Visit my business website for more info about Indianapolis Wedding and Family Photography

Welcome to my blog! You'll find my life, both professional and personal, documented here in the form of photographs and short quippy paragraphs.

Leave me some love in the form of a comment. Cheers!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Here are some (some=55) of my favorite images from Kelly & Eric's wedding.

It's hard to go unnoticed as a photographer when I'm 4'10'' and enormously pregnant.  I really appreciate Kelly and Eric giving me the opportunity to come photograph their really sweet wedding.  Thanks, also, to my friend Julia who really blessed me by coming to assist for a portion of the day.  She carried my stuff around and fixed the bride's train.  She's awesome.  Here's a glimpse at what I captured on Saturday.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

I'm 38 weeks and still counting.

Friday, I was officially 38 weeks pregnant.

How am I feeling?  I wouldn't say that I'm extremely uncomfortable.  I would say that it is difficult to put my shoes and pants on.  Each day, I find more clothes that need to go into the postpartum pile because they no longer cover the belly.  Stephen said I can just cover up with a blanket until baby gets here.

The thing is, I anticipate being pregnant another three or four weeks, and I have things to do.  I photographed a wedding yesterady and I have a senior session on Tuesday.  Our birthdays are a week from Sunday, and Stephen and I have plans to go to the theater.  I have playdates, and family birthday dinners, and MOPS meetings, and lots of miscellaneous projects to complete.  I don't think I'll be able to get along with just a blanket.

I get the question, "Will you be induced?" pretty often.

Here is my take on induction.  I ask myself three questions before I would ever be induced.
1.  Is the baby ready to take on the outside world?  (There is a push in the medical community to only assume the baby is ready after 39 weeks instead of 37 or 38.)
2.  Is my body ready to deliver?  (The sort of obvious answer is no or else I would be in labor.)
3.  Will the baby be safe in utero until my body is ready to deliver? (Because, yes, a healthy baby is the most important thing.)

If the answer is no, baby is not safe, then I would discuss induction options or surgery (thank heaven for these options).  If the answer is yes, baby is doing great in there, I patiently wait until my body is ready.

My baby might be ready to take on the outside world.  He/she is probably six plus pounds and would most likely not have problems breathing or eating, etc.  But, right now, my baby is moving frequently, is head down, and has a strong heart beat. My placenta is nice and high and in the back.  I seem to have plenty of fluid.  I show no signs of preeclampsia or diabetes.

As long as my baby doesn't have a preference, I'll choose to wait until my body is ready to cooperate.

Once upon a time, I choose to force my body to do what it was not ready to do.  We made this decision with our doctor because we were asking the wrong questions.  We asked,
1.  Is the baby ready to take on the outside world?  (She was.)
2.  Are you emotionally and physically done being pregnant. (Sure.)
We knew that D'arcy was doing fine in utero.  My non-stress test was fine.  I still had plenty of fluid.  She was moving frequently.  But we decided that it didn't matter.
My body reluctantly, slowly opened.  The process was exhausting and extremely painful.  I choose to have an epidural to help with the pain which left me ill equipped to push effectively.  When my body didn't cooperate, the doctor surgically delivered the baby.

Did you know that 50% of first time moms who try to force their bodies to deliver their baby will end up having them surgically delivered because their bodies refuse to cooperate?  Then we blame our bodies saying they don't function properly when in fact it's our patience that seems to be lacking.

It happened to me and it left me having to make some really difficult decisions about having a VBAC.

So, I'm waiting and trying to carry on a normal life and trying to enjoy these last fleeting moments of pregnancy.

Maggie is certain the baby is a girl.  If I use the word he, she corrects me and says, "No, mom, the baby is a girl."  I'll ask her what her name is and she says, "Elope" which makes me smile.

Schroeder has a name idea.  He thinks we should use the name "Aunchonauts".  Nuff said.

The kids now know how baby is laying and will pat the top of my stomach on the right and say, "Hey, we are hitting the babies butt."  Maggie sometimes prefers a hug from the baby when she gets bumped or falls.  She'll come and wrap her arms around my belly and will ask if baby is awake.  Then she wants to put her face up against my belly button to say a proper hello.

I think they are all really accepting and excited about baby's imminent arrival.

