In part one of the story of Loxley's birth, we celebrated along with Brittany and Ricky the birth of their little boy under a full moon.
After over twenty hours of labor, it was almost hard to believe that he was here. Elation swept through the room as everyone made joyful shouts of "the baby's here!", "you did it!", and "what a beautiful baby!" It's easy to tell you what was going through my mind at that moment. Besides all of the above exclamations, my mind was on the details. *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* I wanted to photograph the smiles, the kisses, the little hands, the little fingers, the little feet. And I was thinking about how grateful I was that both mom and baby were doing well. I had to ask Brittany later what she was thinking when she first saw her baby.
Brittany shared,
My first thought was, “Oh there you are! That’s who I’ve been dreaming of and waiting for. I love you. You are Perfect. And so Beautiful. I think it must be a boy… Everett has a little brother! He’s going to be thrilled!”
Ricky shares that his first thought was, "YOU DID IT!!"
Before the baby arrived, none of us knew whether the baby would be a boy or a girl. None of us. When the baby was born and laid on his mother's chest, we still didn't know. It happened too quickly. We laughed about how we didn't know. It took about thirty minutes before Brittany said, "okay! Let's see what the baby is." The baby is a boy!
The first thing that Brittany noticed about the baby was his full head of hair. She shares,
I knew he would have a head full of hair! Haha but the first thing I noticed besides that was how calm and peaceful he was. He looked so aware! And since we didn’t know the sex, I noticed how much he looked like a boy!
So many beautiful memories from the day will be treasured for a long time. I left about two hours after the baby was born. He had been weighed, measured, and cleaned up. It sounds like everyone else left more than an hour after I did. When asked about her favorite memory from the day, Brittany shares,
My favorite memory is probably after birth when my midwives got me settled into bed and the birth team left. I was snuggled up with my newborn baby in my arms and our twinkle lights above us. It was quiet and calm after such a long day… I looked over at my husband and said, “We did it. We had a home birth.” And he said, “you did it!” It was such a special and peaceful moment with just the three of us. I felt a sense of accomplishment but mostly overwhelming love and joy that God had given us such a special gift in our son and answering my prayers for a home-birth.
Ten years from now, Brittany and Ricky will be able to look back on the birth of their son and remember these tender moments. Not just because we've written them down, but also because these moments were captured in time stopping imagery. We've slowed time down. And they will one day be able to time-travel by looking at them and remembering.
You've just read Part Two of The Birth of Loxley. To continue reading about Loxley's birth, you'll find it here.
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Are you expecting a new baby and considering birth photography? (First of all - congratulations!) Connect with Andrea today. She would love to help you remember your own sweet moments with your newborn baby.