"Held" by Kasie Hayes

One of the scariest and bravest things I’ve ever done was bringing life into the world. Becoming a mother was the first time I felt like my heart was living outside my chest. Watching women embrace, and even fight against, this transition is one of my favorite things to capture. This mother held her newborn son’s hand with all of the uncertainty, all of the joy, all of the love, all of the fear, all of the power, all of the inadequacy, all of the exhaustion existing in one small moment. This photo was taken in-home.