03 Jul New Father Is Pictured Crying Throughout His Son’s Birth – But Not For The Reason You Think

As far as unusual and emotionally-charged jobs go, the role of a birthing photographer has got to be up there with the best of them. Being welcomed into the delivery suite and trusted with capturing the very moment people become parents, the very moment that their whole lives change forever, must be an overwhelmingly powerful and quite scary occurrence.

But as an experienced birth photographer, Kirstie Perez knows better than anyone the responsibility that this job comes with. With the most intimate of insights into the highs and lows of pregnancy and birth, and the intense emotions that women and their loved ones experience during this time, she creates stunning photo diaries of each woman’s labor and delivery that can be treasured forever.

“What allows me to create such intimate and powerful images is the relationships I create with each client throughout their pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum,” Kirstie told Bored Panda. “They know what I stand for and my mission [is] to normalize birth and the traumatic experiences we go through as women. I genuinely love and am protective of all of my clients’ birth experiences.”

“It is much more than taking the money and showing up. The relationship is crucial. If I don’t click well with prospects during a consult, I will politely decline. I cannot, in good conscious, take funds from a mother who is vulnerable and could possibly be a better fit for someone else. I truly care about the emotional and psychological well being of my clients.”

However, while Perez’s frequently graphic photos tend to focus primarily on the physical processes of labor and birth, it isn’t only the experience of women that is central to her portraits. After all, it goes without saying that becoming a new father and watching your partner bring life into the world, whether for the first of the fourteenth time, can be a traumatic, uplifting or ground-shifting experience – often all three at once.

So when, during one routine birth photography session (if there is even such a thing), a husband began sobbing as his wife gave birth, Perez knew she had to capture the moment – and to find out the story behind it.

It turns out that the woman giving birth had actually had a remarkably difficult pregnancy. Diagnosed with preeclampsia and hyperemesis gravidarum – the same condition that struck down The Duchess of Cambridge – she had suffered from violent vomiting and nausea for pretty much all 285 days of her pregnancy.

She was even hospitalized four times, so severe was the dehydration that this caused.

Safe to say, it wasn’t the smooth pregnancy that either of them were probably hoping for.

Perez said that he: “Ate more dinners on the front steps of their home than he could count because any scent literally made her ill.” You’ve got to feel for them both really.

Many fathers say that they feel like a spare part once their partner goes into labor, watching the pain that they go through, but Perez disagreed with this idea: “After months of simply being there for her as much as possible, he supported her during birth.”

Going on to explain her conversation with the father, she recounted: “I told him I captured him crying seeing his son and he said, ‘That’s not why I was crying’.”

“Puzzled, I asked what he meant”

And the response was heart-wrenching.

You see, as understandably emotional as watching his son being born was, his actual reason for crying was far more simple, and perhaps even more unusual: “This is the first time I have seen her smile in 10 months”, he said.

And the look of love he had for both of them will make your heart melt a little bit.

Just try and tell me you didn’t just smile a little bit.

Also, can we please just have a moment of appreciation for any woman that looks this completely radiant and amazing having given birth just moments earlier? Like, wow.

She is officially super-mom on so many levels.

But it turns out that if these images weren’t incredible enough, there was still another plot twist:

“This time was different because this client happened to be my little sister,” Kirstie explained. “I watched her go through hell. She was in constant pain. She could have died carrying her baby. There was no prior warning that HG was a variable in her pregnancy. I watched her fight and give her life for someone innocent. I watched her husband look on helplessly for almost a year. The emotions in the room were incredible.”

It’s not only photographs that Perez captures for her couples, however. She also makes videos, so couples can remember every last moment and take in how the birth of their precious child unfolded – without the pain or the screams. Weirdly enough, they’re actually quite a nice watch.

Watch baby Evie being born:

[[jwplayerwidget||http://content.jwplatform.com/videos/jY9R7BQc-Q0L14jDU.mp4||jY9R7BQc]]

After seeing these incredible situations unfold, Perez also has a powerful message for the men in the delivery rooms and their partners: “Men, please understand how powerful your empathy can be. To all of the mothers who have traumatic pregnancies and still find a way to smile… thank you for sacrificing yourself and enduring to bring your precious child into the world. That is no easy feat.”

She may have an odd job, but those sound like some seriously wise words.

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