I cannot look at Laurie and Sean’s photos without tearing up… even months later. They are so incredibly in love, so very good to each other (and good FOR each other) and the outpouring of love between their families and friends amazed me. Laurie’s Dad, who is just the absolute sweetest man, was diagnosed in July with a brain tumor and an incurable cancer called glioblastoma (GBM). Needless to say, it was an extremely emotional day. After Laurie danced with her Dad, her younger sister danced with him as well and let me tell you, between these two dances, there was not a dry eye in that entire room. I ended up sobbing like a baby and having to go outside to compose myself, where I found many guests doing the same. What amazed me the most was that through all of this, everyone managed to find the strength to have a fantastic time and the day was still filled with a lot of laughter and silliness. I cannot express how much I have enjoyed getting to know Laurie and Sean and their families, how blessed I feel to have been a part of their special day and most of all, I am so thankful that they have become my friends. <3
Thank you to Aurora and Morgen for all of your help! =)
Let me start out by taking you through the backstory here… I met Vivian and Michael several years ago… shortly after we moved from St. Louis, MO to Fairfield, CT. Vivian worked with my husband and I had met her a few times. We were invited to their wedding and lucky me, I had been second shooting for a wedding photographer and had just gotten my first DSLR! I went as a guest… a guest who didn’t really know anyone there. I barely knew the bride and I had not met the groom. I decided that my camera would keep me occupied and I would feel less awkward about knowing no one there. As it turns out, I didn’t feel awkward at all and I had a great time - I didn’t take many photos at all (by my standards anyway) but I got a handful that I absolutely loved and sent them to the happy couple after the wedding. They loved the photos and we kept in touch, even though Vivian no longer worked with Sean, chatting here and there over the last several years. They had been trying to get pregnant for two years and I followed along on their journey, knowing that it would happen for them. It had to. They are amazing people and it just HAD TO work out for them. Well, after a long, very difficult road they finally got their wish. When I first heard the news it was vague… you could tell that they wanted to shout from the rooftops and celebrate their news but they were still being cautious so as not to jinx anything. I wasn’t entirely sure that Vivian was pregnant because the news was that vague, but Vivian finally mentioned me doing a photo shoot for her in a few months and I asked if she meant a maternity session. She confirmed that yes, she would be needing a maternity session. YEA!!! I was so excited for them - not only is this an amazingly incredible event, but for Vivian and Michael it was something that they had been wanting so badly and they had been through so much to get there. Vivian also asked me if I would be willing to photograph the birth of their son as well. Um, YES, PLEASE! I had been wanting to photograph a birth for a few years and had not gotten the opportunity due to C-sections.
In December we met up for their maternity session on what turned out to be a randomly gorgeous and warm day. We had fun taking photos and chatting while Vivian’s son Darren and Jaedyn played hide from the grown-ups and Legos. Vivian looked fantastic and she and Michael seemed to be enjoying every minute of the long awaited pregnancy. They still would not divulge the name they had chosen for their “monkey” as they so lovingly referred to him. Little did I know at the time that only Vivian, Michael and Darren knew the chosen name and somehow even Darren, who just turned 9, was able to keep it a secret!
Fast forward to January 19th. I had just changed into my pajamas and walked back to the living room to find a missed text message at 12:39 AM - it was THE text from Vivian:
“off to L&D, contractions are coming pretty strong”
Such a sweetie - I told her I am always up super late and don’t ever feel bad about calling me in the middle of the night! I sent her a text back (which she didn’t get to check for several hours) and got dressed, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. The hospital is about an hour from me so I arrived at 2 AM through the emergency department and waited to be let in. And I waited. And waited. I finally arrived to her room around 2:20 AM and she was in quite a bit of pain but handling it like a pro. Vivian did awesome! She asked me about my experiences with childbirth and an epidural. She ended up deciding to go with an epidural because she was having front and back labor that had her in a tremendous amount of pain. Michael’s mother and I stepped outside for the anesthesiologist to place the epidural. She was very nervous so we talked and paced the halls together which seemed to help. When we were allowed back in the room the epidural hadn’t fully taken effect yet but it wasn’t long before Vivian was calm and even smiling again. We all decided to try to relax and hopefully get a light nap in while things were calm. We were all just settling down… I was sitting across the room from the monitors, kind of zoning out and staring at them and I started noticing the baby’s heart rate fluctuating quite a bit. I kept a close watch on the monitor - just staring at it, a little nervous but not wanting to say anything for fear that I would jinx something. Suddenly the baby’s heart rate dropped very drastically and then came up and plummeted right back down. My eyes widened. My body tensed up. Michael looked over and saw the look on my face and I pointed to the monitors, not wanting to alarm Vivian or Michael’s mom too much. Michael walked over to the monitor just as the nurse came in to see what was going on as she was watching the monitor too from her station. Michael’s mom and I stepped out while they checked Vivian. We were out in the hall for what felt like forever, waiting, nervous, scared. We weren’t being allowed back in. We were both shaking, but I tried my best to hide it and calm her. I kept walking to the door to listen and I finally heard the nurses getting Vivian ready to push… WOW - already?! I told Michael’s mother that I was pretty sure her grandson was about to make his appearance and encouraged her to stand by the door so she could at least hear his first cry. We stood at the door for a moment and then a nurse finally invited us in, with some restrictions on where we could be and when I was allowed to photograph. Totally understandable. The next few minutes will be etched in my memory forever. The birth of my daughter was absolutely, without a doubt, the best day of my life but I was quite sick and don’t remember a lot of it. It was a different kind of amazing. Witnessing the birth of someone else’s baby was just incredible. I cried, I remembered things I had forgotten about Jaedyn’s birth, I sat there watching, happy and sad at the same time that I won’t be experiencing that first hand again. I cried some more and smiled a lot. I was so happy for them and so caught up in the magic that I almost forgot to pick the camera back up (I wasn’t permitted to take photos until the baby was stabilized) and take a photo of the clock - which read 5:21 AM. They got the baby stabilized and I stood back, documenting everything. A few minutes later the doctor asked if they would finally be willing to tell us all his name - they laughed and told us - it’s Gabriel Michael. Gabriel was 7 pounds, 2 ounces and is a beautiful, healthy boy. Shortly after his arrival home I visited again (twice), camera in hand of course!
Please enjoy this slideshow of Gabriel’s birth story… but be sure to grab the tissues before you hit play!
(P.S. Please be patient while the show loads - one of my pet peeves is a show pausing to continue loading once it’s already playing!)
Vivian and Michael: Thank you so much for inviting me to share in and document such an amazing and intimate part of your lives. I am so honored and blessed to have been able to do this for you and I am so happy for you guys! From the bottom of my heart - CONGRATULATIONS!
Darren: Congratulations to you too! You are already an awesome big brother!
