Getting dumped, so to speak, hurts — but getting dumped by a professional photographer who was supposed to shoot the birth of your baby?
Ouch.
It especially hurts when the photographer backs out because of your scheduled C-section, saying, "A surgery isn’t birth, my dear."
Say what?
Yes — this happened. Right down to the "my dear."
A woman on the Sanctimommy group on Facebook posted a screenshot last week of an exchange between herself and the birth photographer she booked.
The photographer goes on to say, “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, and I for one don’t want to be there to take pictures of it. If you decide to give motherhood a go from the get, and have an actual birth, let me know and we can schedule your session.”
The pregnant woman had text-messaged her: "I didn’t 'opt' for anything, but (all right). I had no idea birth photographers discriminated (against) people for how they birth their babies, but that’s good to know. Have a nice day."
The photographer ended the exchange by saying: "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."
The conversation under the Facebook post had more than 1,700 comments as of Thursday, which got pretty funny.
“So, C-section babies don’t have birthdays then, I guess, since they are never born,” one woman wrote.
“I’m in Pinterest h---, planning my daughter’s mermaid 'birth'day party right now,” another mom wrote. “I’ll break it to her gently that it will now have to be a mermaid surgically-removed-day party.”
Other people asked for the name of the photographer, which wasn’t listed.
The Sanctimommy group is a place where mothers can vent with one another about unsolicited advice or unnecessary shaming.