So as if there was any doubt in your minds, my baby will have a well documented life. In fact his first five minutes on Earth, I took over 20 pictures or more. I thought hard about hiring a female photographer to document those moments for us, since I knew they would be priceless, but after a lot of thought, we decided we wanted to be alone. After 21 hours of labor, Shaleen and I were exhausted, but those last few minutes were precious. I can’t even imagine how we would have coped through this without God. Psalm 91 kept us through the rough of it. We didn’t think there was an end in sight, but getting constant texts from friends and loved ones let us know that there were prayers all around the clock.
I thought long and hard about when I should take pictures and when I shouldn’t. As I was holding Shaleen’s hand (and leg), whispering in her ear, “You can do it, Baby, I see the top of his head!”, the idea came to me that I should let go of her hand and her leg and just take the picture. I knew I was risking her being extremely angry at me and that the whole thing may have been inappropriate, but as a photographer, “When in doubt, capture the moment.” Inappropriate or not, I do not know, but I can tell you that in that second I caught some of my favorite pictures ever, so Shaleen, I’m sorry, honey, but…what can I say that this picture can’t?
This is my favorite picture because it’s Shaleen’s first look at the baby. I cought it just under the doctor’s arm which I think makes the composition more interesting. I love both, her looking at the baby and then back up at the doctor almost saying, “Thank you!”
7 pounds and 12 ounces. Don’t look at his biznaz!
The second day we were still totally sleep depraved, but joyous with our blessing.
I hope his eyes stay this color.
Sleep as I’ve been told is for the weak. I’ve heard that Leonardo DaVinci only slept in 4-5 hour increments. Supposedly that cycle helped him be more productive as opposed to a longer 14-16 hour cycle. I’m gonna find out if that applies to a 2 hour sleeping cycle. I will let you know if it works. Thank you everyone for all the prayers and support.