100 Powerful Photos Of Dads In The Delivery Room To Celebrate Father's Day

“This dad wanted to make sure no one touched his baby’s umbilical cord until it had fully finished its job, so this was one way to guard it against being cut too early! This family knows how to have a good time any place, any time — this wasn’t staged at all! (They did use scissors to cut the umbilical cord.)”

“This mother had been laboring for about 12 hours at this point and was absolutely exhausted. She was entering into transition, so each contraction was getting even more intense. Mic, the father, leaned in to pull her in close as she came down from the last contraction, wiping her tears from her cheeks. It was truly one of the sweetest moments I’ve ever captured between a mom and dad.”

Trusting my body and my baby, I recognized when a fearful thought would arise and chose to change it. Absolutely it was incredibly hard, but I was strong - stronger than maybe some skeptics had believed when they found out I was doing a home birth. And sincerely, people's doubts never offended me. I just felt sad that they didn't realize the full feminine strength that all women posses. I got to experience it in all its fullness yesterday, and my reward was birthing, not only a baby, but also a mom. _ Bonnie started letting me know she wanted to come meet the world at 5:00am on Monday, January 2, and my astounding husband and mother helped me labor until about 12:45pm when I got in our bathtub to push. My little sweet sister joined us then to squeeze my hand and help document the journey. Our midwife, Emily, from Lovers Lane Birth Center, was calming and made me feel strong and safe. The last push was something I'll never forget - a defining moment in my life. She came out into the water at 1:59pm and she was perfect. _ Ben and I got a moment alone with this new little angel and I fell even more in love with my sweet husband. I'm reliving yesterday in my head over and over again. It was amazing, and if you are at all interested in a home or natural birth, I'm thrilled to help provide any insight or resources. _ Our little Birdie is 7.5lbs and 20in long with hair already long enough for pigtails. She pooped on me three times in the first two hours of her life, so we know she's for sure Ben's daughter...

“These two dads are just about to meet their son for the first time. They traveled to Canada from Barcelona, Spain, (where surrogacy is illegal) to be there and support the surrogate mama in labor and delivery.”

"At 12:21am an AMAZING mother and INCREDIBLE father delivered their precious baby in the front seat of their car! I am still in awe of their strength, their sweet baby could not wait another minute to come into this world and his father delivered him within minutes of putting his car in park. No words can describe how amazing it was to watch this miracle, more to come as I was able to capture it all! Birth photographers dream, what a wild night it was. So in love with this family!
Welcome to the world sweet babe."

“There are those moments in life that you know will change you forever. And sometimes in those moments, you just can’t keep it together!”

"This is the couple’s first live birth, they had a still birth just over a year and a half ago. This mommy went through 24 hours of labor, and then everything stopped for just over a week. Her water then broke and she was in labor for 30 hours before their son was born. When the baby arrived, they both broke down crying when he took his first breath."

A normal part of life and an honor to catch your own baby.

“It was a long birth for these first-time parents, but the father not only encouraged his partner, he also talked to his baby throughout labor. It was beautiful to witness.”

"And he reached down and delivered his own baby. Look at the tenderness in his hands, his face. This is family. This is love.

“This couple had decided right after getting married that they would have kids via adoption, not because of any physical constraints, but because that was what was in their hearts. Their first daughter is 2 years old and they adopted her the day she was born. So it came as a huge surprise when they moved to Hawaii and, at the same time, found out they were pregnant! This father was his partner’s rock throughout the whole labor, both physically and mentally. When she pulled her baby to her chest, their reactions were so different — but so awesome!”