Straight from the battlefield: Powerful photos of mom and baby

"I wanted to tell a story about the strength and resilience of women post-childbirth that I feel goes largely unacknowledged in today’s world."

Five years ago Jenny Lewis began photographing new moms and their little ones just 24 hours after the baby was born. The amount of love in these photos makes your heart clench. And now Jenny's intimate photos are being released in a new book, One Day Young.

Jenny told Slate that she started this project because so many women fear childbirth. But she found the process to be incredibly positive and wanted to share that with moms-to-be.

Now this project isn't meant to gloss over how tough childbirth can be, but to celebrate all aspects of it. Jenny writes on her website:

"I knew I wanted to concentrate on the first twenty-four hours, when a woman’s body is engulfed by hormones, to capture the unrelenting physicality of the moment, straight from the battlefield. Sweat still glistening on the mothers’ skin, the translucent umbilical cord, freshly severed, and wide-eyed wonder as the women come to terms with the magnitude of what they have achieved and survived."

It truly is amazing what a woman's body can do and these photos highlight that. Check them out for yourself here.

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