Announcing Our Baby Boy, Cooper!
It’s been a little quiet around here (on the blog), because we welcomed our sweet baby boy into the world on Thanksgiving. I can’t believe that he’s already 3 months old…time is going by shockingly fast. I enjoyed my extended maternity leave and I’m so incredibly thankful that Matt works so hard to allow me to run this crazy business and be a full-time mommy to my little guy. I should put little in quotations – he was a whopping 10lbs 9oz at birth, 23″ long and he has the biggest feet I’ve ever seen on a baby. For real, he doesn’t fit into all the socks we had for him. He’s outgrowing his 3 month sized clothes, so we have a big ol’ baby on our hands, people!
I want to thank all of my clients who were so wonderfully patient with me while I was on maternity leave, especially due to needing extra recovery from my dreaded c-section.
My birth story is anything but glamorous. In the weeks leading up to Cooper’s birth, I browsed Pinterest non-stop….looking for the best “hospital packing lists” and “how to prepare for birth” etc, along with taking an all-day birth class, a 2 hour breastfeeding course and finally finishing What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I had some cute loungy pants, sexy nursing tank tops (yes, I said sexy) and a comfy, silky robe ready for my 2 day stay in the hospital after giving birth naturally with no meds or epidural Ha, ha…ha!
At my last prenatal visit, my doctor told me that Cooper might weigh 8lbs 5oz, give or take half a pound. I thought “holy crap…let’s hope it’s take a pound and not give.” That thought is now completely hilarious to me, by the way. My doctor also told me that if I didn’t go into labor by November 26th, I’ll need to be induced on that day…aka step one of completely ruining my stupid birth plan.
I did everything I could safely do to try and hurry labor along before the dreaded inducing day. I had been having braxton-hicks contractions for weeks, but around 2am the morning I was to be induced, I started getting stronger contractions closer together. Stupidly believing that labor was upon me, I laid awake, counting contractions instead of sleeping. At 6am, I went into the hospital and they administered pitocin to get things moving. Looooooong story short, after 21 hours of labor, 28 hours of being awake, having to get TWO (count them, TWO) epidurals, and 3 hours of pushing, my doctor told me that I had to prep for a c-section and there was really no way out of it.
Birth plan, shmirth plan. Cooper was plucked out of my womb at 4 something in the morning and I strained my neck muscles trying to see my baby for the first time who I was SURE was going to be placed directly on my chest after birth, only to JUST be able to touch his little hand as Matt held him close to my face after getting washed and whatnot.
Honestly, had I known what NOT A BIG DEAL getting a c-section is, I wouldn’t have been so afraid…and at first I was very disappointed that things happened that way. But then I woke up around 8 that morning when the nurses brought my baby to me, and none of it mattered at all. I was in unconditionally deep love with my little boy.
And while I’m being pretty brutally honest about the birth experience etc, I feel EXTREMELY guilty for being sad when the ultrasound showed I was having a boy. I had really wanted a girl, and I mean REALLY wanted a girl. But after holding him in my arms, I couldn’t want anything different than exactly who he is.
Without further ado, I present to you my entire world in two photographs – both taken by my very talented friend & professional photographer, Kassi of Little Willow Photography.
These people are the reason I do every single thing I do <3
Speaking of this reason, I will be accepting less weddings per year so I can more fully focus on raising TWO boys and being a good wife to my extremely generous and hard-working husband. Fifth and Chestnut Photo Co. will also undergo some changes since Matt will be focusing on his full-time IT job & taking care of the kids while I am photographing people & weddings. I am sad to say that Matt won’t be photographing with me any longer, but of course he remains a very strong partner in this business with me. I will be relying on our fabulous photographer, Kirsten, who many of my clients have had the pleasure of working with already, and we will bring in other photographers/assistants/interns etc as needed. We’re kind of playing things by ear at the moment, and I appreciate everyone’s support & love that we’ve been feeling since Cooper’s birth!
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