On the 1st February I became a mum of 3. I can now officially say our little family is complete. I can tick off all kinds of delivering babies of my bucket list :) I had it all, forceps first time round, C-section second time round and our third baby completed the list by being born in a short two hours and into a very relaxed environment of the birthing suite and into water. Third time lucky :) Throughout the pregnancy I read Hypnobirthing books, listened to relaxation recordings, discussed with midwives and pushed for a natural birth. I needed to know that I CAN have a baby naturally. I had support of an amazing lady (Zuzana Machancova) who teaches hypnobirthing, I have a pregnant friend who is planning on using hypnobirthing as well and so we arranged weekly walks to keep active and to provide support for each other. I have a wonderful husband who stood behind me and supported me (even if he found having to read the books I asked him to a little difficult :D ) and I was incredibly lucky, that everything went well and exactly how I wanted it.
The birthing suite at St. Helier hospital was quiet at night when I went into labour and the midwife looking after us was friendly, gentle, kind and just lovely. Once our baby daughter arrived I was the first to hold her (something I was not able to do with my other two and always wanted to be able to do) we had long cuddles and the feeling of joy, of pride of having DONE it myself was overwhelming.
Being a mum of 3 children is overwhelming too. As my son is 10 (behaving more like a teenager by the day), my daughter is 5 and takes after her mummy in being a very strong headed and ambitious lady and our baby girl is needing a lot of attention I can imagine rather tricky times ahead :) I would not change it for the world though. I will write a blog about being a mum of three next time I promise.
Once we got home from hospital I was very lucky that my amazing photography mentor and friend has offered to make a long journey to come down to us and help me take Nella's baby photos. It is true that being a newborn photographer the baby you will struggle to take photos of will be your own one :D When I do a newborn session I try to keep mum a bit further from the baby as baby can smell mum and it reminds them that they are a little bit peckish and unlikely to settle easily. My mentor Claire Elliott stepped in and posed Nella for me while I stayed at a safe distance and snapped away. Editing took me a lot longer than it would if I was able to sit down and work non stop like I used to but it was very much worth it.
Since then I have taken more photos myself and got an image that will be printed on our wall. These three are the reason I do everything I do in life...They are the best of me and so very loved. xx
