Crash Course

I've mentioned my neighbors before and posted a picture of her belly recently. These are the kind of neighbors that share eggs and a cup of sugar, even if you're not home (we know where the keys are hidden). We let each other's dogs out while the other is away and even meet up if our vacations paths happen to cross. After a long wait, they were finally expecting their first baby and I think I was almost as excited as they were! She and Meg had been trading maternity clothes, baby things and discussing all things motherhood for quite some time. They were expecting a boy so a lot of Reid's things had already made their way down. The best part, I thought, was that they had asked me to be in the delivery room to do pictures. I was sooooo pumped! I did my research, worked with different ISO's and flash settings to get just the right look.

Because of some complications, they decided to induce T early. Even better, I thought, so this can be on a semi-schedule. They went to the hospital on a Monday afternoon with plans to induce the next morning. Kenny and I took pizza up to the hospital and we had a little pre-induction pizza party with them. The plan was to break her water at 8:30 Tues morning and I would get there after school to shoot the delivery. These kinds of plans always work, right? They had given her something to "soften her cervix" that night, so she was at about a 4 at 10pm. The next morning, the same. They broke her water an hour earlier than planned and later gave her an epidural. I don't know how it all went down after this, since I missed ALL OF IT, but my guess is they don't remember much either since it went down at Mach I speed. They checked her, she was still a 4, a few mins later she said she felt pressure so they checked her again but, hmmm, cant't find the cervix. Why? Fully dialated! She went from 4 to pushing (5 times) to baby in arms in less than half an hour. I texted at 11 to say I could take a half a day if things were progressing well and I get a text back saying that baby "Crash" had made his entrance at 10:30. Wonderful for her, disappointing for me!

Crash had some problems so he had to go to the NICU. Before they sent him, they brought him into the room to see his mommy and daddy for about 2 mins. and I was able to get a few shots. It made me cry. I knew that all T wanted to do was hold and bond with the baby for which she had waited for so long and they were only able to go in every 3 hrs to nurse and love on him. I don't know how she held it together. I know God gives you strength when you need it and she must have gotten strength on steroids, 'cause she was a rock.

The next night, they VERY graciously let me take daddy's place for the visit and I got to hold the sweet thing. At 6 1/2 lbs. he felt like nothing compared to our own "bag of sugar"! I took some pictures of him in the NICU with his mommy and I think that I like them as much as delivery room pics! I've done lots of brand new baby shoots, but never one like this and I doubt and hope (for any new parents' sake) that I never have to again. You can tell he's a little fighter, though, can't you?

He's home now and doing great. It seems like he's always been here and just belongs here. The road to get him here seemed so long and yet now the timing seems perfect. In a week he had already gained back his birth weight and then some. Of course,we've already made several visits. I'm trying not to be a pest so I make sure I have a good "reason" to be popping in. I've picked up a few things so I can always say I have something to bring over.