Why More Women Are Sharing Images And Video Of Childbirth

Her mouth is agape and you can almost hear the scream and feel her pain as she musters all of her strength to push her baby boy into the world. When Ashley Graham recently celebrated International Women’s Day by sharing a photograph on Instagram of herself in the throes of labour, her followers and fellow celebrities were in awe.

‘This is the face of my greatest strength,’ she captioned the picture. ‘On this International Women’s Day, understand that despite whatever pain or trial we have all experienced as women, we are also strong, powerful and capable of accomplishing greatness.’

The post quickly received supportive comments and the model was praised for sharing such a ‘candid’ and ‘powerful’ image. Comic Amy Schumer wrote, ‘This post made me cry.’

But it’s not only celebrity mums who have taken to documenting the intimate moments of their baby’s birth. When my eldest son was born in 2015, I insisted my husband film the birth on his phone. It wasn’t something I’d planned, but as I sucked on gas and air, a midwife recounted her own birth story and told me how she was in so much pain she blacked out. I felt terrified of the same thing happening to me, and not being able to properly remember. 

When we returned home from the hospital with our baby boy, we were able to watch the video and take in all the details that would otherwise have been lost in the hazy memories of giving birth.

Months later, I wrote an article for a national newspaper about how I’d filmed the birth for my own personal viewing, and the response surprised me. Many of the online comments began, ‘Each to their own, BUT...’ followed by something really negative. Other comments displayed blatant misogyny, jumping straight to mentions of sex and porn. So, almost five years on, I find it heartening to see Ashley Graham’s post receive a mostly warm response.

Birth photographer and videographer Hannah Palamara says there has been a huge increase in women looking to document their child’s birth in this way. London-based Hannah was working as a doula when she developed a keen interest in photography. Taking her camera everywhere, clients started to ask her to take pictures of them as they gave birth. Spotting a gap in the market, she set up a birth photography and videography business.

Hannah says demand is now so high she could make a living from doing nothing else but photographing and filming births. ‘In the past five or six years, the industry has grown massively. I get a few more enquiries every week.’

Hannah believes this growth in people wanting to capture these intimate moments, and even share them online, is in part influenced by changes in the way childbirth is being represented on TV and through media. ‘There’s this real shift in how “real women” are represented,’ she says. ‘It’s an exciting time.’

The mum-of-three is passionate about documenting women’s transition into motherhood. ‘People think you’re nuts. All they can imagine is you taking pictures of vaginas. But there’s so much more to it. It’s telling a story through the images. Although, 90% of the time, clients do want that vagina shot.

‘It’s empowering to women in so many ways,’ adds Hannah. ‘When they’re going through the birth, they often have their eyes squeezed shut and miss so many moments. The photographs or the video help to tell the story of the birth as a whole.’

But what about births that don’t go to plan? ‘Clients may want a home birth and end up being transferred to hospital, they may tear badly or lose a lot of blood,’ says Hannah. ‘What I’ve found in these situations is that the photographs or the video help the couple to later debrief and heal from the experience. They help women look back and see how strong and brave they can be.’

While mums like Ashley Graham might be considered brave for posting pictures taken during their childbirth online, other mothers are taking things a step further. After losing a lot of blood and barely remembering the birth of her two sets of twins, Amber Allen (main picture) decided that her third childbirth experience would be different. That’s why Amber, 31, from Folkestone in Kent, and her partner Kirsty made the decision to hire a videographer.

‘The footage captured so many incredible moments,’ she says. ‘Like my reaction to finding out it was a girl, our baby’s first cry, and my partner holding her for the first time. It’s tastefully shot with beautiful music. But it’s still real and raw.’

Amber, who runs an LGBTQ+ parenting blog, decided to share the intimate video on YouTube. ‘It’s not that big a deal these days. I share so many important moments in my life and people supported my IVF journey, so I knew they were excited to see her come into the world. My children have seen it and my sister’s boyfriend watched it to prepare himself for my sister’s baby’s birth.’

But the video, which has been viewed 15,000 times, has also received some negative comments. ‘Some people say it’s “horrible” and “attention seeking”. A lot of the negativity seems to be around the thinking that birth should be a private thing, not something shared on the internet. But most of the comments are kind and positive.’

Our concepts of privacy are shifting all the time. Half a century ago, most dads didn’t witness the birth of their own child, but now mothers are sharing their most intimate of experiences with thousands of strangers online.

The actions of women like Ashley Graham and Amber Allen challenge the rest of us to ask ourselves why we so often feel uncomfortable with women posting pictures and videos of this incredible and empowering moment.

Some might ask: ‘Why share this?’ But maybe the question should be: ‘Why not?'

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