Photographer Snaps Florida Mom Giving Birth in Hospital Parking Lot
Paula D'Amore hired a photographer to capture the birth of her daughter.
— -- A Florida woman hired a professional photographer to capture the birth of her third child. What she didn't expect to get on film was when her newborn daughter was born in the hospital parking lot.
Paula D'Amore, who describes herself as "Type A," told ABC News that after having almost no photographic record of her first two children’s births, she decided if she ever got pregnant again, she'd hire a photographer to capture the moments she's likely to forget.
"With my first son I got no pictures whatsoever," she recalled. "And with my second son, I had hired a doula and she just grabbed my camera and took pictures, but it was low lighting and low quality ... that's why I knew I needed someone there documenting the whole thing and I wanted it to be documented professionally."
D'Amore, 30, hired birth photographer, Paulina Splechta. The mother paid $1,000 to receive between 100 and 150 professional pictures. She said the investment was well worth it.
"It's almost like an out of body experience because I'm going through all of this and now I'm able to look back at the photos [and say], 'Wow this just happened,'" she said.
D'Amore has plenty to look at since her baby was born Friday in the parking lot of Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
This being her third child, D'Amore said she didn't want to rush to the hospital.
"With this one I knew my body more," the Green Acres, Florida, woman said. "I didn't want to arrive to the hospital and be there for hours, so I [told my doula Lindsay Ripley,] 'I would love to labor at home for as long as possible.'"
After taking a bath to ease her contractions, which were now three to five minutes apart, and stare at the birth affirmations she had posted around the tub for her birthing photo shoot, D'Amore said she told her husband Joseph it was time to head to the hospital with Ripley. Splechta followed right behind them in her own car, camera in hand.
"Two miles down the road, I was like, 'Guys I have the urge to push,'" she recalled. "It just takes over your body. It's not like you can control it."
The midwife D'Amore had also hired, Christine Hackshaw, met them in the parking lot of the hospital to help deliver her baby girl.
Splechta, who had been driving behind D'Amore in a separate vehicle, arrived just in time to capture the baby's birth. The photographer, who has been capturing births for two years, said it was "definitely not easy."
"You have to be on your toes because there's only one chance to get that particular shot and if you don't get that shot there's no second chance at all," Splechta told ABC News.
D'Amore doesn't regret hiring a photographer to help capture her birth.
"It's incredible how everything went down even down to the second," D'Amore said. "I couldn't have picked a better team. I always said to them, 'You're my dream team.'"
Daniella D'Amore was born, weighing 8 pound and six ounces and more than 20 inches long.
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