My First Birth Session

Back in February, Andrea contacted me about photographing the birth of her son because Ryan would be deployed… again. I was ELATED! When we sat down to talk about the details Andrea was very sheepish about the whole thing. She did not want any graphic photos, she really just wanted to have some of these first seconds caught on camera for Ryan. She accused herself of not being photogenic (which is absurd, as you can see), and said she was a little embarrassed by the whole idea. All I could say was something along the lines of “I understand, but you will not regret having these photos. I promise. By the way, I’m super excited.” She was probably sick of hearing how excited I was by the time our sit down was over.

Then the day came. Andrea called me around 10:30pm, said she was in labor--her doula, Ashley, was on her way over. I received another call at 2:30am, they were on their way to the hospital. I told them to call me when she was 6 or 7 cm dilated. I couldn’t sleep, I was too excited. I got out of bed. I put my camera gear in the car, I made coffee. I thought any minute now I’d get the call… Sometime after 4am, I went back to bed.

The next morning, I was on edge. What if I missed the call? What if they had the baby without me? Around 11:00 a.m., Ashley, her doula, called—It was time! I arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes later. I waited… and waited. A few hours went by and Andrea’s mother said to me, “I bet you didn’t expect to have been here this long,” and I assured her I was “having fun.” Maybe that wasn’t the most empathetic choice of words. Andrea had been in labor now for what seemed like an eternity, she wanted her baby’s birth to be all natural— she was in PAIN. There were times that I got teary eyed watching her. I wished I could shoulder some of her pain, but I think I was also teary eyed because I was so honored to be a part of the beginning of someone’s life. I was in fact enjoying it, I felt like I was part of something big.

A few more hours ticked by. Now, Andrea had switched rooms, and she had a tub. She was sitting in the bath, and in between contractions she was feeling some relief. There was some small talk between Ashley, Andrea and I, during which I said (probably again a poor choice of words), “Andrea, you might not want to hear this, but you’re actually making me want to have another baby.” The look on her face was one of shock! She was clearly miserable at this point. BUT Andrea was so classy and tough through the whole process, I truly did envy her (and I knew she had the best moment of her life ahead of her). When I entered my delivery room on my daughters’ birth days I immediately asked for an epidural and started singing “Jesus take the wheel” and I think I swore… well, I know I swore. Andrea was nice, in between contractions she was polite and apologetic to us in the room that it was taking so long. 

Around 10 p.m. Andrea was exhausted, she’d been up for over 48 hours and in labor for 24 (maybe even more). She was ready to have this baby, but her body was tired. The next step was a C-section. This was not in Andrea’s birth plan, but as most of us know—birth plans sometimes get thrown out the window. I had now been with Andrea for almost 11 hours. There was no way I was leaving! So I found a nurse, asked her what my best plan of action was. She said I could not go in the operating room, “okay, understandable” I thought. But I could take pictures of the baby’s (who at this point still didn’t have a definite name, we’ll call him “baby J”) first bath, his weigh in, etc. I thought that would be perfect, because Andrea wouldn’t be able to be there either, she would love to see these moments documented. Oh, did I mention that Ryan, Andrea’s husband, was on facetime for this WHOLE DAY. I don’t know where he was, but I know he was not on EST, he wanted to see his baby boy ASAP. But in the OR Andrea’s mom could not have her phone out, so disappointing for everyone involved. Since I was not in the room, I don’t know what happened next for Andrea. I was told I could wait in the waiting room… I didn’t do that, I waited in the hall, one step closer. 

I assumed everything went perfect because less than an hour later this beautiful baby boy was rolled through the doors. He was an angel baby!

I also did an in-home newborn session for Andrea and Ryan. Baby J’s nursery looked like something out of a magazine! And, well, I’m finding a hard time writing anything else. It was just such a moving and powerful experience for me; I feel as though years from now, when Andrea is probably in a different country (because you know - #militarylife) I’ll be stalking her social media pages hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful human “baby J” will definitely grow up to become, having a loving and powerful mom like Andrea, how could he be any less.