Hospital births can be a tricky business. Don't get caught off guard. Get educated. Get a doula. Get support. Get ready for the awesome gift of motherhood!

Your baby will arrive with no less than ten zillion questions and decisions to make, especially in a hospital setting.  Childbirth education and a qualified doula can help you get ready.  

Before labor begins: 

Should I let them strip my membranes at my next appoint...

"I'm pregnant!" She showed up on my doorstep, Christmas morning with the sweetest of news. Good tidings.

"Where's the water?"  Poor mama.  

I accidentally led her to think we were heading to a riverside maternity session and she saw nothing but dry grass.  "Are we in the right place?"  As I prep her images now, I'm thinking a resounding, "YES." 

Thankfully, s...

This bloom was the only one left on the rose bushes outside the hospital.  Clinging on with tenacious beauty, despite the summer heat.

It's a little like this couple.  They met when they were teens and their love just never fell away. Years later, they're welcoming baby...

Photographing this birth story was a treasure to me.  I had always, always wanted to photograph a home birth, but thus far never had.  When my sweet doula friend, Aubrey, welcomed me to document hers, I was overjoyed. 

The whole home birth experience was so w...

New parents often have hands that are uncertain, but hearts that are completely bursting with love.  

I love Fresh 48 sessions for that reason.  The new is so new: the parents, the baby, the grandparents, those first feedings, and oh, the diaper changing, that firs...

 On a brisk fall morning, the sky was a perfect Carolina blue as I made my way to Duke Regional Medical Center to document the birth story of Baby A.  The induction process was off to a slow start, but this team didn't mind. They enjoyed card games and cooking shows wh...