The Story Behind the Picture | Michiana Birth Photography

A Michigan doctor presents a newly delivered baby to the photographer for a picture in Michiana.

This is one of my favorite pictures I've ever had the privilege of taking.

This is at Lakeland Hospital in St Joseph, Mi. It was Lakeland back then. Then it became Spectrum and now it's known as Corewell Health. The Doctor is on the left, holding the baby up for me. I wish I knew her name, but she wasn't who we thought would be delivering the baby. The family hired an amazing midwife, Terry Lemley, to attend the delivery. If you don't know Terry, she is a gem in our community. At this time, Terry had a birth center in the basement of her home in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

I'd been there before this birth, at Gentle Harbor Birthing Center. You see, the mom of this beautiful baby has a sister. I photographed two of her sister's babies being born at the Gentle Harbor Birthing Center. It was at the birth of the first baby when I met Terry for the first time. Both were great experiences (and stories for another day). It was quite comfortable. On the wall ahead as you head down the stairs was a picture that I took of Terry from the first birth I attended with her. It's another cherished image that I took of Terry weighing the baby with a look of joy on her face. I love that picture, and apparently so did her kids, because they reached out and asked to buy the image. I had completely forgotten about it, and when I arrived for this birth - my heart was so full. Around the corner and swinging around in a circle throughout the basement - there was an office area, followed by the kitchen, a birthing tub, a private room with a bed, and then a living room. It was great.

Rewind 52 hours ... and then a few more. I woke up really early, because I had a scheduled c-section at 5:30 am to get to. It was for a really fun family who has hired me to photograph several things over the years - Fresh48, halloween costumes, Christmas cards. We created one Christmas card featuring the children as cookies on a mat, making 'snow angels' in the flour. Another year, we created a card where the family is working together to climb all the way up to put a star on the top of a tree. To this day, YEARS later, the family still gets comments on it on facebook - I think there are over 100 now? They always have such great ideas and it was a honor to be part of making it happen for them. Anyway, it's this wonderful family who invited me to a c-section. C-sections are comparatively quick. You know when they're going to start, although they are often bumped for emergencies, and then I'm really only needed for about 2 hours after the baby is born. So by the end of the morning, we were all wrapped up. I was looking forward to heading home and taking a nap.

I picked my 3 year old daughter up and I took her to the library. I thought, we'll enjoy the library for a little bit and then we'll head home for a nap. We could both use one. But then I got the call. The baby was on the way. Mom was at the birthing center and it looked like they were keeping her there. That meant it was time for me to call my babysitter and head over. This is one of those things that makes birth photography really challenging for a mom with small children. Three adult cousins, from two different sides of the family, juggled my daughter for me during those 52 hours. They were amazing. I truly couldn't have done it without their help. At the time of this birth, I was pregnant with my second daughter, and I remember thinking when we were over 24 hours into the birth, "how in the world am I going to do this with two little kids who can't stay home alone? I think I'm going to need a hiatus."

I am not medical in any sense of the word - so when I share details about what I'm observing, please take it with a grain of salt. It's entirely possible that I don't fully understand what's happened and most definitely, nothing I say could ever be considered medical advice. I'm pretty certain this was about ten years ago now, as well! So it's been awhile! That being said, I observe a lot. What I think was happening in this scenario was that baby just wasn't descending past mom's pelvic bone.

"Mom" was tired, but I don't remember her complaining. "Dad" seemed worried about why baby wasn't coming. At a certain point, Terry called it. She essentially said that we've tried everything we can that's safe in the birthing center; it's time to go to the hospital. We all climbed into our vehicles and made the 10 minute trip to the labor and delivery of Lakeland. It's funny, because I'm pretty familiar with this hospital now, but I'm pretty certain this was the first birth I'd ever photographed there. The memories I have of this event do not jive with the layout I know now, but I think there's been remodel since this time. The doctor on call at the hospital worked with "Mom" for about 4 hours, doing everything they knew to do to get baby to come down safely. I can still remember what happened next. The doctor came into the room, sat at the end of the bed and explained that a C-section was necessary. The first thing "Mom" said was, "Andrea has been with us the entire time. Please, may she please come with us into the OR?" The doctor looked at her, looked at me, looked back at her, and said, "you can have anything you want".

I was so excited that it was that easy. I'm not allowed in the OR during emergency c-sections. I am allowed in the OR during scheduled c-sections, depending on the hospital. I've come to find out that it's often up to the anesthesiologist. When they are okay with me being there, they give me a stool in the OR and I'm instructed to stay on my stool and don't touch anything blue (sterile). Usually my stool is up by "Mom"'s head - as that's also where the anesthesiologist is. And then there's a big drape between mom and the staff working to get baby out. But this day, they did not make stay on a stool. I could go anywhere I wanted to go, so long as I did not touch anything blue.  I had never been allowed on this side of the curtain before. They got baby out, and then I heard the doctor say, "hey photographer!" and she sat baby up for me for this great picture.

And that's how it happened. That's the story behind this picture.

---

You just read, "The Story Behind the Picture | Michiana Birth Photography".

This post was written by Andrea Hartstein, a photographer offering Michiana Birth Photography & dedicated to capturing the first moments of your baby’s life. Ready to document your journey? Let’s connect!

👈 This picture was taken when Andrea's oldest daughter was two years old, about a year before the picture in the story was taken.