A couple weeks ago when I met with Jennifer and Jordan, you could see the excitement that they had for their new child, but they were so calm and collected.  For first time parents they just seemed to have it all together.  I know for the birth of my own child I was a nervous wreck, but not Jennifer….at least to me.  As I went through my “birth preferences” worksheet with them I found myself getting more and more excited to share this experience with them.  I was especially excited about the fact that they had the willpower to wait to find out the baby’s gender until birth, something the control freak in myself could never do.

The week of Jennifer’s due date I occasionally texted her to check on how she was doing, but her due date came and went with no baby in sight.  Finally the Friday after her due date her doctor informed her that she would “probably” go into labor that weekend or they would induce her the following Monday.  The entire weekend I was waiting for the call.  My husband worked all weekend, so I had sitters on standby for the minute I got the call.  Finally on Sunday night I knew that this baby would be here by Monday and I was ready.

Jennifer and Jordan got to the hospital at 6:30am on Monday.  Ironically, I woke up at 6:30am for no reason (with no alarm or 2 year old to wake me!)  I started about my day thinking of this couple and praying for an easy labor.   Around 9:30am I received an update from Jordan that they had given her Pitocin at 8:30am and that it was hitting her hard and an epidural make be on the table.  12:25pm:  I received an update that she was 4cm when last checked.   I decided to leisurely head over to the hospital early to get some details pictures.   While driving into the St. John’s parking lot, I get a text…”She’s 8cm!”

I arrived at the hospital just a bit before 1pm.   Waking into the room it was so peaceful.  Jennifer resting on her side with Jordan holding her hand.   The love between these two was so apparent through the entire process.  I saw the two outfits they had brought for their child, Rylan James if it was a boy and Emmalyn Natalia if it was a girl.  I loved how organized Jennifer was with her labeled ziploc bags 🙂

As time passed, the contractions started getting more steady and Jennifer debated about contacting the nurses…”I don’t want to bug them if nothing has changed.”  Finally Jordan encouraged her to get checked again…and a good thing he did.  She was ready to deliver this baby!  Now, my own child was born via c-section, so a normal delivery was something new to me, but Jennifer sure did make it look easy.  25 minutes of pushing (which must have seemed like eternity to her, but seemed to fly by to me) and “It’s a boy!” the nurse proclaimed.

Thank you Jennifer and Jordan for allowing me to photograph the amazing story of your son’s birth!

You can find Rylan’s Birth Video HERE