Amy Kent Photography
babies | children | portraits | seniors | engagements | weddings | & more
While I am waiting on a client's baby to arrive, I cannot help but reminisce of waiting on my first baby to make her grand entrance. I am full of nostalgia even more this time of the year, as my sweet, busy girl will be celebrating her second birthday this week. How is she already two?? People always told me it would go by fast, if you are a parent you can agree with me when I say, that statement became life when you started having kids! I remember at this time, being oddly enough, past the completely miserable stage, and oddly, felt calm. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had already stopped walking the halls at work, and couldn't sleep well; but I was on the mend from a horrible head cold, pretty sure it was pneumonia! I had coughed so much, I had pulled a muscle in back; the ONE over the counter medicine that your suggested to take, was making me have crazy, bad,adverse reactions, from seeing things, to my blood pressure dropping really low. Blakeleigh was my first full term pregnancy, I thought would by my only. My first pregnancy went by slow, but fast at the same time. I was determined to get maternity pictures made with my husband, and he was (miraculously) going along with it- he hates having his picture taken! Our first photographer bailed on us, and didn't bother to let us know she wanted to reschedule till a week later. We passed. We were able to get them done, last minute, but none the less! I will forever be grateful for those images, as I regretfully, didn't have the opportunity to do so with my second pregnancy. That pregnancy went by so quick, between work, chasing a seventeen month around, and holidays, it just slipped by. My suggestion is , make the time! You won't regret it, these are once in a lifetime moments that not everyone gets to experience! At the time Blakeleigh was born, I took a much needed break from my camera. My love for my camera and capturing memories had vanished. I needed that time to grow as a wife, as a mom to be, and personally. My camera was there, and Justin actually took some, when he wasn't close to passing out, okay, he only did that once! I took some pictures, but I wish I knew then, what I know now. I relied on the hospital photographers. Yikes. I know, there are probably some talented photographers that work for that group, but... well, lets just say with both of my girls... they tried! I didn't purchase any from either. My birth story with Blakeleigh, as calm as it was, didn't go quiet as planned, but it was the safest for us. I was three days past my due date, my mom and mother in law were back and forth keeping me company and helping me clean- they may have been nesting as much as I was. I had no voice (from coughing), i constantly had a cotton ball in my ear (it rang all the time from the head cold), and my hair wouldn't curl (yes, my prego hormones had me more mad about that than anything!)! All contractions I had been having had disappeared. I guess, I was so calm, because I knew there at least was a light at the end of the tunnel, aka "scheduled induction". We decided to get dressed up and go celebrate Justin's aunt and uncle's anniversary at the Mystic Grill in Covington. They seated us on the second level, but there was four sets of stairs to climb to get to that room- I made three or four trips just to go to the bathroom. I devoured their Clocktower burger- the biggest one, that comes with an over easy egg on it; if you have ate there, you know that is a huge feat for a person that is not pregnant. Justin couldn't believe I had finished it- and all the fries. On the thirty minute ride home, I began having noticeably, different contractions. Like, WOAH contractions. I assumed they would go away, and knew if I said anything, my father in law would freak out, and demand Justin take me to Athens, and we would just get sent home. I got home, got jammies on and settled in. I continued to contract all night, with no sleep. Contractions were inconsistently as close to a minute apart. Around four in the morning, I finally got up, showered, and attempted to curl my hair, again. I then woke Justin up, and the conversation went something like this: A: Babe, (gently, shoving him awake) do you want to get a shower? J: (really confused) What? A: Do you want to get up and get a shower? J: Why? A: Because, I think we need to go to Athens.. J: (jumping straight out of bed) Oh, yea i think... i guess... We then calmly got ourselves together, and calmly loaded up in his truck and he not so calmly drove us to Athens. Did you know that at 0440 in the morning, one can get to Athens from Madison in around twenty five minutes? Yep, me neither! We checked in, got settled in the observation room, and the Doctor on call for my office tried to send us home. My mom and Justin were both like, NOPE! The nurse had already decided that she was going to wait until the next Doctor on call came in, which was the one I actually wanted, anyways. He came in, dressed in his relaxed fit wranglers and button up wrangler shirt, and examined, and determined I was to stay, because I would be back that night anyways. I got my epidural around one that day (that is when Justin almost passed out!), and things went smooth for a couple of hours... then everything dilation wise, stopped. Every position I got in, or was turned too, Blakeleigh would start going into distress. Around six, Doctor Jarrett came in examined once more, and sat on the side of the bed holding my hand, and told me we needed to go ahead and take her, cesarion. He never would say exactly why, but I could see him looking at the monitor enough times during our conversation to know something wasn't right. I was tired. I knew that was my body telling me, I couldn't do this safely, so Justin and I agreed. Doctor Jarrett would meet me in the OR once he delivered another baby, who actually turned out to be a friend of mine! Our girls were 30 minutes or less apart, same doctor, and some of the same nurses. Right before they took me back to the OR, they ran my penicillin WIDE OPEN. I immediately felt like I could not breath, my face was going numb and my chest was hurting, I kept telling myself it would pass, I had experienced it earlier that day and they assumed it was the epidural. The nurse knew exactly what it was when it wouldn't pass and I could finally get the words out to tell her it was as soon as the penicillin went wide open. So, no more penicillin for this girl! I got benadryl and a warm blanket, and that is all I remember from there. Well, there were tidbits here and there.. like Doctor Jarrett telling Justin that he didn't want him standing up until he told him so. Then there was Justin whispering in my ear, when Blakeleigh was finally out, "She's got a head full of hair!". The rest of the night was a complete blur. The next few days, Justin didn't leave us for long, and we enjoyed visitors from both of our families. My prayer was finally here, and me and her daddy couldn't be more in love with her. I say that, but my love for this sweet, busy, veggie and fruit loving girl (and her sister) grows daily. When I see her lean over and give her sister or her daddy a kiss, my heart smiles with love. When I hear say her prayers with me or her Mimi, my eyes fill with pride. When I hear her say "Thank you, my momma!" or "Love choo" (love you), I just can't help but to be even thankful for my girls. Blakeleigh has always brought joy to not only mine and her daddy's lives, but to her family, too. I pray that she always has that ability to make someone smile and feel better about themselves, because she has been kind to them or because she has done something silly. She teaches me new things all the time, just as I teach her.
Stay tuned for her two year old session- coming soon!! Happy Second Birthday Blakeleigh!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
November 2020
Categories
All
As Seen On or In |