Narcissism Is Being Introduced to Newborns Thanks to Babyrazzi

It makes sense that we want to document the most important events in our lives so that we have some tangible thing to hold onto and remind us of significant days gone by. Photos — I don’t think I’m about to rock anyone’s world here — are an excellent way to do this. Look! You had a second birthday and covered your face in cake! You caught a fish with your dad! You graduated from high school! You saw some guy on the bus that you thought was Javier Bardem and covertly snapped a photo only to have your friends later tell you that that definitely was not Javier Bardem and, oh, my god, hahaha, how could you be so stupid — it doesn’t even look like him.

Of course, one of these significant life events — probably the most significant life event — is the act of being born and, these days, mothers in labor are lining up like washed-up starlets at the Roxbury in order to get their photos taken. And like with these starlets, you can expect a lot of crotch shots.

Birthing photographers — or, barfily nicknamed by Good Morning America, the babyrazzi — have seen a recent boom in business as thousands of expecting mothers hire them to be present in the birthing room. Hiring a birthing photographer can set new parents back as far as $3,500, but to some, like mother of two Maggie Leonard-Riley, the steep price is totally worth it. Says Leonard-Riley, “I wanted to see my husband meeting our baby for the first time and me meeting our baby for the first time.”

Understandable, sure, but these people are really going to be kicking themselves when they hear about Instagram.