On a trip from New York to Los Angeles I decided to stop over in Santa Fe, New Mexico to visit with my former next-door neighbors and dear friends, Steve and Chita. During the hour-long ride from the Albuquerque airport to their new home in Santa Fe, they filled me in on their lives for the past few months and told me how happy they were living in Santa Fe. They also surprised me with the news that Chita might be pregnant and, in fact, were on their way to The Women’s Health Services in Santa Fe for Chita to take a pregnancy test. Since I always travel with my camera, I thought it would be memorable for Chita and Steve to have pictures of the exact instant when they received the result of the test. It was positive and we bought a bottle of champagne and celebrated.
I visited for two more days and then continued on my trip. That was in June, 1978. In September of that year I moved to Santa Fe. I spent my first few weeks living with Steve and Chita while looking for a place of my own. This was also the time when Chita and Steve were making decisions as to how they wanted their child to be born. It became clear that the questions of what doctor and what method of delivery were one and the same. They needed to decide the best way for them to bring a child into the world. This decision was not made lightly or easily. Chita and Steve were acutely aware that the relationship they established with their doctor and midwife should make the experience for them a positive one and one that would be best for their child. I do not remember if they met with all the prospective doctors, talked with them on the phone, or spoke with other couples who had already had a birthing experience. But once they had decided to have a home birth, the choice of doctors was considerably narrowed down. Chita and Steve finally chose Dick Moskowitz and a midwife with whom he was affiliated, Sue Hill (now named Crystal Paradise).
Never having had the opportunity to witness or be involved in a childbirth before, I asked Chita and Steve if the photographs I had made of their reaction to the positive pregnancy test could be used as the basis of a book documenting the pregnancy, the doctor’s visits, the birthing classes, and the home birth. They agreed, and at this point the idea for this book was formed. Although their positive decision was spontaneous, I feel impelled to say that I could not have made these photographs of just any couple. The love and trust that we shared for each other were essential to the success of this project. The intimacy and total freedom which was granted me made this book possible.
The book is neither text nor manual, but a sharing of an experience. Chita Steve, Dick and Crystal put up with me and my camera at times that must have seemed very strange - even up to that most intimate and ever wonderful moment when the baby made is appearance into this world.
I am grateful to Chita, Steve, Dick and Crystal for their group effort in producing this book. Also to Beaumont Newhall, who was always available for discussions and editorial suggestions. I especially wan to thank Janet Russek for her design and editing of this volume, and for supervision the production of this book. Without her encouragement and support, I could not have completed this book.
David Scheinbaum, Preface to A Homebirth Experience, 1986
Although this volume was completed and made ready for publication, the publisher who committed to it, for reason’s unknown to me, never went ahead. This would have been my first book published.
The project, the people and the topic remain very close to my heart and I still have hopes to see it in print one day.