Women & Birth

A PROPOS DU REPORTAGE PENDANT LA NAISSANCE

"Le reportage de l’accouchement est innovant en France.
Mais aux USA et au Canada, la birth photography est une activité reconnue et développée."

image, A unique tool of guerison

Nowadays, in France, one woman out of five is delivered by a caesarean section (half of them in a state of emergency) and 80% resort to an epidural anaesthesia. The context of delivery is medically-focused. Legal rules about comfort and security are strict. Families are also more demanding. The mothers are older, more concerned with the beauty of their bodies, better- informed; They have a mental approach of that they are going through with a marked taste for control. Consequently, the instinctive and animal dimension of what women experience when they are delivered is a test for which they are not really prepared. Living a delivery in complete awareness and in a human context is not frequent nowadays. But, through photography, it’s possible to humanize the memory of that context.

"Because the photo report is a visual tool which stirs up emotions, and makes it possible to relive what has been experienced. So, the report on delivery is a genuine, contemporary tool designed to help women. .

Immortalizing the first contact between mother and child

In order not to forget the intensity of the love which was felt at the moment of birth.

The first elements of contact which create love between mother and child are the visual flow, the smell, the touch of the skin, the feeding.
The first hours are deeply rooted in the emotional brains and the unconscious of the child. They are a crucial factor in the development of the future adult and in the mother’s love for her child.

Those emotions can be positive and put in their place immediately. But when women are delivered through a caesarean section, when the child is placed in an incubator, when the pain is acute, those flows of contacts are not as strong. So, there may a rupture which prevents love from appearing instinctively between two human beings who don’t have a great knowledge of each other. For example, there is a risk for the mother not to feel all the love she would like to feel for her child. The child may even be associated with the failure of her delivery, or indeed be unconsciously regarded as responsible for it. The new born baby can be deprived of the fundamental contacts, and run the risk of growing up with a feeling of rupture.

"The pictures can help to stir up the process of union and repair the wound of separation. Immortalizing the first flows of contact makes it possible to relive, revisit the moment, and try to feel it again when the need is felt.

From the unconsciouslyto the conscious

Reliving the unconscious events which took place at the moment of delivery

During delivery, unforgettable emotions are experienced: the intensity of the first look of the child to his mother, the tears of joy, the strength of holding that fragile human being in your arms for the first time. But more negative occurrences surrounding the main events appear: waiting for the anaesthetic, the fear of the epidural anaesthesia. In a state of emergency, you are not really aware of all that. The intensity reaches a climax, your feelings rush against one another and the parents find it difficult to realise what is happening to them.

"The role of the report is to stir up the luminous instants and to offer, like paintings, the images helping you to relive what is most essential. So, unconscious phenomenons experienced during the birth may become conscious again.

Reinforcing the union of the couple

Father and Mother don’t live the delivery in the same way. Whereas the mother is at the centre of the event, her partner stands beside her; he has no precise positon. On seeing the report, the parents will relive that moment TOGETHER; they will experience the same feelings at the same time.

" So, the delivery report reinforces love in the couple and accompanies a relationship undergoing a change.

Why is a delivery report t precious in the event of an epidural anaesthesia?

My photos can turn a trial into a beautiful memory. They help the woman to regain consciousness of her central role.

The delivery report is a means to give a magic dimension to the trial of the birth . Although she is awake when the epidural anaesthesia is practised, the state of mind of the mother is strongly modified by the medicines and the anxiety. The memory of her delivery may be blurred and confused. Thanks to the pictures, the woman will become aware that she gave birth to the child. The importance of her role is cleared up and re-emphasized. She will also discover the first moments of the life of the child which she was not aware of: the examination of the child by the pediatrician, , the passage in the incubator, the skin to skin session with the father. So, the birth will be apprehended under a new light. And the feelings of failure and rupture which often happen are replaced by pride and happiness.

"For the women who fear the epidural anaesthesia, the delivery report is a unique therapeutic tool. That particular delivery which may sometimes appear as a personal defeat will be lived a a success. The woman will recover her self confidence and self esteem. In a surgical context, the child is delivered in good health; for that only reason, that delivery is absolutely magic. The photos are there to recall it.