I'm an Irish woman.

"I used to be a feminist. Now I'm just proud to be a woman." ~ Sister Sarah Elisabeth, (Orthodox nun running the Martha & Mary House in California for crisis pregnancies and adoption)

What a wonderful week!

Last Tuesday, I had planned to collaborate with a long-time friend on some photos that I've been putting together in my mind for months now. But Tuesday morning I got the text that the birth I had been hired to photograph was in full swing! So I rescheduled with my friend and rushed to the house.

It was such an honor to photograph the birth of Violet Love, a beautiful little girl who was greeted by her parents and her ten siblings! It was the most amazing thing to see this big family welcoming Baby #11 - everyone was helping, encouraging, waiting for the moment of her arrival. I feel blessed to have been able to document the experience for them. What a wonderful Valentine's Day!

SO - yesterday, we went back to shooting these photos for the upcoming gallery at Max Crema's. The photos turned out so fantastically, I can't wait to share them! Here is a sneak peak, but if you'd like to see more of my work, please come to the gallery opening on March

3rd, from 10 am to 1 pm!

Update

I'm happy to say that another couple wants Alexis Ryan Photography for their wedding in October! What fun!!

The home birth I'm photographing could happen any day now. I am getting more and more excited to document this day and all of the beautiful people involved, especially the new one!

Fresh Starts

I'm looking forward to a lot in 2012! In just a few weeks I am so excited to be photographing the arrival of beautiful new baby just outside of Oley. In a few months, two of my childhood friends are getting married. Two different brand new beginnings and I get to be there for both! I can't wait!

Why Free Birth?

Following Constantine's arrival, I knew there would be questions about our decision to have an unassisted or "free" birth. I hope that writing this blog post helps answer many of those questions, but if you have others, feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my best to get back to you.

What is a free-birth?

            A free-birth is any birth where a doctor, nurse or midwife is not present. It is not necessarily a birth where the mother is alone or without support - many women choose to have their husbands or partners, good friends, a doula (an emotional, mental and physical support-person for women in labor) or their other children with them. Nathaniel and I chose to be the only people present, other than Constantine, at his birth.

Why not have a midwife?

            First, let me say that it was only after a great deal of research and reading a lot of personal testimonies that we decided to do this. I am a huge supporter of the practice of midwifery and have known some absolutely amazing midwives, including Christy Santoro, who provided us with prenatal care. The decision to have an unattended birth came from a lot of places - our belief that my body was capable of this, Nathaniel's own medical qualifications, a lot of research about complications and natural healing remedies, etc. But the main reason we chose for it to just be the two of us is because of the incredibly deep love and trust we share and because of the bond that led me to believe that my husband would do everything he could for me and that I would be at my absolute most relaxed and in-tune with my body in his presence, without the distractions of other people.

What do you do in an emergency?

            Much like a midwife-assisted home-birth, it's not typically recommended that high-risk pregnancies be delivered unassisted. Nathaniel and I agreed that the only way we would do this is if both Christy and I felt confident that I was in good health and that Constantine was in a good position. With that in mind, there are very few instances where a true medical emergency occurs during a peaceful, uninterrupted home-birth (Statistics and more on this are a different ball of yarn, please watch The Business of Being Born!!!). Nathaniel and I were prepared with disinfectants, anesthetics and sutures in case of tearing. We had a Vitamin K shot prepared for Constantine, in case of a difficult or traumatic birth. Also - and I'm amazed how many women don't know this - breastfeeding your baby immediately after birth significantly slows bleeding and helps the uterus to contract back to its pre-pregnant size. Nathaniel, who is a certified EMT and has extensive paramedic training as well, is qualified to administer Basic Life Support, obviously including adult and infant CPR. And in the event that something really went "wrong" - the car was ready for us to hop in and drive to the hospital.

How do you know if it's an emergency, without a midwife or doctor?

