This birth made me realize just how spoiled I have been over the last year in photographing births. Out of all of the births that I have done, this is by far my longest, but at the same time, an average length of a birth. I wanted to be able to meet them at their house before heading to the hospital since they had originally planned to labor as long as possible at home. Since she was over 40 weeks, sitting at 3 cm dilated at her last appointment and had been laboring for a few hours, I decided to make my way to their house. I got there just after 9 pm, and of course, the jitters got the best of them and we headed into the hospital. Mom wanted to try her best to avoid any help with laboring as well as any medication. She wanted the freedom to walk the halls if need be. I do have to say she had an excellent support team, including the doctor who was doing everything in her best interest. Unfortunately there wasn’t the progression she thought she was having over the course of a few hours, so she decided to go ahead and get help. She did extremely well with her laboring and pain management. It is amazing to watch the transformations through labor. We took many guesses on time of arrival and birth weight and one of the doctors was spot on with his birth time.
I am so happy that I got to be a part of JJ’s arrival and help capture it so that you always have something to look back on as he quickly grows and changes. Happy Birthday, sweet JJ!
Here is a favorite picture of Mom. It is amazing that women can endure what they do during labor and still look beautiful!
Date: January 9, 2012
Time: 4:27 pm
Weight: 7 lbs 9 oz
Place: St. Luke’s Hospital
Doctor: Dr. Todd Ivey, M.D.
Music: Long River West by John Ellyson
