I am going to do my best to adequately describe this experience, but I tend to do better reading stories/books than I do creating them, so my apologies for my lack of Hemmingway skills.
On May 31, I decided that I would sleep in and of course that was the day the phone call and text came in. Emily was in labor(2 weeks early) and heading to the hospital in Mankato. Oh crap, I hope I didn’t miss it. Do I have time to shower and drive there before baby is born? Is she freaking out because she cannot reach me? Oh crap, oh crap. What do I do? (for the record, I did shower)
I grabbed my camera gear and ran out the door as fast as possible. Thanking my lucky stars(ok my hubby) for having a plug to charge my camera batteries on the way. Again, she was 2 weeks early, I wasn’t exactly prepared to dash to the hospital, but I did have a 1.5 hour car ride to do some prep.
When I arrived at the hospital and checked in at the nurses station, the nurse told me that Emily had been moved to another room because they move them when baby arrives. I did a LOT of internal cussing (Lord, forgive me, I said some awful stuff in my head). “Oh, just kidding”, the nurse says, that was a different Emily. That lady has no idea how close I was to needing medical assistance for the heart attack she nearly caused me. But I was so relieved that I hadn’t missed the birth, I nearly kissed her.
I am standing outside of their room and the nerves hit. It’s been 8 years since I have done a birth photography session, and that was my nephew, and I was 9 months pregnant myself. Things have changed. And I have to keep repeating to myself, “Don’t mess this up, Heather. You are here to document this miracle, you have got this”. I walked into that room feeling like I was giving birth again, the flood of emotions when a baby is born is nothing I can ever explain.
Scott and Emily welcomed me into this private life changing event and I am extremely grateful to them for trusting me and for allowing me to pretend to be a fly on the wall. I will let the images speak of the emotions that day.