Let me start off by saying I’ve known Joy from Wildflower Photos for several years now. We first met when I opened my childrens store in Thousand Oaks, when she approached me with some opportunities with her business which I was very happy to support. She printed me HUGE beautiful photo of her baby Gracie “drooling” for my shop, since my shop was called “DROOL”
 From there we continued to support each others businesses!. She was the FIRST person I opened up too when I found out I was pregnant with Pella. It was a total “being at the right place at the right time” as she walked into my shop with her baby on her hip. I had just taken my first pregnancy test ever, walking out of my bathroom in tears, she consoled me when I felt so terrified, and scared. Being pregnant for the first time and being only  24 years old, I was a wreck.  When I had Pella, back in 2010, I always looked up to Joy for inspiration and drive. Shes an amazing woman, and will always have a “special” place with me.
 Every photo shes taken for me, and my family is cherished , her talent is beyond words, and I’m so grateful to have been able to have her in our home and shoot our family in our natural realm. We opted to do this kind of shoot bc there is nothing more real then the everyday routine and moments we as a family share in our home. Thank you Joy for always capturing those moments,emotions, and LOVE in your photography.

From the get go he measured huge! I feared the day I would have to birth him. Like all my babies, I opted to be induced, due to his LARGE size, I wasn’t about to risk pushing out a 10 lbs baby at 40+ weeks. At my appt the week before my scheduled induction I was 3cm dilated and about 70% effaced, with that news I knew my induction would likely be “successful” , I was happy that I wouldn’t need Cervidil the night before, and ELATED that I did not have Group strep B, so I wouldn’t need the antibiotics! Everything was looking great! I took a bunch of Primrose oil hoping that would help soften things up, and hoping It would help my body with tearing
I checked into the hospital 7:30am on Monday October 27th 2014 to start the induction. Got into my room, slipped into my beautiful hospital gown and cozy itchy sock slippers, and waited…
I was a nervous a wreck! I knew I would be having a baby that day! I looked at the machines and the area were they prep the baby all too fresh in my mind from having Orla not even the year before! My nurse came in hooked my into all my machines, and asked me about 100 questions, “do you have  suicidal thoughts?” “Have you been to Africa in the last 3 months” “do you use needles”. Within that hour my Dr came in, asked me if I was ready, and checked me. To my surprise I was 4-5 cm and almost completely thinned out. He decided to break my water in hopes to kick start me
Into labor and avoid needing pitocin. Within 2 hours I was starting to feel consistent contractions, slowly getting more intense and lasting a tiny bit longer with each one. By 11am I was ready for my Epidural. I was about 7 cm dilated, tears rolling down my face from the increasing pain I was experiencing. Got that sucker put in and waited for my “comfort” to set in. My nurse told me to take a little nap, and I looked at her like she was crazy, I was still feeling a lot of discomfort and pain. I called her back within that hour, due to my pain, I was miserable, I was on my side uncomfortable as hell being hit with multiple awful contractions, the only thing I could feel was my right leg. She called in the anesthesiologist, and had him turn up the epi. It took a good 30 min or so I began to feel relief, I was feeling a lot of pressure not so much the pain. My Dr came back in around 1:00pm to check me I was 9cm, he told me he had a another baby to deliver before me. He asked how I felt about doing some practice pushing but that hour before I had my epidural turned up and I couldn’t feel my legs at all! He is not a fan of being totally numb while pushing so he called in the anesthesiologist again to shut it off! I figured I’d still be pretty comfortable within that hour or so, but I was WAYYY wrong within 30 min or so I started to feel the cramping,and those contractions rolling in within a  minute of each other. I was in my mind dying by the time he came back in to deliver my son. He wanted to push with each contraction and I couldn’t do it, I could barely breathe when I was having a contraction, they burning and felt like I was getting stabbed with a thousand knives! So I pushed in between the contractions. With 2 or 3 pushes I felt that baby crowning, and that feeling of holy shit this is it! It took me another 2 or 3 pushes to get his head out. Then for the shoulders, well those didn’t come out so easy, they were stuck… There was a lot of twisting and pushing on my lady bits, which wouldn’t end well for me. Once my dr was able to free his shoulder out he came! The first thing I heard was a squeal followed by the nurses saying “wow he’s a big boy!” He was placed on my chest and the rest is history! Nicholas was born at 1:57pm!
I laid there exhausted and busted up (literally) all I could focus on was my sons chubby little face, he was just perfect! After my placenta was delivered I started to hemorrhage I was given a shot in my leg to keep my uterus contracting properly. He spent some time on me when he was taken to be weighed, big boy he was …weighing 9lbs 9oz!  My recovery would be one I wasn’t expecting to be so difficult. I had a nasty tear, which limited my mobility, for a week I could barely walk or stand long enough to brush my teeth, and I lived on a foam “ass donut” for a week. It sucked! A week after he was born I began to hemorrhage again, so I was given some methergine to keep my uterus contracting down, praying I wouldn’t have to have a D&C ! Luckily within that week the clotting subsided and I was finally starting to feel better. Here we are 2.5 weeks in and I’m finally feeling back to my old self!
Thank god becuase Orla turned ONE today and we  are having her birthday party this weekend.