Newborn Pics

It is inevitable that when one is a new mommy along with being an aspiring photographer, a lot of "photo magic" will occur... or at least an attempt at photo magic!

Long before I knew that I was pregnant, I was obsessed with newborn photography and pinned a ton of photo ideas on Pinterest.  So, it goes without saying that I didn't wait long to take advantage of my new little subject and tortured her a bit with bows and tutus (which were made by yours truly the week before her arrival... the tutus, that is, not the bows... I had way too much time on my hands :).  It took us several hours to take these pics because there was a lot of pausing and feeding in between photos to ensure that my peanut was happy and content.  All in all, I am very pleased with the results, even though I  still have a lot to learn! 

Here are the results...   

(Side note: I have lots of friends who are much better and more experienced with photography than me... If anyone wants to pass along tips or suggestions, I will happily take them!)

My sweet girl... :)

 

 

 

One of the many fun things about taking these pics was using props that were given to us as gifts.  This beautiful headband was from my best friend's mom, Ms. Paula.  I found it super appropriate since The Great Gatsby is coming out this weekend and it totally reminds me of that era. 

 

 

She is already such a happy girl and is always smiley.  :)

My little thinker

 

Flower child

 

I may have edited this one a bit too much but I love that she looks like a little doll...

 

 

You can't have newborn girl pics without a pink tutu!

 

Photo editing fun... I am finally learning more about Lightroom and had a blast playing with the colors.

 

 

 

My godmother and cousins sent us these great classic novels that were turned into children's books.  I thought they were perfect props for my future little reader. 

 

 

Thanks Uncle Lennie for the beautiful quilt.  We love it!

 

 

I am obsessed with those feet and that smile.

 

 
   

Thank you "Faunty" Jeanna (Adaline's Fake Aunty) for the Janie and Jack skirt!  It's beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

Already a diva?!?!? Getting ready for her close-up!!! :)

(Handmade quilt from my very good friend, Lori)

 

 

Proof that she didn't love every second of our photo shoot... Haha!

 

 

 

Love these cheeks!  She has already changed so much in the past week...

 

 

Sweet dreams! :)

 

 

 

The Day Two Became Three: Adaline's Birth Story

Many women say that they just "knew" when they were going into labor. I, of course, did not.

Early last Thursday morning (April 25), I woke up right after midnight with what was the worst contractions that I had felt yet. I had been dealing with Braxton Hicks for quite some time and these felt so much worse. I left our bed and moved downstairs to the living room sofa where I moaned my way through the night, timing contractions that were about five minutes apart. Joe had to be up at three that morning to head back to the field and when he got up, I was in tears from pain and nerves about him heading out. Needless to say, he saw me, made a few phone calls and basically told them that he wasn't coming in.

The contractions stayed pretty regular and intense, so I got up and did what any normal woman would do... I started cleaning my house. Seriously. I mopped the floors, vacuumed, dusted, and baked cookies for the nurses... All the while keeling over in pain as my husband looked at me as if I were nuts and I received text messages from my sister and bestie telling me to stop cleaning and go to the hospital. I thought that I had nested before but I finally realized that all that other stuff was just prep work... THIS was the actual nesting. When my house was spotless and ready for the arrival of a Queen (or my princess), I finally told Joe to pack up the car because I was ready for labor. We needed to go to the hospital...

To sum up that day, it was one of the most frustrating and disappointing days that I had in a while. That morning I thought for sure that I'd be meeting my sweet girl, only to find out that at 40.2 weeks of being pregnant, I was still not dilating or effacing. My home girl was not ready to move out any time soon. So, we scheduled an induction for the following Monday and I finished the day knowing that there was an end in sight.

Not even two days later, my day began much the same way. I woke up right after midnight early Friday morning with even worse contractions but this time, not being timed out so evenly apart. I was in so much freakin pain but could not figure out if it were "enough" pain to endure heading back to Labor and Delivery only to be told that it was nothing and I was once again, the Lady who cried Baby. So, I toughed it out and found out later that I was spending half of my labor rotating my moans from both my bed and bathroom. Amazingly, Joe slept through the whole night... Although, he did say that night he dreamt of wailing dogs... ( I wouldn't classify my moans as "wailing" per say but I know that I wasn't quiet!)

