Baby Clara’s Birth Story | Flower Mound Newborn Photographer
Keeping our baby 3 gender a surprise was the best! That moment during labor of the doctor and my amazing labor nurse and husband all saying “It’s a GIRL!” will be a moment I never forget.
And if you’re like me, I love to read or hear about people’s birth stories. I am just always fascinated about how birth is so different for everyone and always such a miracle no matter how the baby gets here! All 3 of my births were such unique experiences for me and all felt so different.
With my first- I was induced 5 days over but I was in early labor already so everything just got sped along super fast. I made the mistake of asking for some kind of pain medication to help with contractions before getting an epidural and whatever they gave me did not feel good and I was pretty out of it the rest of the labor. But when it was time to push, I only had to push 4 times and she was here!
With my second- I had placenta previa and knew at 28 weeks that I would be having a c-section (which I was super sad about). So that was a very different experience but thankfully it and the recovery were not as bad as I was expecting.
And now with my sweet little Clara. I knew going into it that I wanted to do a VBAC if possible. There is now a law that the doctor has to be at the hospital the entire time someone is attempting a VBAC so I had to switch OB’s and hospitals but I loved my new OB and the hospital so much more than my previous one so it worked out for the best. My OB didn’t want me going long over my due date (October 7th) so he said if I hadn’t gone into labor by October 8th then I would be going in to have my water broken (I was already dilated to a 2 and over half way effaced) to get labor started. I tried so hard to naturally induce labor the week before my due date, but clearly she was happy to stay where she was.
October 8th: Baby Day!
Thursday October 8th, we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am. I was up before 3:30am thanks to my son wetting his bed (eye roll) and then there was no way I was getting back to sleep. My mom came over and off we went. We checked in, got settled into our labor room, they got my IV in (on the 3rd attempt), and around 6am my OB was there to break my water. Unfortunately not even that started my contractions so at 9am they started me on Pitocin. The worst part of labor in my opinion is just constantly needing to go to the bathroom! Between baby laying on my bladder and all the fluids they were pumping into me I was having to unplug from monitors and waddle to the bathroom regularly, along with just constantly leaking fluid since my water was broken (tmi? just keeping it real). The best part of labor was watching all of season 6 Schitt’s Creek haha. By noon the contractions were consistent and not too comfortable. My doctor checked me and I was dilated to a 4. I wanted to be at a 5 before getting an epidural. So for the next 3 hours I was fighting and breathing through contractions while dealing with the nurses who were constantly having to readjust the baby heart rate monitor. I was in SO much pain with the contractions so at 2:30pm I had my nurse check me and I was basically at a 5 so she called for the anesthesiologist. That 30 min wait felt SO LONG since he was giving someone else an epidural. When he finally came everything moved quickly. I remember I was shaking intensely because I was so cold and in so much pain from contractions (and exhausted). Once the epidural was in it took a little time to be numb and then it felt amazing. I was getting so excited for the nap I was going to take. My nurse had me lay on my side and she said she would check me about every hour to see how things were progressing. But pretty soon after laying there I felt like I had to go to the bathroom, which shouldn’t really be the case since I had a catheter in. My nurse said that it was most likely all the pressure of the baby on my bladder. But about 15 min later I felt an insane amount of pressure and felt like I was about to poop the bed (ha sorry no other way to really say it!) So I called my nurse in, she checked me and said “Oh wow, baby’s head is right here! Let me go call your doctor so you can start pushing!” I progressed from 5cm to 10cm in less than an hour! Waiting the 5-10 minutes for her to come back in the room was miserable because I just wanted to push, the pressure was so strong. But soon her and my doctor were in the room and everything was ready to go! I pushed twice during the first contraction, and then 3 times during the next contraction and out she came! While pushing my doctor told me baby had a full head of hair and I was shocked (my first 2 babies were little baldies)! I lucked out with not having to push for long, I don’t know how women have the energy and strength to push for hours. My labor nurse was amazing, and she said it was a good thing I got my epidural when I did otherwise it would’ve been too late.
Clara was 6lbs 13oz and 19.5in long. Everything went so smoothly during labor and my recovery was the fastest and easiest compared to my other two. We are all just so smitten with this little girl and she is the perfect addition to our family.
How to take your own Fresh 48 Hospital Pictures | Dallas Newborn Photographer
I made a quick little reel on my instagram (@aubreystockphoto) showcasing my main tips to take your own pictures. Especially since who knows when photographers will be allowed back in the hospitals, I hope everyone having a baby during this time can capture these special moments. Regardless of what camera you have, an iPhone or a DSLR, you can take nice pictures! If you have any other questions about how to take your own hospital pictures, feel free to ask me in the comments or send me a message! I am more than willing to help :)
Turn off all hospital lights! This is a general rule for all sessions to be honest. Artificial lighting causes weird shadows and coloring, so turn off all the lights! Even if the pictures look a little dark initially, it is so easy to lighten them up (bring up the exposure) when you edit them.
Use the window for natural light. Always face toward the window and move the bassinet by the window. Do everything by the window for the best and most flattering images. I also waited until we had the best lighting in our room. Our window faced east so I waited until the sun had risen enough to not be shining directly into our room but also when our room was nice and bright (around 11am-1pm)
When doing the pictures of baby in the bassinet, carefully get directly above the baby and shoot straight down. You don’t want to get weird angles of up the baby’s nose or for the top of baby’s head to look big and ill proportioned. When shooting straight down make sure to get a full body shot , close up details on the baby’s face (ears, eyes, mouth) and then also get the details of the fingers, toes, legs.
Have fun with different angles and shots! Search on Pinterest or instagram for pictures you like and recreate them! Trying to think of poses yourself can be hard so just find pictures you love and copy them!
Keep outfits simple. For baby I love when they are in the simple half shirt from the hospital or plain onesie to really get the detail shots on the legs, arms, Use a simple white/plain colored swaddle. And use simple, form fitting bonnets, hats, and bows. For mom’s outfit I suggest a pretty robe or a nursing friendly house dress like the ones from Nesting Olive or Dwell and Slumber.
Get the Lightroom editing app! It’s free. And I also suggest getting the Jess Kettle presets (they are the ones I use and then I tweak them to make them my own style but they are so great one click fixes!)
Aubrey Stock Photography is a lifestyle photographer, newborn photographer, and family photographer serving North Dallas, Flower Mound photographer, Highland Village, Southlake, Westlake, Grapevine, Argyle, Plano, Mckinney, Highland Park, Trophy Club, and surrounding areas. Please contact me for questions or to schedule your session.