The umbilical cord is the first tangible connection between a mother and baby. For nine months this cord has provided nutrients to the baby from the mum. And for nine long months, the love the mother has for that baby grows in kind.
Photographer Monet Nicole Moutrie, took the opportunity to capture the awe-inspiring power of birth with a startlingly beautiful image. In it, a newborn baby is still connected to his placenta by his umbilical cord that is adjusted to spell out the word "love."
"I attended this home birth in the early summer of 2015. Erin, the mother, labored throughout the night and morning, with her loving partner Jess, by her side. Birth is one of the most intense and beautiful experiences I've witnessed. There aren't enough words to convey the strength, the joy and the surrender that birth requires. In over fifty births, this particular image moves me each time I return to it. It speaks so well to what birth requires and the reward it offers. I love the physicality of this image—the perfectly coiled cord resting on the mother's postpartum belly. And I also love the look of pure relief on the mother's face. A relief that is mirrored in her newly born child. Birth is intensely emotional and intensely physical. It surprises me each time, showing me glimpses of beauty and strength that have long been hidden from the public eye." — Monet Nicole
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