For people who have experienced it, the pain and joy of childbirth is something that can hardly be described in words. There are so many emotions in this moment: joy, relief, amazement, pride, love, euphoria, contentment, and so many different reactions: smiles and tears.
These intimate portraits of mothers and fathers meeting their new-born sons and daughters for very first time offer an intimate look at the forging of an unbreakable, sacred lifelong bond.
In some of the images, the pain of the expectant mother is almost palpable – and those who have gone through a delivery will surely remember those excruciating moments of labor.
But in the end, with the excruciating pain of childbirth behind them, the moms’ faces are beaming with unbridled joy at having contributed to a genuine miracle.
The images collected here, both in black and white and in color, vividly capture the awe parents feel kissing their babies for their first time, touching their almost impossibly tiny feet, holding their clutched fists, their eyes still adjusting to the first visions of the world they have just entered.
Moments of silence and moments of extreme joy. Time after time after time, this is a magical moment, a moment in which you shed a tear yourself. Above all, the happy mothers embracing their precious babies exude a sense of serenity – as if they finally feel complete and in perfect harmony with the universe.
Most precious gift: A mother is lovingly watching her newborn baby in a hospital room
Picture worth a thousand words: For women who have experienced it, the pain and joy of childbirth is something that can hardly be described in words
I love this moment, you waited for so long, worked so hard and then finally the moment is there. Even though it happens so rapidly, it also feels like time is standing still when you are with your newborn.
Family meeting: A sister is giving her newborn baby brother a smooch on his miniscule nose as their mother cradles him
By land or by water: This precious bundle cradle by his mothetr was brought into the world via a water birth
Just the two of us: The happy mothers and dads embracing their precious babies exude a sense of serenity and wholeness
Glowing: After the delivery, this mother appears to be overcome with the feeling of having experienced a miracle
Adam, one minute after his birth, is firmly in your grasp. Adam managed to hold onto the connecting clamp after the father severed the umbilical chord.
With the agony of birth behind her, the mothers’ faces are glowing with boundless happiness
Birthday: A newborn’s tiny feet sticking out of a swaddling cloth as the baby is being cradled by the mother