            Part of the mindset in a free-birth is fully trusting in the body's innate capability to give birth. Women are designed to do this - and often, the cause for difficult or exceptionally painful labor is rooted in a fear that literally shuts the body down and makes birth harder. Women have given birth in comas. Women who didn't even know they were pregnant have given birth while taking a bath at home. The first woman I spoke to about free-birth is such an inspiration to me - she was nineteen when her first baby was born. Her boyfriend was drunk and passed out on the couch and she delivered completely by herself. (She also dumped the boyfriend!!!) All of that is to say that our bodies, if we listen to them, tell us more than we realize. If something is wrong, it's intuitive. Positioning issues, such as breech, posterior or shoulder distocia babies, are rarely a cause for medical intervention - given patience and guidance, babies have been born with all of these issues and no complications. There are better and worse ways to stand/sit/kneel and to help the baby out for each of these, however. We did our homework on all of them.

How did we decide to have a free-birth?

            Toward the end of my first trimester, we started having problems with our midwife. It was very difficult to get in touch with her and we hadn't met for a prenatal appointment in far longer than we should have. There were personal reasons for that on her part, and I still would say she's a very talented midwife and has worked very well with others. All the same, Nathaniel and I realized that the dynamic between the three of us was not going to be the best fit for our birth.

            We started looking for other options in our area but were really discouraged when we found that midwives in Philadelphia are very expensive - and since we were already so far into the pregnancy, we'd have even less time to come up with the money to pay for one. There was only one birthing center with one non-guaranteed opening in October, and I really wanted to have a home-birth. Nathaniel half-jokingly said one day that we should just have the baby by ourselves. I wasn't really comfortable with the idea and so we continued looking for a midwife, trusting that God would provide the financial means for us to afford one. The idea of a free-birth as a possibility did start to develop in our minds, though, so we began doing more research.

            We were so happy when we found Christy Santoro - she is an incredible person who has been recognized for her achievements as an exceptional midwife. She also was very understanding of the stress we were under with our first midwife not working out. We were blessed to meet her, but by the time we had our first appointment, we had really started to embrace the idea of a free-birth. We asked Christy how she felt about meeting with us for prenatal appointments only. A lot of midwives aren't comfortable with this sort of agreement - obviously if something happens, they don't want any liability issues. The practice of midwifery is under so much undue scrutiny right now, it is a completely understandable concern, so we agreed that we would not mention her name if we needed to go to a hospital.

            Many of the same ideas for a midwife-attended birth apply to a free-birth. A natural home-birth was so important to us for a myriad of reasons. That aspect is a whole other topic, though, and if you'd like to learn more about it I cannot recommend strongly enough that you start by watching The Business of Being Born. If you have Netflix, it streams instantly. I was born at home and, being raised in a family that supported home birth, I have spent years of my life learning about its benefits. Some choose not to have a natural home birth and that is a decision I completely respect. But I do urge you to learn more about it.

            We met with Christy on a regular basis to gauge Constantine's progress - everything was normal. We also focused on nutrition and home exercises that help keep the baby in the right position and the pelvic bones aligned correctly. Visiting chiropractor, Dr. Ohm, was a huge help with this. If you're skeptical about the effectiveness of these home exercises, ask Nathaniel to tell you about how he flipped our baby from breech into a correct vertex position by talking to my belly! Or I'll happily tell you about how I could literally barely walk because of pelvic pain until we visited Dr. Ohm. I learned that spending several minutes every night before bed resting on my hands and knees and relaxing my spine could completely eliminate the problem.

Why didn't we tell people before he was born?

            I do hope you'll all forgive us for keeping this information from you but I hope you'll understand the reasons why. It has been fairly easy for me to write this four-page FAQ about our decision and to post it on my blog where it is universally accessible. It wouldn't have been as easy to answer these questions repeatedly, every time someone new asked them, though. More than anything, however, it was because free-birth relies largely on the mother's ability to relax, empty her mind of outside concerns and trust her body. Telling people about this decision before Constantine's birth would have inevitably opened us up to a barrage of questions, concerns and the imposition of other people's fears - none of which I mean to belittle or discredit. I simply hope that you understand how important it was for us to have as little of that in the back of our minds as possible as we approached this.

I hope this has answered your questions about Constantine's birth. If you have other questions, feel free to leave a comment. Thank you!

Milestones

A lot has happened since I last wrote. I'm 34 weeks pregnant today - which means Constantine is going to be making his debut appearance very, very soon!

Nathaniel and I just signed the lease for our absolute dream home - a stone cottage on a 200-acre organic farm. The owners of the farm rent out the cottage and the *enormous* garden next to it for an unbelievable price, and since Nathaniel found work in the area, we are officially moving to Berks County!

