Savoring Life - Rory's Newborn Photos

 

 “Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every 

hundredth of a second.”                                   

                                      ― Marc Riboud

Rory was 11 days old when we took him to see Nadya, the same photographer who took our maternity photos. I will always remember that time for the chaotic and frenzied lovefest that it was. Mercifully, my stepmom was able to come help for a couple of weeks after Rory was born. But there was still plenty to do. Rory and I were still having trouble breastfeeding at that point, and I was still healing from the delivery. Learning and healing took a lot of effort. Also, as much as there was to do, there was more to worry about. We were worried about Rory's weight, worried about his tongue tie, worried about whether we would ever sleep again...it was very stressful.

But, it was also wonderful. We had finally met our little boy, and we loved him with such raw emotion. It was incredible. You can see that in the photos. You can also see that I hadn't planned what I would wear, or thought about getting a haircut. I didn't warn Andrew that the studio would be extra warm for Rory, so he didn't know not to wear a sweater. I couldn't even remember if I had actually reserved the right date with Nadya, and spent several minutes that morning making frantic phone calls to be sure before we left the house. These are the things that happen to new parents. You wear the wrong thing; you neglect your hair and makeup; you forget to mention things to your spouse; you don't remember dates. But it's worth it. In the end, there's really only one important thing to remember: your brand new baby.

 

 

I am so very pleased to have captured this time in Rory's life, and ours, in such beautiful pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do and savor this moment. 

Better Late than Never - On Labor Day

He's finally here! Sadly, Rory has been here for almost a month and I haven't gotten around to posting anything yet. Please consider this an extension of my good enough parenting strategy. Rory is fed and diapered. For that last three plus weeks, that's been good enough ;)  It's been a whirlwind of a month - labor, healing, sleeping (or not), learning, and endless doctors appointments.

Here's a summary: I was induced on 2/26 for fear of infection after we realized I'd been leaking fluid for a mysterious amount of time. That morning was very relaxing, which was nice. I spent some time shopping online for various gifts for people and then met a friend at the national gardens. Afterward, I wandered over to my doctor's office for my scheduled appointment,  and wound up in L&D a few blocks away. I called Andrew, and he left school to go home and get my suitcase and walk the dog before meeting me at the hospital.

Once we met with the doctors, they explained the induction process and told us we had a long long way to go - like 24 hours or more. We settled in and did our best to get through the beginning stages of labor. This part's not very exciting. It involves a lot of pain and books on tape, like driving on the Jersey turnpike for Thanksgiving. Between 4pm 2/26 and 10:20 am 2/27 my body had done all the work it needed to, and it was time to push. Having had an epidural and very little sleep, I was happy to oblige. 30 minutes later, Rory was born. Rory Arthur Hare, born 10:51 am, 6 lbs 13 oz, and 19/5 inches long. Andrew had (and excelled at) two very important jobs during those first few moments, cut the cord and take a bunch of photos. Here are a few:

Our New Family of Three!

Since then, we've been sledding at high speed down a steep learning curve, though things are settling down. I was in a lot of pain for a while after coming home, and Rory was tongue tied, which means his tongue wasn't moving properly. This prevented him from nursing or drinking from a bottle in any efficient way. The first two weeks were a blur of doctor's visits and trips to the lactation consultant for advice, a pump, a scale...you name it. Thankfully we had help from the grandmas. Rory's tongue has been fixed now (with a very minor and nearly bloodless procedure) and he's doing much better. In fact, we even managed to make it out of the house for a little stroll in the sun!

I will put some more recent photos in the next post, along with the results from Rory's fancy newborn photo shoot. In the meantime, please know that we are so grateful for the crazy amount of love and support we've gotten from our friends and family. It's a constant reminder of how much positivity and generosity there is in this world. Rory's grandparents on both sides came out to visit/help, our friends walked Fig and brought meals, the lactation consultant took time to talk with me on her cell phone at 10:40 on a weeknight, so many people sent e-mails or FB messages, Andrew's students made him a cake...the list goes on and on. We are so happy to bring Rory into such a warm and loving community and we are overwhelmed with gratitude for all of this happy chaos.

Update: Here's a photo of Rory with the doctor who delivered him, Dr. Jenny. She just happens to be the sister of one of my colleagues and stopped by to see Rory when he was around 10 weeks old.

Maternity Photos

I didn't ever think I would want maternity photos, even when I was well into my second trimester. They just seemed so....cheesy. Then as things progressed I grew to appreciate my growing tummy and to think that maybe this is the last time I'll ever see myself like this. Finally, when Andrew told me how cute he thinks I am pregnant I was completely won over. I knew that we had to document this, no matter how cliche it is.

