There are a lot of things people tell you to prepare for when you’re pregnant.
They talk about birth plans and car seats and packing the hospital bag just right. They remind you to take photos, to soak it all in, to remember every second.
What no one tells you is how much of it you’ll forget.
I thought I would remember everything
When I was giving birth, I was certain those moments would be etched into me forever.
The way the room felt.
The exact moment my baby arrived.
The strength I found when I didn’t know I had any left.
I didn’t think I needed photos. I thought my memory would be enough.
It wasn’t.
Birth is powerful and fleeting
Birth moves fast and slow all at once.
There are moments of intensity, moments of quiet, moments where your world narrows down to breath and instinct. Later, when the adrenaline fades, pieces of the story soften around the edges.
What I remember most is how it felt.
What I don’t remember are the details.
The way my partner looked at me.
The small gestures of support.
The exact moment everything changed.
I didn’t realize what I was missing until later
It wasn’t until I saw other families’ birth photos that it really hit me.
I saw strength reflected back to them…proof of what their bodies had done. I saw partners frozen in that moment of awe. I saw tenderness that could never be recreated.
And I realized I didn’t have that.
I had one or two blurry phone photos. I had fragments. I had memory gaps.
What I didn’t have was the full story.
That regret is what shaped the way I photograph births
I don’t photograph births because they’re trendy or dramatic.
I photograph them because I know how it feels to wish you could go back and see it clearly.
I know how easy it is to assume you’ll remember everything—and how surprising it is when you don’t. I know how meaningful it is to have proof of your strength, especially on days when motherhood feels heavy.
Birth photos don’t just show what happened. They remind you who you were in that moment.
This isn’t about regret, it’s about honoring your story
This isn’t meant to make anyone feel like they’ve done something wrong.
It’s simply an honest reflection on something I wish I’d known sooner.
Because birth isn’t just about meeting your baby.
It’s about becoming someone new.
And that transformation deserves to be remembered.
If you’re on the fence, here’s what I wish someone had told me
You won’t remember everything.
And that’s okay.
But having photographs means you don’t have to rely on memory alone.
You get to look back and see:
- Your strength
- Your support system
- The beginning of your family
That’s something I wish I had for myself and something I’m honored to give to others now.
Every birth story looks different……whether it happens in a hospital, birth center, or at home here in Wisconsin.
What stays the same is how quickly the details fade, and how meaningful it is to have something tangible to return to when they do.
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