I also confirmed today with an old friend of mine that I will be shooting her wedding next summer. I'm honestly so happy - weddings are such a happy occasion to begin with, but this particular couple is so perfect for each other, I'm just so excited that they're getting married and that I get to be there!

In a week and a half I've got a baby-pictures session with one of my dad's co-workers. I'm really excited about this too, because as you've all probably figured out by now, I think babies are pretty much the most wonderful people ever.

On top of all of that, I just picked out paint colors with my sister for the new house and we've got to start moving in and making sure we're all ready for Constantine's home birth. 34 weeks is a good milestone, but it also means that he could really come any time now and we want to be prepared!

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P.S. I don't know why the color is desaturated in these photos but they look much better on my Facebook.

Not easily broken.

The past two weeks have been a difficult time for me. In one week I will be done my BFA at Temple and it only just hit me on Tuesday how I can use this degree in journalism to my advantage as a stay-at-home mom.

I'm thinking about starting a new YouTube channel focusing on home birth. I have all of the equipment I need to conduct video interviews and take photos and if I haven't learned how to write an article by now I've been wasting my time. It could be more casual, more intimate than a news outlet, not so structured. But a consistent, maybe once weekly or twice monthly video interview with someone who has something to contribute to the natural birth world. It wouldn't even always have to deal directly with home birth - there are so many "Mommy" related things to talk about and I know I'm about to be introduced to a whole new world of them when Constantine arrives.

I have found that this is what I'm passionate about. This is what I love. I'd like to do something with it.

The past few days, I have been glad for the reminder that even in difficult times, a cord of three strands is not easily broken. I have my husband and I have God loving me through every single day, no matter how hard it gets. I'm thankful for that gift.

Oh Baby!

Boy-oh-boy, what an unusual week I've had. Yesterday, Nathaniel and I drove to South Philly for my first prenatal chiropractic appointment. Can I just say that it is SO NICE to hear someone on any level of a medical profession say "I am completely supportive of your decision to have a home birth." Many, many brownie points for Dr. Ohm!!!

After my appointment, I am feeling so much better. I was given some great tips to help keep myself aligned and give the baby maximum room to grow. Very exciting!

On Wednesday, I shot a news package for school on home birth. My sister was kind enough to lend me her input (and also b-roll of her adorable children). You can check out the end result here! The closer I get to this baby being born, it's just about all I can think about. I am so ridiculously impatient to be a mommy!!!!!

20 Weeks.

It's taken long enough, but a photo gallery is finally in the works. It's kind of funny to me that my passion was so firmly rooted in pregnancy and birth photography before I ever became pregnant. These last several months have been a really amazing affirmation that this is what I want to be doing. I love our baby - I love this 'mommy' feeling that's growing and developing with this little person inside of me. It's such a surreal, truly incredible experience. This photo was taken today - I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant. Five months, how did that happen???

Stay tuned for details on this gallery! Every penny will be going towards the cost of a natural home birth, which is not covered by insurance. Incidentally, all compensation for my photography services currently is being allocated for this purpose as well. So if you have an event coming up - a wedding, a birthday party, an award ceremony, anything - or if you'd just like some up-to-date family photos, be sure to let me know!

Baby Gallery!

A friend of mine from Temple has an awesome gallery up at Cafe Twelve right now called Images of Cambodia.  The photos are really lovely - and I'm pretty sure they'll be up for about 2 more weeks, so if you want to check them out, be sure to go! (I bought one to hang in our new house!)

This got me thinking, though.  Maybe I should do a gallery of pregnancy and baby-themed photos to help raise money for our home birth.  The only downfall of home birth in many parts of the US is that it isn't covered by health insurance - can you believe that???  Women are practically forced to have their babies in hospitals!  Ok, I'll get off my soap box. =P

But anyway, paying for this birth is our biggest challenge right now.  We're looking into buying a little house for the three of us and have been putting away most of our income for our down-payment.  Little Smoosh is going to cost us roughly $3000, which is actually very inexpensive, but when it's all out of pocket and you're trying to buy a house, it's still a little difficult!  Every extra dollar that we make beyond what's already budgeted goes toward our darling little one.  Plus, we're planning to ask for donations instead of gifts at our baby shower (with a few exceptions) since so many people have generously offered us car seats, baby carriers, bassinets, furniture, clothing, etc. and there really isn't much else we need!

