Hospital Newborn Lifestyle Session’s Story
from Dad, Caleb:
“It’s not everyday you get to experience watching a mother birth a child. As a father of one, I’ve been through this only one time before. It is something truly extraordinary, magical, and down right intense. The emotions flowing are a combination of happiness, pain, fear, and pure bliss for both parents. As a father, I like to play what we call the coaching role during birth. I am passionate about encouraging my wife, Laura, throughout her entire pregnancy. I am pleased to wait on her hand and foot even though throughout the process a request for water can go something like this, “Babe, can you please get me a glass of water and transition into WATER, now!” I don’t know the physical pain she is going through but I can tell you that God designed women to be strong in this area of life because I would have been balled up on the floor trying to find a way out.
Thoughts were racing through my head time after time. Our son Elijah is now two years old and full of joy. He loves trucks, playing outside, and eating massive amount of good food. I start thinking to myself, “Will Elijah like his little brother?” “Will Elijah think we no longer care for him as much now that we have another baby?” And so on. We knew the time was coming that Elijah, our only son, was going to meet our new Baby Jonah. My wife had the idea of capturing this joyful moment on camera and as a video producer, I could not argue with that idea. We knew Meredith was perfect for this scenario, so we made the call. We wanted to capture Elijah meeting the new baby for the first time.
After a long night in the delivery room, I decided to go home and spend my last night alone with my son Elijah. As I began to prep him to meet his new baby brother, Jonah, I was overwhelmed and anxious to see his response. Elijah and I got ready and put on the Big Brother shirt that mom has picked out for the pictures and off we went to meet Baby Jonah! We arrived to the hospital and as I was rushed to go show Elijah the new baby, he insisted that we stop at the fountain prior to going up and in this moment God spoke to me and said “Why rush?” I knew in this moment that preparing him to meet Baby Jonah had already been done so why speed up the process. We walked to the elevator and rode to the top floor of the hospital to see the new baby.
As we walked through the double doors, I was over joyed as tears began to run down my face knowing this special moment was here and we were going to capture it! The smiles on everyone’s face was not expected but reminded me that if you prepare someone for what they are about to experience in the right mind, you will find joy. Elijah was so excited to see Baby Jonah and ran to give him a hug and kiss. At that moment, Laura began to shed a few happy tears and all we could do is look at each other smiling, without words, knowing that we were bless beyond belief and that Elijah truly loves his new baby brother.”
Meredith Washburn of Meredith Washburn Photography | Facebook | Website | Blog | Twitter | Pinterest
Location: Pekin, Illinois