Jaw-Dropping Photos From a C-Section Birth

Jessica Bender is used to snapping pictures of children's birthdays, not their actual births. But when she was given the opportunity to capture a friend's C-section delivery, the Canadian photographer couldn't say no. Granted, she didn't have much of a choice. On the day of the procedure, Jessica received a call from mom-to-be Carly saying that her husband Nathan had to have emergency surgery and she needed Jessica to step into the support role.

"It was an odd feeling to be so excited that someone needed to have emergency surgery," Jessica writes in her blog. "I felt guilty for about 39 seconds." Stooped on a stool with a camera pressed to her face, Jessica waited for Elias to make his grand entrance. As Jessica eagerly watched doctors "cut open the midsection, layer by layer," Carly remained calm, cool, and collected.

"She has forever reframed what a C-section means to me," Jessica writes of her friend. "In the past, it was presented as something to fear, but seeing Carly meet her baby . . . there was zero fear."

Read on to see Carly's fearless C-section, and meet baby Elias.