This post has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed's editorial staff. BuzzFeed Community is a place where anyone can create a post or quiz. Try making your own!

Posted on Dec 28, 2016

16 Emotionally Charged Photos Showing The Many Faces And Stages Of Birth

Sometimes difficult, sometimes joyful, 16 of the most beautiful moments of labor, birth, and postpartum.

by Kayla Gonzales

Community Contributor

Birth is the most transformative process I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. I remember vividly the first time I saw a new being coming into existence. I was 13 years old, and my aunt was giving birth to her second child, a boy. I was invited into the birth space at the last minute, without much idea of what I could expect. What I saw both terrified and excited me, a moment I'll never forget and would never want to.

As an adult, I've had the honor of entering that primal space as a laboring woman four times, each time emerging on the other side a slightly different human, a mother, like a butterfly breaking free from its chrysalis. I've gone on to build a business of holding space for other mothers, and documenting their unique stories with images they can revisit for a lifetime. I aim to empower and inform other women through my art, and I'm eternally grateful to each of the mothers who have so graciously allowed me to show some of their most intimate moments. Here, I share some of my favorite images from the first 25 births I've documented as a photographer.