I arrived at the house a little after 5am. We knew Jenni didn’t have long before she would be ready to push, so I quickly got to prepping the area for birth. She looked so peaceful in tub, with Jim supporting her. I would occasionally stop to photograph and then get back to setting everything up, quickly and quietly. As Jenni was pushing, her midwife called our attention to the fact that Emery was making his way out with his “bag of waters” still intact. The term for this is being “born in the caul”.  It is considered a special thing. A sign of a charmed life. In the photos, you will see Amy, the midwife, showing Jenni a piece of the membranes. Emery James was born on 6/9/13  at 6:07am weighing in at  9lbs 2oz! The family relaxed and ate breakfast in bed while we checked on mom and baby. Jenni and Jim had a surprise for big sister Kylie, a bracelet!

I wanted to draw special attention the red bracelet Jenni was wearing. During her blessingway, a blessingway is a ceremony which celebrates a woman’s rite of passage into motherhood-The cord ceremony – Binding everyone’s wrists with a single cord of red wool or some other yarn. Everyone then keeps the string around their wrists until they hear that the birth is happening – then they all cut the cord as a symbol of unity. Plus the cord is a nice way to remind others to be thinking of the prospective mother.

   Later in the week, I came back to their home and photographed Emery hanging out in bed with the family. We call this special and important postpartum time, a babymoon. You can always have a second honeymoon, but you only get one babymoon!