It was Memorial Day when Graham’s mom had her gorgeous maternity pictures taken. Perfectly timed, as she is a member of the armed forces 🙂  Only three days later we met for our final meeting regarding her plans for her son’s birth.  I always have a meeting with my birth photography clients in the beginning of the third trimester to talk in detail about the specifics of their birth plans as well as go over expectations, desires, and anything they do or do not want photographed.   Fortunately we had that meeting when we did, as only 2 days later I received a text from mom “I’m sure you didn’t expect to hear from me yet….I just wanted to give you a heads up since its early…they are going to induce me tonight/Tom morning.”    Yikes!

I had two sessions scheduled for Sunday (it was early for her, she was only 34 weeks) so I started to panic.   My husband, a physician, helped calm me down…”Vicky, you know that induction can take a while, even if they give her cervadil tonight, she may not have this baby until tomorrow night.”   I knew he was right, but I contacted my Sunday sessions just to give them a heads up that I may need to reschedule.

Sunday morning came and still no call, so I went to my 9am session.   After the session I gave mom a heads up that I would come by the hospital to check on them and take some of the “detail” pictures.   While I was there mom’s blood pressure started to clime and I didn’t want to add to the stress, so I headed home to grab a bite to eat and wait to hear more.   As the day went on I stared at the phone waiting to hear anything.   When I was there in the morning I had a gut feeling that a c-section would be likely (having one myself after an day long induction.)   At 5:30pm, I get an update from dad….still no progress, she is only dialted to 2.   After phone calls back and forth to my evening session client, we finally decided to go forward with the session- as it didn’t look like mom was progressing too much yet.

Finally, at 7:42pm I get a text “c-section” and “come in about an hour.”   When I first arrived at the hospital, grandparents and Graham’s older brother were in the waiting room.  Everyone was patiently waiting for this little guy to make his appearance.   Dad came in with the news…baby Graham is here!   Due to the fact that he was a bit premature, he was in the NICU, but seemed to be doing well.    I went back to the room and mom was out cold, getting some much deserved rest!   A little while later, dad, big brother, Grandma, and I headed back to the NICU to meet baby Graham.   With his adorable red hair, you knew who he belonged to 🙂    Unfortunately, mom was not able to see the baby just yet…she would have to wait until the morning.  Monday morning I headed back to St. John’s to capture some adorable images of Graham and his parents.   What a doll!