Photographing local Chesterfield Doula, Hannah, and her twins was an absolute dream. I got the chance to chat with her during our shoot and find out more about her birth and early postnatal experience with her twins.
One of my favourite parts about Motherhood Photography is talking to other mums or parents and sharing our experiences together. Motherhood and Parenthood can be such a lonely place and there’s not often the space to talk openly and honestly about our experiences.
Motherhood Photography allows a unique opportunity to capture the closeness and the bond shared with your babes whilst also having someone who can listen, hear, and see you.
Hannah’s overall birth experience was scary. It was through her personal experience that led her to her Doula training and her current role as the support and anchor needed for so many birthing people.
When asked about her early postpartum days, Hannah recalled them being “really hard. We had feeding issues, the boys were really sicky. I was exhausted and found the juggle of keeping them safe as their 1 year old sister didn’t understand how fragile they were. I remember not being able to sleep or shower but not really getting any help to do those things as the babies never slept at the same time.”
When asked about her feeding choices for the twins, she said “We chose to formula feed the boys as we had bottle fed their sister. We chose to do this so my husband could be a complete equal parent and we could share the load.”
Hannah has even started up the Chesterfield Bottle Feeding Support Group for other local parents. The group’s about states:
“After finding out by 6 weeks old, 76% of babies AREN’T exclusively breast fed, I wanted to find a local and independent service for my postnatal clients to make sure if they ever felt they needed it, they were supported the way all parents deserve to be.
However, I was surprised to learn… this support just didn’t exist!
Team this with my own personal experience of having to take my 4 month old baby to A&E with an extreme feeding aversion after waiting over 6 weeks for an appointment with a specialist team, only to be told we were lucky to even be on the list as they were bottle fed…
I decided it was time to say goodbye to shame of any form when it comes to feeding our babies. I am absolutely ecstatic to have the opportunity to build my own supportive community!”
I’m sure Hannah’s experience is relatable to many other birthing people and the postpartum and feeding struggles are REAL. And while we can get lost in the negative, as our brains are wired with a negativity bias, it’s still important to think about the joys. This isn’t about “thinking positive” or toxic positivity as these joys don’t negate any negativity. Rather that we also remind ourselves of the tiny fleeting moments of joy that exists alongside everything else.
For Hannah, these joys are “The magic of [the twins] interaction. Their laughs. Their personality really thriving and seeing them experience and learn things that are new every day.”
When asked about the photography and her experience during the session, Hannah said:
“It was lovely. I really enjoyed myself and felt like it was beautiful bonding time with my babies and I was just hanging out with a friend also. This is captured beautifully in the photos. They capture exactly how I see my boys and my relationship.”
If you’d like to book your own Motherhood session, do get in touch.
