Look At This Mom Multitasking Like A Boss While In Labor

Stunning photo captures mom breastfeeding in between contractions

Moms are masters of multitasking, even when going through something as painful as labor. That ability to handle life like a total boss, even in the most stressful circumstances, was captured in a photo of a mom and her toddler right before the child’s baby sister was brought into the world.

Birth photographer Maegan Dougherty documented a beautiful moment between a laboring mom and her toddler. The photo shows wedding photographer and newly-minted mom of two Kate Neal weathering contractions while also tending to her two-year-old — by breastfeeding her. The little one had stopped in to visit her mom and decided she wanted to nurse.

And Neal wasn’t about to tell her no.

Dougherty’s Instagram caption reads, “I love this moment. Big sister was so happy to see her mom and to nurse. And then contractions got longer and more intense.”

Neal spending time breastfeeding her older child did more than satisfy the little girl’s need to be with her momma. It probably helped propel labor forward. Dougherty tells The Daily Mail, “As Kate’s midwife, Lonnie Morris, put it, ‘Breastfeeding while laboring is Pitocin [a drug that induces labor] at its finest, since nipple stimulation can increase oxytocin and speed up labor. Kate’s contractions started coming faster and stronger shorty after breastfeeding, and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl about two hours later.”

But first, Dougherty photographed the labor and delivery process that got the Neals their beautiful baby girl.

Neal’s supportive labor crew included her husband, two sisters, her mom and mother-in-law.

Dougherty also did an incredible job capturing the sweet bond between Neal and her first-born before they became a family of four.

And then, the big moment arrived.

Talk about afterglow.

Dougherty’s photos perfectly sum up the strength and beauty of motherhood. That even in our most painful and trying moments, we’re there for our kids. Neal would’ve nursed her daughter while in labor whether a camera caught it or not — we’re just lucky enough that we got to witness it.

H/T Babble