But what better way to raise money for our natural home birth than to have a gallery of pregnancy and baby pictures?  What do you think?  I think I'll start planning!

Wonder Child

Jacob is getting chubbier as the days go by.  He's still so tiny but he has puffy little cheeks... and dimples!  The girls adore him.


This photo was taken at one of my favorite moments from Georgia's labor.  Alyssa is such a bizarre child - she's this clumsy little tank but she's always got this out-of-this-world look on her face like she's thinking about things we can't even comprehend.  When Georgia was having a contraction, Alyssa walked right up to the side of the pool and put her hand on Georgia's head to comfort her.  Afterwards, she walked to Matt and patted him on the arm with this amazing little encouraging smile on her face.  Then she turned around and walked, naked as the day she was born, out the door and down the hallway.  Incredible.

Jacob Ransom Franchetti

I
have
a
nephew!

Last night at 9:20 my sister gave birth to the most incredibly beautiful baby boy I have ever seen in my life.  He is so amazing.  He's not even 24 hours old yet and he's already got chubby little cheeks!  He likes Daddy a lot - Matt held him for a long time afterwards while Mommy got cleaned up.  I think they will get along famously.

Jacob is so incredible.  I have over five hundred pictures to edit from last night - none of these three have been touched up at all yet, but I couldn't wait to show the world how beautiful my nephew is!

The most amazing thing happened while I was there.  The entire time I was with my sister, I did, of course, think to take pictures, but I was far more concerned about her safety and well-being.  I'm guessing that's pretty normal, she's my sister.  But as soon as I could see Jacob's head, something just clicked inside of me - just this absolute feeling that this is exactly what I want to do.  I don't think this could ever get old for me.  It's the most incredible experience I can imagine and it's new every time.  I am so happy that I'm pursuing this as a career!

Jacob Ransom Franchetti, I LOVE YOU!

Predicting the Unpredictable

Good morning, world!  Yesterday I could have used a pair of rain boots.  My fiancé has rubber toe-shoes that he wore yesterday on a walk to the mail box in the downpour.  On the way back, he stepped on a gigantic worm!  Eeeew!  I screamed - what a dork.


Anyway, this is a pretty recent photo I took of my niece.  Unplanned, not staged, just capturing cuteness.  Actually, it's very funny - her older sister was explaining to Mommy that "you have to stand very still in front of the camera or else you can't take the picture."  Alyssa hasn't quite gotten the idea yet.  She kept asking me to take her picture and then running around behind the camera.  Candid moments with children are HARD!

My sister is past due and I am so antsy I can hardly stand it.  I want to meet this baby!  I had the opportunity to speak with one of my professors at Temple, Shenid Bhayroo, about how to shoot in this kind of situation.  For example, I have no idea what time of day my sister will go into labor.  There's a decent chance there will be very poor light.  Some easy ways to get around this are not options - I'm clearly not going to be setting up studio lights in her room and I wouldn't dream of setting off a flash.  It will be challenging, but I know it will be ok.  It's an excellent learning opportunity.  Can't wait!!!

"I have a competition in me"

Free minutes!  Huzzah!


I don't know how I've gotten through the past few weeks.  Every day it feels like there's more to do than I can possibly fit into 24 hours, but every day I've managed to get it all done.  I've had a lot of help from my Love - thank you, dear!


So, the woman in this photo is awesome.  She's a natural home birth advocate (and three-time-success story!) and she's getting ready for #4!


It's really exciting for me to speak to women who understand my enthusiasm for natural home birth.  I've been meeting more and more of them as this idea is molded into a functioning business.  Things are coming along fantastically!


I can barely contain my excitement for Georgia's baby to come.  This will be my first of many things - the first birth I've seen (other than my own, I guess, and the beginning of my brother's some 18 1/2 years ago!), the first water birth I've seen, the first birth I'm photographing...  I'm relieved to be starting with someone I know well and am comfortable with.  Things could get a bit more challenging from here on out!


On another note, I have a confession to make.  And if you've seen There Will Be Blood, you know the reference.  I have a competition in me.  I want no one else to succeed.  It's not entirely true - I like seeing people work hard and do well.  But I will be good at what I do.  I will excel at what I do.  And I welcome a little competition to become the best.  It makes winning more fun.  =)