When Charlotte “Charlie” from Bonney Lake visited my portrait studio near Tacoma for her newborn pictures, we celebrated with beautiful colorful flowers and lots of warm cozy images with her parents. I love these images of them snuggling their new baby; mom and baby, dad and baby, and parent pictures have become some of my very favorite.  I especially love how it shows just how tiny their precious new arrival was. We had a great time chatting between poses during their session and mom was so kind to share her birth story with me.  Read on and see if you can relate to some of the thoughts these first time parents had.

When we found out we were finally pregnant, we were completely thrilled and stunned all at the same time. We knew our life would change forever but we were so ecstatic to add to our little family! When we found out we were having a baby girl, we couldn’t have been any more excited and couldn’t wait to meet out princess!

Of course I’m a planner and a total control freak so I went into planning mode immediately: what did we need? How did we budget? What did we want the nursery to look like? Who would care for her? My brain started running in crazy circles trying to control something I couldn’t! Add to that the fact that I’m the Neonatal Intensive Care pharmacist specialist at St. Joseph Medical Center and my anxiety for “what if” and “worst case scenarios” ratchet up! But we were bound and determined to keep it positive and remember that hundreds of normal and natural births happen every day and I only saw the worst case scenario…I was made for this, right?!

As it turned out, we ended up having a textbook pregnancy. Healthy baby all the way through, no morning sickness at all (amazingly awesome!), petite growth but normal baby at every checkpoint. Except one little (big) detail: our little peanut was frank breech all the way through our pregnancy. In fact, she never moved off the right side of my belly at all, perfectly content to snuggle up under my ribs. Since I was considered “advanced maternal age” at the age of 35 (which is silly, really!), we were monitored closely all the way through. Everyone kept saying “she still has time to turn!” But our little girl had a mind of her own and at 38 weeks, had no intention of doing so.

Given this dilemma, I had been going back and forth between scheduling the section and a version for the last week and couldn’t decide which would be safer. I was worried I’d pick the wrong thing and end up with an emergent c section because our baby was breech from the get go. After much debating and fretting, we made the decision to schedule a Cesarean section at 39 weeks. And crazy enough, once the decision was made, we were scheduled for two days later. Talk about moving quickly!

The morning of March 9th was cold and rainy…as is the norm in Washington in the spring! We had to be to the hospital to check in at 5am but I couldn’t sleep with my anxiety overnight and was, of course, almost late checking in! Everyone was really relaxed and laid back when we arrived though. They knew how anxious I was and did their best to calm me. Initially, Joe was the only one in the room early morning with me. He was super calm and reassuring as usual. He’s my rock!

Once I was draped and the spinal was confirmed, they got started. The experience felt a little surreal and scary but still very controlled and mellow. I will admit, you almost feel like a car being worked on because your whole lower body moves around but you can’t really feel it. Your legs are numb, almost like they’re asleep but, again, no pain at all.  Joe was amazing and reassuring as usual, holding my hand and helping me relax.

I’ll never forget when they pulled my little Charlotte (aka Charlie) out and handed her off to the NICU team! She gave such a sweet little delicate cry then just calmly watched everyone as they all cleaned her up and made sure she was ok. I cried happy tears to see her with my work team and with her daddy. Even Joe teared up! She was beautiful and delicate! Since she was breech for so long, her cute little legs were out in front of her like she didn’t want to relax. I kept thinking, “Oh my God she’s beautiful and looks just like her daddy! I can’t believe my body MADE that cute little girl! And wow her umbilical cord is cool…big and spiral twisted.” Yep, I’m a science geek! I felt extremely happy and elated that she came out completely ok.

All in all, we had an amazing birth experience and our beautiful baby girl calmly joined us like the angel she is. The nurses took great care of me after the section and made sure I was comfortable through the whole thing. Our Charlie turned out to be an immediate breastfeeding champ, teaching me what to do from the get go. She’s already an amazingly smart and beautiful little girl who constantly teaches us something new everyday. We are so incredibly in love with her and can’t wait to see what she does next. She’s the perfect addition to our family and we couldn’t imagine life without her.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us!

Are you expecting a little one?  Take a peek at my newborn gallery and get in touch via the contact form above or email for current availability.  I take a limited number of newborn sessions each month to allow flexibility if your little bundle should arrive early/late and so that I can create something truly special just for you. Now booking Spring/Summer 2016 – limited space  for May/July due dates (although you can always check for last minute availability when the time comes).  Book now to ensure availability for your one-of-a-kind newborn session.