsequent) birth for a family, and/or to photograph the times in between births. Because I LOVE watching families grow over the years. This is one of […]

In keeping with my goal for this year, I’m sharing the birth stories of each of my kids on their birthdays. Walter just turned THREE. And the following is the story of that day. Final Days of Pregnancy i had so much wishful thinking that he would come early. I mistook wishful thinking for intuition, […]