Honoring Ancient Traditions: A Birth Photography Session Rooted in Indigenous Wisdom – McAllen, TX

In the heart of South Texas, where the land holds deep ancestral memory, I had the honor of capturing a sacred moment—a photography session centered on the ancient spiritual practices of birth work. This session was more than just taking pictures. It was a spiritual offering, a blessing, and a reflection of the timeless connection between birthing people and those who hold space for them.

Midwife sits in front of pregnant person and holds a rose over pregnant person's hands as they start a blessing for the pregnant person.

As a birth worker and birth photographer in McAllen, Texas, my intention is to honor the cultural roots that continue to guide our community. This session highlighted a blessing ceremony for a mother-to-be, inspired by the wisdom of our ancestors—who recognized that birth is not just physical, but spiritual, emotional, and communal.

Image of a woven basket holding a feather fan, candles and ancestral shaker musical instrument along with some handkerchiefs.

We gathered in a quiet, natural setting, where gentle touch, prayer, herbal medicine, and energy alignment became a part of the ritual. These elements are still practiced today by some traditional birth keepers throughout South Texas and beyond. With each photo, I aimed to capture not just the beauty of the moment, but the deep respect we hold for life, lineage, and healing.

Pregnant person sits and adds tobacco to a metal bowl as a part of her pregnancy blessing ceremony. Midwife sits in the distance smiling.

In this work, I welcome all birthing people, regardless of gender identity, family structure, or background. My practice is rooted in inclusion, trust, and cultural reverence. Whether you’re planning a home birth, birthing in a hospital, or receiving postpartum support, I am here to document your story and hold sacred space.

Midwife uses smoke to cleanse the space and pregnant person during their blessing ceremony

If you’re looking for a birth photographer or birth worker in McAllen, Edinburg, Mission, or surrounding areas in the Rio Grande Valley, I would love to connect with you. I specialize in honoring your birth space in everything I do: pregnancy blessings, birth & postpartum support, culturally rooted postpartum cerradas or closing of the bones ceremonies & birth photography.

Let us continue to honor the medicine of our ancestors—one birth at a time.

Midwife blessing a pregnant person in a maternity blessing ceremony


Your RGV Doulas: Meet Up

This past Easter weekend, some doulas and birth workers gathered to brain storm and continue growing our local doula community.

You’d be surprised how often we all come across new clients who have never heard of us or didn’t know doulas existed.

Doulas have been around for many years here in the RGV but we have seen a recent growth in folks entering this field of work in the past 5 years or so. It makes this job a whole lot less lonely, I’ll tell you that much.

Birth work is never meant to be done alone, just like parenting. We need support when we process the work we do, we need guidance from peers when we are trying to serve our clients. We need new perspectives when we are troubleshooting hiccups with our businesses or family life. It’s a lot of behind the scenes work, as we often see for small business owners.

Recently, Brandi Kennedy (former doula - iykyk) started working for Holy Family Birthing Center and is currently the clinical manager there. In her new role, Brandi has reached out to local doulas to meet some new folks who are passionate about birth work. One of the lovely people Brandi invited us to meet was Claudia, originally from NYC. Claudia brings us excitement and passion with her ideas of growth and collaboration. With that said, Your RGV Doulas came together (we were missing a few faces) and got to introduce ourselves, share a little about what we do and presented ideas about how we can continue to serve the amazing RGV parents or soon-to-be-parents.

How can we let you know what we do?

How can we bring the right doula to you and your birth team?

How can we best serve you and meet you where you are?

Those are all very common questions we see from families and sometimes, families go through their entire planning process never finding us. We’d love to grow and show everyone how beneficial a doula can be for you and your family. Whether that doula is needed for your birth journey or your postpartum healing. Pregnancy is not always easy, it comes with hardship at times, and other times, with extremely difficult diagnosis or decisions to make. Having a doula who understands and can hold space for you would be ideal. No one should ever have to embark on a pregnancy journey alone.

If you have ideas on how Your RGV Doulas can grow, we’d love to hear them. In the mean time, here are some photos of this past weekend. Gathering is always so inspiring to me. I’ll cherish these photos for years to come. :)

Welcoming Gabriela

Surrogate Birth of Gabriela

Brownsville, Texas Home Water Birth

When I first learned about Jen’s journey with surrogacy, I was excited and anxiously awaiting for this baby to “stick” and make their journey home… to their parent’s arms.

I can’t imagine how much emotion, time, and patience these lovely folks had to navigate to get to this day. I’m deeply humbled to have had a glimpse of this joyous day with them.

If you’ve never met Jen, she’s an incredible human and one of Brownsville’s newest midwives. Her birth center is Heart of Gaia and she helps families achieve their goals of having a physiological birth either at home or at her beautiful birth center.

Jen has the only clear birth tub in South Texas and my gosh, I’ve been patiently waiting to document someone’s birth in that gorgeous tub. I’m holding on to hope. #CrossingAllFingersAndToes

Come on a little trip down memory lane with me and take a peek at Gabriela’s birth. She was surrounded by people who have loved her long before conception. Welcome to the world, Gabriela!


Surrogate-water-birth-in-Brownsville-Texas
Midwife-gently-leads-baby-out-of-birth-mother's-birth-canal-while-laboring-in-red-birth-pool-outdoors
Surrogate-parents-excited-to-see-their-baby-for-the-first-time
Surrogate-birth-of-baby-shows-excitement-in-biological-mother’s-face.
Water-birth-in-a-red-birth-tub
Newborn-baby-in-red-birth-tub-opens-one-eye
Family-member-takes-photo-of-intended-parents-holding-newborn-baby-for-the-first-time
intended-parents-looking-at-their-newborn-for-the-first-time
Surrogate-mother-rests-after-the-birth-of-surrogate-baby

If you or someone you know are looking to document your birth. Reach out. I have limited space for birth work and I would be honored to be a part of your team.

xo, Norma

Holy Family Birthing Center: Birth of Benjamin

Water Birth at

Holy Family Birthing Center

Weslaco, TX

Birth of Benjamin

Meeting families is always an adventure. Everyone’s story is different and I’m always so excited to learn about them so I can start to think of how I will be piecing their stories together.

Documentary photography is quite candid and never really comes with a script but every family has a wish for their birth photography experience. Some wish to have a more conservative story while others wish to have every detail included.

I met the L family when they were expecting their first little one. Their sweet son (who made a great doula this time around.) We had a few chats about how birth photography worked and somehow, we didn’t end up working together for his birth.

Upon finding out they were expecting baby #2, they jumped on-board and booked a birth package right away. Mrs. L explained that she absolutely needed these photos. So we did it! SHE DID IT! She birthed her second son like the birth goddess that she is.

She was supported by her husband, her sister, her mother, and her son too! They all gathered and encouraged her as she worked through each wave. They held space for her as she transitioned and witnessed as she roared her baby out.

Benjamin was surrounded by love and tears of joy as he made his way into the world for the first time! What an absolute joy it was to document this very special moment of their lives.

Congratulations L family! I hope your holiday season is filled with celebration and new traditions as a family of 4.


~Norma H