Erica Imaoka Hagerman

The amazing Erica Imaoka Hagerman, mother to Leyla (6), Duke (4), Vera (2) and currently 36 weeks pregnant. We've had the gift of photographing Erica with her daughters before (viewable here), however, she wanted to join us again to document her current pregnancy and in doing so, continue to shift her internal dialogue about her body image. Erica says that when she chose to participate in this movement the first time she somehow expected the change in herself to be instant. She thought that once she was photographed she would just automatically be able to whole heartedly embrace self love and positivity. Instead it's been something she's had to work much harder towards. This pregnancy is planned to be Erica's last and while she says it's been easier because she knows that once this baby arrives she'll be moving into a new chapter of life, it's been more difficult for exactly the same reason. Shifting the messy internal dialogue about what makes Erica beautiful and whole from the messages she grew up with to the dialogue of positivity and acceptance that she would like to share with her children is her goal of this year. She hopes that this leg of her journey will encompass more self love and compassion. As a doula and child birth educator Erica says that she is always supporting and uplifting women through this transformative time, and that this time, she can apply that same sensitivity to herself.

Erica returned today to allow us to meet her sweet baby. Maverick (11 days) was born following what Erica describes as her most healing home birth. She gave birth on her bed and says that he enjoyed being able to push him out and then take a moment to regroup before she picked him up which allowed her both to process and connect with him right away. Breastfeeding has been going well though she's dealing with a bit of oversupply. Her youngest daughter Very is occasionally tandem nursing as well. Erica says that Maverick is her last baby so she's trying to savor every moment and every smell knowing she won't have a newborn again. Personally she's also continuing to do her best to apply the body positive thoughts she passes along to her doula clientele to herself.

Courtney Roybal

The radiant Courtney Roybal with her daughters Jaelynn (5) and Elbry (4 months) and son Canon (3). Courtney's first pregnancy was a bit of a surprise just 6 months after she and her now husband had moved in together. Her pregnancy was healthy and she chose to have a hospital birth with open ended expectations. Her labor was about 6.5 hours from start to finish but things at the end moved very quickly and when they went to hand her daughter to her it was just too much and she said no. It had taken some time to get used to having a baby and now that she was earth side it took just a bit of time to adjust. She was soon ready to hold her and that bond that she'd expected to be immediate was instead strongly forged over time. Courtney and Jaelynn shared a breastfeeding expereince for 3.5 years. She was able to nurse through her pregnancy with Canon and tandem fed them for her sons first year when Jaelynn weaned. Her second pregnancy went well and this time Courtney chose to deliver at home with the support of midwifes. She started laboring but eventually stalled out in part because Canon was asynclitic. They decided for her team to go home as she attempted to get some rest and wait for labor to resume, in hopes that his position would also improve. Two days later labor ramped up again and within just a few hours her son was born at home in the water and into his dads arms. Courtney says that she was able to feel much more in tune with this birth and wanted to make a point to connect with Canon right away. While his delivery was pretty seamless Courtney hemorrhaged after birth and spent several days in bed trying to recover. It came to the point that the last option was to see if consuming part of her placenta would stave things off or head to the hospital for a blood transfusion. She eagerly tried the placenta in within minutes her bleeding slowed and then stopped.

When they decided to have a third baby Courtney was surprised that it didn't happen right away. With Jaelynn's pregnancy a surprise and Canon's conception happening just after she had her IUD removed it was difficult that months passed before she conceived. When she had a positive test she started interviewing midwives right away but started bleeding and lost her pregnancy just a week later which was very difficult. She wanted to take some time off to deal with her emotions related to her loss and consider why that had happened within her body. She and her husband were actively preventing pregnancy so she was shocked to miss a period and find she was pregnant with Elbry. It took some time to accept this pregnancy as well and though she isn't one to take medication decided to take progesterone to help with her levels and hopefully prevent another miscarriage. She planned another home water birth for her second daughter and this time wanted to be the one to bring her baby up to her chest. This was her longest labor and biggest baby. As she labored a student midwife joined her as she was ready and by time they let the midwives know it was time, things had progressed so quickly they arrived just 9 minutes prior to Elbry's entrance. She was so exhausted from this labor that she says her uterus did all of the work. Her older children arrived just as she was pushing and they jumped in the tub with her while they waited for her placenta to arrive. Courtney was able to nurse Canon for 2.5 years and says that Elbry is her best nurser so far.

Courtney is a doula and childbirth educator and says that she has always been trying to share women's options and choices with them. She has been in awe with how woman's stories are so similar and so different and even more so the power of women embracing themselves rather than competing and shaming. Motherhood is so beautiful she says and embracing her new body with her babies is exciting. She wanted to share this moment with them and say thank you, for giving her this time as their mother.

Kim Trower

The tremendous Kim Trower with her daughter's Madison (14) and Marley (12). Kim also carried and birthed a surrogate baby who was born about 6 months ago. Kim had healthy pregnancies and all of her babies were born at home. Her first birth sparked her drive to work with women in birth support. She began as a childbirth instructor, then became a doula and has been a practicing midwife for the past six years. She has breastfed both of her daughters and pumped to provide milk to her surrogate baby as well. Kim says that she was always a little overweight but still had good confidence. Yet even though she was confident, she never really loved her body. In the past two years she had a traumatic miscarriage, struggled with weight and feeling like she couldn't do what she wanted to do, discovered she had a thyroid issue which led to her thyroid being removed and carried, birthed and fed her surrogate baby. She says that in these past two years she has learned to really love her body. Kim wanted to participate to celebrate that for herself but also for her daughters. She wants them to know that "their beauty is not in a number, that their worth is not their body parts, it is the collective of who they are and everything that they do that is their beauty".