Amongst the many details of intentional and informed home birth that I LOVE in these images… The chalkboard sign that reads “There’s no place like home.” The presence of the bigger siblings and the grandparents. The mama (Angel)’s hands open between contractions and curving slightly closed during them. The way Angel spoke so lovingly to […]

The following words are Teri’s, the photos by me. I’m going to let the two interweave in tandem and trust it’s more than enough to get the point across. This was a redemptive, sacred birth…. The poignant period of time waiting for Maia’s arrival, her natural hospital birth, and this simple, quiet postpartum period has […]

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 […]

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 […]

You can listen to or read the story below… 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 OF HAZEL JUNE preamble when we found out we were pregnant, we had just moved into our new […]

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 […]

You can read or listen to the story below. If you read it, you’ll notice that there are strange gaps around the first paragraph of the text. I can’t sort out how to make them go away. 🙂 Final Days of Pregnancy i had so much wishful thinking that he would come early. I mistook […]

Read or listen to the story below…   pre-labor on the 3rd, while tim was quite sick with an intestinal bug and hazel just barely recovered from the same, i felt “off” in a general sense. i thought maybe i was about to get the same bug. but i was also having loads of contractions […]