Being invited to photograph a birth has to have been one of the biggest honours and challenges for me as a photographer so far.

This was a true case of documenting moments with as much discretion and sensitivity as possible. A test of my technical knowledge, with very little control of my surroundings and clearly no option for re-takes.

Storytelling is something that I love to do with photos. Encapsulating feelings in a photograph and being able to remember the experience is something that I hold dear to my heart. Capturing this birth allowed me to to both of these things, and it was pretty amazing.

Beth - Midwife and writer of The Bump to Baby Chapter blog, educates parents to birth positively with the tools and knowledge from her straight talking Hypnobirthing and Prenatal Classes. She encourages women to hypnobirth through any turn that your birth can take you. With 2 previous premature babies, gestational diabetes and bleeding in the birthing pool on a previous birth, she was open to all eventualities.

Beth has kindly allowed me to share her images of her own birth story. Each and every birth is an incredible journey, and there is no way that it can be put in a nutshell. So here are a few images of Beth in Part 1 of her Bump to Baby Chapter in photos.

* All photos were taken without flash and at night, using only the artificial light of the room available.