Today we’d like to introduce you to Annica Quakenbush.
Hi Annica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started Sprout and Blossom Birth 5 years ago, after losing my first pregnancy. It was during that pregnancy that I was introduced to the diverse experiences and options in pregnancy and birth. It was the first time I’d ever considered that maybe childbirth wasn’t the scariest thing I’d ever do.
I started photographing births shortly thereafter, trained to be a birth doula during my second pregnancy (my daughter Linden was born at home in 2017), and continued learning, building my business, and finding my niche.
Since then, I’ve had another baby (at home in 2020), and like my family has grown, so has my business! I now offer birth videography, fine art maternity, and newborn photography, heirloom albums and prints, and I make boutique organic pregnancy and postpartum care products. I also have a team! Shay does content creation, education, and social media; Brianna is a doula and birth photographer as well, and Sarah is a lactation counselor.
I could not be more grateful for the many amazing clients that I’ve had the opportunity to work with and support through their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It is NOT easy building a business and having babies at the same time. That has probably been the hardest part of my work. Attending births requires being on-call 24/7 as a birthing person’s guess date approaches. I’ve been a nursing mom the whole time I’ve been in birth work, and that is sometimes really tough. I am sometimes at a birth for 4 hours, sometimes 24 hours. There is a level of anxiety in this work not knowing how long I’ll be away from my family, or what time of day or night I will get called.
It took a lot of time and experience to find the number of births I can handle each month – and how much I need to charge – without burning out. There is an extremely high turnover rate in this industry because people burn outliving the on-call life, not charging enough, or not taking enough time off. I am so passionate about birth workers getting paid what they are worth so that they can take time off to re-charge!
Running a business is full of ups and downs, and thankfully that (usually) works for my personality. The highs are high, and the lows eventually get better.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an artist. I have a BA in Studio Art and have been a photographer for many years. I am proud of the art I create photographing the labor, birth, and postpartum processes. It is transformative, emotional time, and I am known for capturing deep emotion in my images. I’m a documentarian, so telling a birth story in photographs is important to me. But I have a knack for shooting and editing images that are worthy of hanging on walls. I know my art makes a difference in the lives of my families, in how they see themselves (strong, beautiful, connected to their partner) during a very vulnerable experience, and I am proud of that.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
WHEW. What a question. COVID rocked the whole world, but it has presented particular challenges and anxieties for people bringing new babies into their families. I had a baby in 2020 as well, and it was intensely isolating at times. I have learned that families NEED a community to really thrive, and none of us had that as fully as we needed since early 2020. I hope we can continue as a culture to do the work of figuring out how to reconnect communities and support families – particularly those in the postpartum time.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@sproutandblossomgr.com
- Website: sproutandblossomgr.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sproutandblossombirth
- Facebook: facebook.com/sproutandblossombirth
