Why You Need Birth Photography: Capturing What Your Heart Remembers But Your Mind Forgets
Why you need birth photography: capturing what your heart remembers but your mind forgets
"I don't remember anything from my birth." I hear this phrase constantly as a doula. Mothers who lived the most transformative moment of their lives, but only keep blurry fragments of the experience. Have you ever wondered why this happens?
Your brain is programmed to forget
During birth, your body releases a hormonal mix so intense that it literally alters your state of consciousness. Oxytocin, endorphins and adrenaline help you give birth, but they also severely affect your ability to form memories. Your brain says: "Now is not the time to remember details, now is the time to bring life into the world."
Research shows that almost 46% of mothers have fragmented or limited memories of their birth. Your mind enters an almost hypnotic state where time becomes distorted, where you can feel "outside of your body." It's beautiful and functional for birth, but it doesn't help memory.
Photos speak a universal language
As a doula who also photographs births, I constantly see mothers looking at their photos and exclaiming: "I didn't know I did that!" or "I don't remember this moment!" The images reveal their strength, the loving look of their partner, those first tears of happiness. Moments that would be lost forever if not for photography.
And here comes something beautiful: images transcend any language or cultural barrier. When you live in a foreign country, where sometimes it's difficult to express your deepest emotions in another language, a photograph tells your complete story without needing words. Your strength, your love, your transformation into a mother: everything is there, preserved forever.
The healing power of seeing your own story
I have seen mothers who had difficult births find healing when seeing their photos. There's one mama who really touched me and when I told her not everything was pain, she said: "Really! I thought everything had gone wrong, but seeing the photos I realized how strong I was and that I smiled." The images give them back the complete narrative of their experience, not just the hard moments that sometimes remain more vividly etched.
Birth photography doesn't just preserve memories: it creates them. It shows you angles of your own story that you could never see. Your partner crying with emotion, your hands holding your baby for the first time, that exact moment when you became a mother. These are emotional treasures that would otherwise be lost in the hormonal fog of birth.
Your story deserves to be remembered completely
Every birth is a unique story of transformation. Although your heart will always remember the love you felt when meeting your baby, your mind needs help to preserve all those beautiful details that make your story complete.
Don't let the most precious moments of your life fade away in the hormonal mist of birth. Your strength, your love, your transformation into a mother: all of that deserves to be preserved, celebrated and remembered forever. Because some stories are too important to trust only to memory.
Ready for your birth story to be preserved forever? As your doula and photographer, I will be there to support you and capture every sacred moment of your transformation.
