A mother has shared a shocking exchange she had with her birth photographer, who reportedly refused to document her caesarean section.
The mum, whose name is unknown, shared her story on the Breastfeeding Mama Talk Facebook page on 25 February.
She claimed the photographer booked to capture the birth opted out when they found out she was not giving birth “naturally”.
In the text exchange the mother shared, the photographer claimed “surgery isn’t birth” and wrote: “I for one don’t want to be there and take pictures of it.”
“This is not okay,” Breastfeeding Mama Talk’s Facebook caption read.
“Mums who have had a c-section you’re just as much a damn good mother as anyone. How you gave birth, and you did certainly give birth, does not determine your worth as a mum.”
The mum-to-be had originally sent a text questioning why the photographer pulled out of the job.
“I had no idea birth photographers discriminated [against] people for how they birth their babies, but that’s good to know,” she wrote.
The photographer replied: “You aren’t giving birth. You are having a surgery to remove your baby from your abdomen, that is not birth no matter how you swing it.
“This motherhood job is hard, if I were you I would think twice about starting such a job by cutting corners so early in the game.”
Mums and dads responded in shock to the text exchange.
“Wow, as a c-section mum, this makes me so sad,” one mother commented.
“My daughter was breech and had I attempted to turn her or deliver her, it would not have worked unless the cord broke and most of us know how that ends.”
Another commented: “Wow. If anything c-section mamas deserve more props.
“Awake during surgery and a longer/harder recovery with a newborn to take care of. How on earth is that cutting corners?
“I thought my two vaginal births were the easy way, even with their own complications.”
The photo had more than 11,000 likes and 4,000 comments within three days of being shared.