KML Photography

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on the blog. I’ve been photographing tons of sessions, but today I write a personal post…

Yesterday my baby girl turned 5. I know every parent says it, but I must say it too. Where did those 5 years go? I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. And believe me when I tell you, I don’t remember ANYTHING. It all happened the day she was born, but that’s a whole other story…

Before she was born, I was THE MOST MISERABLE PREGNANT PERSON EVER! My husband, sister and friends can attest. It wasn’t that way for every pregnancy. With my first, I was thrilled and happy, healthy and FAT. But by pregnancy #3, I was a little less fat and a lot more impatient with the whole process. It didn’t help that I was having painful and aggravating contractions from 4 months on and was on bed rest with two young children running circles around me. And for someone like me that is a “do-er”, lying around on the couch or the bed all the time isn’t so much fun (of course now that I have three kids and running a business, I’d be happy to be on bed rest – even if only for a few hours!). There were numerous trips to the doctor, and to the maternity ward. Awful medication that made my heart race like I’d just chugged 12 espressos. I had cankles. And it was summertime. And because my 2nd child was born 24 hours after I got off bed rest, I figured that would happen again… But no. I waited another 3 weeks and felt like I was overdue by three weeks at that point. The misery had turned to torture in my mind.

But then it came! The contractions were painful (as usual) and consistently one minute apart. Since my #2 pregnancy ended up with Jack being born after only 15 minutes of being at the hospital, it was definitely time to go. Of course 15 minutes after we arrived this time around, the contractions dissipated like the times before, and the nurses were ready to send me home and wait. They asked, “would you like to go home and wait it out or try some pitocin?” Before I could say anything, my husband said, “well, we did the other two births naturally, so let’s go home.” I think I must have looked like something out of the movie “The Exorcist” – my head just may have spun around like that little girl’s. And I demanded, “I am NOT leaving this hospital without a baby in my arms!” And so, after numerous tries and about 5 different nurses, they were able to get an IV in my arm and start the pitocin drip. After about 10 minutes, I was in labor for real. Without an epidural. That was OK. I’d done it twice before without any drugs. But this time was different. Excruciating back labor. Fear of the needle in the back went out the window – it was time for an epidural. But clearly the anesthesiologist didn’t realize how much I needed it NOW. I felt as though he waited hours and hours to come to my room. They said he was reading my chart. He came in, had to give me the full set of instructions before he put the catheter in, got it in my back and I immediately said, “I’ve got to push.” He said, “but I haven’t given you the medicine yet.” And I yelled, “You’re too late!” And so the doctor checked me out and said, “that’s just your water. Would you like me to break it? It might move things along a little quicker.” And by now, if you’re still reading this, you know that my answer was clearly “yes!”. And so, she busted the water bag and it burst everywhere. She took off her gloves and I said, “I’m gonnna push!” And she insisted, “No, you’re not ready to push.” And I said, “I’m gonna push!” And I did. And a baby was born as the doctor screamed for someone to get her some fresh gloves. I don’t know if she ever got them on before she had to catch the baby. I didn’t care. IT was out!  And as we had traditionally done, it was Andrew’s job to announce the sex of the baby. And the doctor said, “tell her what it is!” And there was silence. He said nothing. I’m not sure whether he was in shock or whether he just didn’t recognize what was going on down there. But after the awkward silence, he finally said it. “It’s a girl.” I think he could have said, “it’s a three eyed, four-legged, lizard baby” and I would have been thrilled. IT was out. The nurses suggested we name her Bullet.

But that IT, has completed our family and has been a huge joy. Worth every ache and pain and all the misery and torture. It’s great having a little girl around the house. I never expected that. I thought for sure I’d be the Mom of three boys – I pictured it in my head. I didn’t realize that I wanted a girl until I had one. Lainey is happy. She’s bubbly. She’s girly. She’s expressive. She’s talkative. She’s charming. She puts a smile on my face the minute she walks into the room. She has her down times. Her bratty times. Her whiney times. But thankfully, not too often do those times happen. And she is my best friend. And I am hers (at least for now I’ve ingrained that in her brain).

And here is the birthday party I had for her the day before she turned one hand old….

I made the pom pom and fan decorations. The backdrop is one I’ve used for infant sessions. The tent I purchased at Job Lot. And the flowers were picked from the garden.

Closer detail shows the mint I added to the flowers for easy access to garnish for the watermelon mojitos (for the adults, not the kids. The kids had a selection of canned sodas, water and juices that were put in their own personalized koozies which were theirs to take home as a party favor.

Thank you to Bob for bringing oysters for a special pre-dinner treat, and to everyone for all their help! I couldn’t have done it without you! Lainey had a fabulous day and was thrilled you were there to celebrate with her! We hope you had as much fun as we did!