Along came baby...

A few months ago I shared this picture of my dear friend Beth....

Last week I had the privilege of watching this sweet girl come into this world. Her mama labored hard and well and then...

Lyla Grace was born.

I have now had the honor of being present for the birth of both of Beth's daughters. There are few things more special than being part of a person's most painful and beautiful moments.

Miss Lyla so kindly allowed me to spend several hours with her the other day for a fun photo shoot, so more pictures to come soon.

i heart faces: Motherhood

When I saw this weeks challenge at i heart faces I immediately thought of this picture. For those of you who don't know, my paying job is as a labor and delivery nurse. I spend my days taking pictures and my nights coaching woman through labor. I've talked about this here before, but this past January I traveled to Uganda to help deliver my dear friend's baby. I snapped this picture of her and her hubby as she labored. I have seen a lot of labors and a lot of deliveries, but none as amazing as this woman. She suffered through 36 hours of labor in a foreign country where the luxury of an epidural or any pain medication is not available.

This picture was taken about 20 hours into labor as she worked her way through contractions. This here is the picture of motherhood, of suffering and enduring enourmous pain for your child.

Happy Mother's Day T!

  Go check out the other great mom pictures at i heart faces...

(see previous posts for pictures of baby K)

And baby makes 3

I happen to be friends with this really great photographer who happens to have really amazing camera equiptment and a studio and he happen to ask me the other day if I would take pics of him and his wife and baby to be (who shall be making an appearance any day... hopefully during one of my shifts at the hospital).