By 6:00 that morning, I had had enough. I could barely even walk or see straight. So, I finally woke up Joe who literally had to help me get dressed and put me in the car. The hospital bags didn't even make it in the car this time. I knew that I just needed to get to the hospital.

Upon our arrival, we found out that the Labor and Delivery unit was in fact full... A fun side effect from living on a super tiny post with a hospital that only has 4 hospital beds in their L&D unit and is exactly what every woman in labor wants to hear.

Our nurse took us into a private waiting room to get me checked out which was where I found out that I was 3, almost 4 cm dilated, she could see hair from the baby, and that I'd have to wait an hour for them to track my status and see if I had made progress. I was fit to be tied and immediately began to freak out! If she could see hair then that definitely didn't mean that I needed to go home. And, after reading every freaking thing that I could about labor and delivery and attending several birthing classes, I knew my rights as woman in labor!!! 4 cm= epidural time!!! I wanted my drugs, dammit! Which was exactly what I yelled at that poor nurse when she told me about the whole hair thing (I may have been in slight panic mode when the thought crossed my mind of having this baby naturally... Ummm, hell no. Not for me. Thanks.)

I didn't really have a choice in the matter. When there is no room at the Inn, you either pack up your donkey and move to the next spot available or you wait the stupid hour that this damned nurse is telling you to wait and you pray that your body makes progress or else someone is gonna seriously end up getting hurt. So, we waited and thank the good Lord, my body had finally kicked into high gear. I was nearly 5 cm an hour later and they found a room for us.

Everything seemed to progress rather rapidly after all of that. I continued to suffer with the worst pain that I had ever had in my life and finally got an epidural when I was about 7 cm and it was approximately 9:30 that morning (everything before the epi is now kind of fuzzy). I know that epidurals are so controversial but for me, it was the best choice that I could have ever made.

My anesthesiologist was absolutely amazing and fixed the epidural so that I could still feel pressure and move my legs but finally, all of that insane pain was gone and for the first time in several days, I got super excited as I realized that we were finally having our baby.

By noon, I was fully dilated but the nurse and doctor suggested that we wait about another hour to let the contractions naturally pull the baby down. Fine by me! Now that I was feeling good, I honestly didn't care!

A little after 1:00 pm, it was time to begin pushing. My doctor asked if I wanted a mirror so that I could really "experience" the whole thing. My immediate was response was no, definitely not... But, the more I'd push, the more I felt like we were getting nowhere and that this little baby was never coming out. When Joe started commenting that he could actually start to see her, I couldn't help but get a little jealous and changed my mind. They quickly set up a mirror for me and that was all the motivation I needed. My sweet girl, Adaline Grace, was born at 2:04 pm on April 27, 2013.

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One Week Later...
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I knew that becoming a mother was going to be life changing. I didn't know how. I have never in my life been more sleep deprived, swollen, or uncomfortable than I have this past week but I have never been happier or more in love, with both my child and my husband.

This week has not been entirely easy. I have already been inducted into Mommyhood by having my sweet girl literally finish a poop directly into my hands and then proceeding to pee all over me. There have been a few tears shed because I'm just really freaking tired. And the whole baby and sleep thing is incredibly difficult because everyone has a different opinion and there are so many differing ideas of what is "best" for baby.

But, I am absolutely obsessed with this child and my favorite thing is to simply look at her and then give her a million kisses. We have been blessed with the whole breastfeeding experience, which was one of my biggest fears. I owe a lot of our success to the fact that I read anything and everything on the subject and took several classes on the matter. It's been relatively easy and my girl has latched on like a champ.

And, the most amazing thing has been experiencing all of this with my hubs as I watch him become an amazing father. One story that I am sure I will share with Adaline when she is older is how we tried and tried to get her to sleep in her bassinet one night. She wanted nothing of it and the minute that I'd put her down, she'd start screaming. Joe suggested that we let her cry for like two or three minutes just to give her a chance to get used to it. Those were the longest minutes of my life. When I finally picked her up and held my crying child, I couldn't help but cry my eyes out from pure exhaustion and the realization that I couldn't protect my daughter as easily anymore. And as I cried and held her, my husband held me. It was just the reminder that I needed that I wasn't in this alone and had the best partner to help me out, especially during the really hard times.

So, as you can see, life is beyond good in our little house and I am loving life as a mommy. I am sure that I will be posting lots more on my new role but in the meantime, here are pics of the beginning of this amazing journey that we are on. Enjoy!