“What if you are sick or unable to make it to my birth?!”
This is a question I answer with every birth client that I have ever worked with. The answer: Backup Birth Photographers.
Last January, in the height of cold and flu season, my darling husband came down with the dreaded flu. I had been on call for a mama for two weeks and she was already past her estimated due date. My husband was immediately quarantined to the bedroom and I bought so many cans of Lysol, gloves, masks, and natural remedies I was certain no germ could survive.
Then on the evening of January 14th, I felt a tickle in my throat.
I immediately alerted my backup birth photographers that I was feeling a little off, hoping it was nothing, but they needed to be prepared nonetheless. You see, anytime I am on call I also have at least 2 other professional birth photographers in Dallas on call with me. These women own their own birth photography businesses and shoot very similar to me stylistically as well.
At 2am my phone went off. In that instant I immediately knew two things:
1. My client was in labor.
2. I was most definitely very sick.
My head was pounding and my throat was on fire as I answered the phone knowing that I would have to send someone in my place. I got all the details from the father-to-be and then quickly made the call. The next problem was this birth also happened to fall on the one day out of the entire year when Texas was getting freezing rain and snow. The first photographer I called was stuck and unable to make it across an icy bridge near her house. My next call, Kim Hammond, was able to make it out and with plenty of time to capture this gorgeous birth for my clients.
Once she was done shooting, she sent me the photos and I edited them to deliver to my clients. Obviously I was SO bummed I couldn’t be there, but I didn’t worry for a minute knowing that my clients were being taken care of by a skilled photographer who I was confident in their skills and also their presence at the birth.
Special thanks to Kimberly Hammond Photography for photographing this birth for me and for being an all around awesome friend. And another thanks to Kathryn for trying to go out on this icy night and Kourtnie and Lawren for their endless moral support and friendship through so many births. There’s no way I could do this without you all!