Birth Story | Jack
You don't truly fall in love until you meet your child for the first time.
Meet Jack. He showed up weeks early, ready to meet his parents.
Over the course of two weeks, I was on call to photograph three different births. Jack was my third. It was 10pm on a Thursday when I returned home from southern california (my second birth). I got a text from Stephanie... contractions are steady and 5 minutes apart. At that point I knew she would be having her son the next morning. She had endured early labor and complications throughout her pregnancy. But with all those false alarms before, somehow in my exhausted state I knew I'd meet Jack soon. After a couple hours of restless sleep I received the call from Bobby, Stephanie's husband, that they were at the hospital.
It took me nearly 2 hours with no traffic to get to the hospital, but I made it at around 4am just after Stephanie got her epidural. While checking in on Stephanie from time to time, I managed to find a comfortable position on one of those hospital waiting room chairs. Boy, it was uncomfortable, but I was so exhausted I slept soundly.
Just as the sun began to rise, Stephanie's back labor became more painful and we all knew Jack was coming. Stephanie's mother and Bobby amazed me with their support; they both remained calm and soothing throughout the contractions and pushing. By 9am Jack came after a few pushes and was cozied up in Stephanie's arms. I love the tears welled up in everyone's eyes as they met Jack for the first time.
It was such a beautiful thing to see how excited they all were to meet this little guy. Jack's life is going to be eternally and
I love being a part of these little miracles in people's lives. In "A Walk to Remember" Mandy Moore's character wants to witness a miracle, and I always think back to that when I photograph a birth. I am indeed witnessing a miracle. These little people are my miracles.
