Happy Birthday Levi!

Levi Glade Baker

August 7, 2009
8:09 am
9 lb 12 oz
20 1/2 in

We went to the hospital on Friday morning for a scheduled cesarean section. My doctor thought this was the safest way to deliver because I had a previous shoulder dystocia with Elijah and this baby was measuring even bigger.

It was quite a different birth experience this time around. We scheduled the cesarean for Friday and were able to prepare everything ahead of time, like getting a sitter for Elijah. We even would have been able to walk into the hospital leisurely, except that we slept in and had to rush to the hospital so we didn't miss our scheduled time. After signing paperwork and getting hooked up to an IV, I walked into the operating room so they could prep me for surgery. They gave me spinal anesthesia, which started working immediately. After a few minutes they allowed Brian in and started the surgery. Brian brought the camera, and he documented the birth beautifully with these photographs. I am so grateful he has become such a good photographer.

I couldn't see anything with this large sheet in front of me. It's probably a good thing to not see what's going on. It was weird enough to feel all the pulling and tugging in my abdomen.

Our doctor allowed Brian to take a few photos of the baby being delivered. I love having these since I couldn't really see or experience what was going on at the time. One funny thing is that as soon as they started taking the baby out, he peed on everyone!

Cutting the umbilical cord.

When they weighed him, the baby was 9 pounds and 12 ounces! A pound and a half bigger than Elijah was at birth (8lb 3oz)!! Our doctor said it was a good thing we had the cesarean. With the baby so big, it could have led to some major complications with a vaginal birth.

Brian brought the baby over to me to meet. We were lucky our anesthesiologist was a hobby photographer, so he was able to take our first photos together as a family. That's the drawback of our camera - most people are not able to operate it to take a quick shot of us.

In the recovery room, I was finally able to hold the baby and start to breastfeed him.

We discussed names and finally settled on Levi Glade Baker. We both love the name Levi and Glade is my grandfather's name. My only concern was how similar Levi and Eli sound. After talking about it, we decided to just use Eli's full name: Elijah the majority of the time.

A few details.

Elijah is so excited to have his little brother here. He exclaims "brudder!" each time he sees him and asks to hold the baby. So far, he has been surprisingly gentle, though I'm sure that will change as he gets more comfortable with Levi. I'm just glad he likes his little brother. Elijah is even willing to share his cars with the baby, which is saying quite a lot.

On his second day, we took some portraits of Levi. Isn't he adorable?! Look at those bright eyes - he is so alert and observant.

And finally, since everyone keeps asking if he looks like Elijah, I'll let you decide for yourself. Here is Levi at two days old in daddy's hands:

And here is Elijah at 4 days old in daddy's hands.

What do you think? Do they look alike? I can see some resemblances.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and kind thoughts on our behalf. We are so blessed to have two amazing, beautiful sons. We are so grateful Levi is here safely and in good health. More photos to come soon, so stay tuned...

Family Portrait Season

Whew! I have had a slew of family portrait sessions in preparation for the holidays, and more to come! I have many to post, but here is one sweet family. I know Kami through the mom's meet up group. I was so excited when she asked me to take pictures of their family for the holidays. Their family is so sweet; they really look after one another and their son so affectionately. It was neat to watch their interactions. They suggested doing the photo shoot at Victory park in Pasadena, and I am so glad to discover this park. I absolutely loved the playground equipment with it's bright colors and frames.

Oh baby!

I have been so busy, no time to blog! In the next week I have 7 photo shoots, then we leave for a Thanksgiving vacation, and when we get back I am shooting a wedding. Whew! Exciting, but I never thought I would look forward to the holidays as a time when things would calm down.

Amid all the other shoots I need to post, I did a mini photo shoot for 6 month old baby Stella. Here are two of my favorites:

As a side note: if anyone out there can help me set up a wordpress blog for my photography business, I would be forever grateful. I have the blog, the template, the domain, the hosting site... now how to get it up and running... hmmm. :)

Mia's Birthday - Continued

We were supposed to shoot a few photos of Mia and her family after her birthday party a couple of weeks ago. But Mia was a little bit exhausted after her big day - she slept for a 4 hour nap and we missed the light! So this last weekend, we went to the park for a quick photo session.

We started out at their home, where Mia showed me her new big girl bed. She had a lot of fun playing peek-a-boo with the pretty sheer curtains on her bed.

Then she wanted to jump on her parents' bed.

After we were done jumping on the bed, we headed to the park.

She enjoyed being swung in the air between her parents. I love this one.

She had been so adamant about putting on her shoes at home, but as soon as we got to the park, off they went.

Climbing up the ladder.

Down the slide. Don't you just love the static in her hair?

Mia got this adorable little red tricycle for her birthday. She kept a close eye on it the whole time at the park. She kept going back to check and make sure no one else played on it.

She decided to tackle the big jungle gym and scary ladder.

Kristy was a little worried. You can see the tension in her hands.

And down the scary steep slide. Her eyes are scrunched shut.

Having fun at the park.

And finally, a nice family portrait.