My midwife came for our home visit this week. I went to Target to get all the supplies and to the Good Earth Store to get herbs to help me heal afterwards. After she came, it occurred to me that I was really going to have to do this whole labor thing again. Yikes! I need to build up my courage. That's the nice thing about being driven crazy with waiting. At some point, you stop dreading the idea of labor because you are just so anxious to have the baby. I haven't hit that point yet. I need to become more annoyed with pregnancy before I'm ready to encounter labor. The midwife's visit also prompted me to work out some logistics for a photographer to come and thought through what I would do if I happen to be alone in the house when I go into labor. I'm not anxious about it all, but planning a bit is probably a good thing.

Here I am with all five of my kids around the corner from our house.







Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Kids say the darndest things...

My cousin's son was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.  From what I understand, they saw some symptoms back in January that worried them, but it took several months to get into a specialist.  Once they saw the specialist, things moved pretty rapidly.  He was diagnosed one week and was scheduled for surgery the next.  In surgery, they worked to identify the type of tumor and to remove as much of it as possible.

It was interesting telling the kids that their cousin and friend had a brain tumor.  Jared is only ten which makes him just old enough for Julian to both play with him and idolize him.  My kids are familiar with cancer since my mom just spent a year in her own battle with it.  We told them there was a possibility that the tumor could be cancerous.  They didn't seem as scared as I imagined they would be.  Thankfully, they didn't get to see the full range of what cancer can do to a person since my mom lost her hair and then got better.  All they were worried about was going to get him a get well present.

The day of the surgery, I took Schroeder and Maggie to the hospital while the other kids were in school.  Here was our conversation.

S, "Where are we going, Mom?"
M, "To Riley Hospital to see Jared because he is having surgery today."
S, "But Riley is dead."
M, "Yes, Grandma's dog named Riley did die, but this is a hospital called Riley."
S, "Oh, is it the hospital with the stickers?"
(I'm trying to remember which hospital had stickers.)
M, "No, we've never been to this one.  This is a hospital just for kids."  (I'm thinking how thankful I am that we've never had to go there.)
S, "Oh, then they'll have lots of toys there, right?"
M, "Ummmm, probably not in the waiting room where we'll be."

Our conversation continued once we arrived.

S, "Wow, this place has a lot of corners."
S, "Hey, mom, where is Jared at?"
M, "Oh, sorry man, Jared is in surgery.  We are just coming to sit with his family."
S, "But you said we were coming to see Jared."
Yep, I did.  Whoops.

When we went to the bathroom down the hall.

S, "Oh, is Jared down here?"
M, "Not sure dude, this place has a lot of corners :)."

As we were leaving, my dad helped us find our car and we rode down the glass elevator in the main lobby.

Grandpa, "Do you see all the water down there Schroeder?"
S, "Yep, we could kick in this glass, jump down and go swimming."
S, "And what if we swam naked!?  Ha!"

I think I was paying extra close attention to his comments due to the situation.  Maybe they wouldn't seem as sweet or cute if he wasn't saying them in light of a visit to the hospital to wait out Jared's surgery.

Ultimately, Jared's tumor was found to be benign.  He was in surgery for 30 hours!  We had no idea that they would take that long.  They were able to get all of the tumor.  You can imagine how big and complicated it was if it took that long.  Jared is doing well, but is still in the hospital undergoing physical therapy to help him recover.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

This baby is about to be a big sister.

I was showing Maggie her baby book the other day and came across this sweet picture. Seeing it made me happy. I'm wondering if this baby will look anything like her. Will he or she have that massive amounts of bright blond hair? Will he or she have blue eyes? Will he or she have a birth mark or a dimple? Looking forward to knowing what the next baby face will look like.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Greyson gives this weather two thumbs up.

Had an opportunity to photograph this family again on the occasion of Greyson turning four and Rowen turning one.  I love how kids give you exactly three opportunities to get the shot before they move on.  It makes me a better photographer, and it also makes me improvise.  Pictures should be improvised.  It gives them life.  
I've always worked up until the end of my pregnancies, but I'm guessing at this point it's laughable to see me get up and down from the ground.  I'm probably lacking a bit of grace.  Looking forward to photographing a wedding next!  Oh...and maybe some pictures of my sister's family in the next couple weeks (Connie we should schedule that!)