So, we contacted the same photographer we plan to use for the newborn photos and booked a maternity session. She was wonderful to work with. I feel very lucky to have the chance to capture this special time in our lives, and I'm happy to share some of the photos with everyone.

As for the usual updates, it's week 36. Baby is as big as a honeydew! That sounds incredibly delicious to me right now, as there is very little in season in the dead of winter. I've gained 8 lbs during the last 7 weeks, which means I am finally catching up to where I should be. We have the baby room all set up, thanks to so many generous baby gifts from our family and friends (I know I still haven't posted anything about the baby showers). We've also done an incredible amount of cleaning and organizing - so much that I wonder how we didn't notice we were living like animals before.

Tonight we plan to go to a jazz show at the Kennedy Center. The tickets were Andrew's Christmas present from me. I made sure to get aisle seats so I can make my half-hourly trip to the bathroom. And next week we'll take a yoga class together that's specifically designed for labor and delivery. I hope they're not expecting anything fancy. I can barely put on my own socks. More to come. Thanks for reading!

What's in a Name?

Every child begins the world again.

Henry David Thoreau

Our little world has certainly been busy. In keeping with so many of my posts, let me start by apologizing for taking so long. I just have So. Much. To. Do. I've been plotting posts on not one, but two, baby showers; Christmas; and nesting. Those will come later, though. I'm learning to prioritize, and focusing again on being "good enough."


For today, I wanted to share two really important things: a name and a heartbeat. These two things are, for now, what makes our baby our baby. We can't see him or hold him, but we already love him. It's nice to be able to call him something special. His name is:

 *** Rory Arthur Hare ***

Rory is Scottish, and my first choice for a name. Arthur is Andrew's first choice, mainly after Art Blakey, the jazz drummer. There have been other Arthurs for Rory to look up to as well, including Arthur Ashe, the tennis player and civil rights activist.

If you would like to listen to Rory's heartbeat, you can do that HERE. We listened very carefully and figured out that this recording is about 143 beats per minute. For reference, here are a few songs with the same bpm. 

Wynton Marsalis - Memories of You

The Police - Message in a Bottle

And finally, for the usual updates: It's week 31 for me. That means baby is the size of a juicy and delicious pineapple. That's so big! I'm definitely starting to feel the effects of sharing my body with someone that big - heartburn and sore back. It's been fun to watch him squirm around though. My whole stomach moves when he gets excited, usually at night when I'm relaxing. 

We did have a small scare, because I was (and am) still under weight at my 28 week appointment, but we got an extra ultrasound, and Rory is measuring just fine. We were so grateful. I've been grateful, too, for increased energy. I am finally getting around to all the projects I was too tired to do before. 

First Photos

Here are the long awaited ultrasound photos. We are so happy to know that our little baby is growing just like he's supposed to, and everything looks good so far.

We saved the best one for last - look at his little face. And you can see his arm, too. During the ultrasound he was mostly napping, but he took a small break to play with his feet. Babies are so flexible! He had his feet right in front of his face and was grabbing them with both hands :)

Playlist for the Littlest Hare

Andrew here.  Now that baby has ears, it is time to share our music with him!  As mentioned in the last post I got to play for baby for the first time, and found out that we are having a healthy boy all in the last couple of days.  Right now I am feeling overwhelmed with gratitude and love, and to celebrate I wanted to share some highlights from the playlist I put together for the builder.  I tried not to over-think the list, and instead just filled it with music that is so meaningful to me that I couldn't wait to share until baby is born. 

Some Highlights From Builder Jams

Ahmad Jamal: "But Not For Me" from "Live at the Pershing"

This song seems to bury itself into your imagination the more you listen to it.  I love the hypnotic groove of this trio, and could imagine baby bouncing his big head along to it.

Art Blakey and Thelonious Monk: "Blue Monk" from "Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk"

Two of my all-time favorite musicians playing one of my favorite songs = baby needs to hear!  Also, the sooner my son gets Blakey's press roll down, the better prepared for our drum lessons he will be (just kidding). 

Much more to come, enjoy!

Is That a Banana in Your Pocket?

Well, we've hit the 20 week mark as of tomorrow. Halfway done. We went to the big ultrasound today to check the baby's anatomy. I was really worried that we may have a little mutant, because we opted to forgo any genetic testing and I lost so much weight. Okay, just medium worried. But still, what a relief! Everything is normal.

The big news that everyone is most eager to hear is the baby's sex. We were excited to know, ourselves. Here we go:

We have some great images from the ultrasound that show our little guy in more detail, some in 3D even. I will post those once I can get to a scanner.

Baby is the length of a banana this week, and moving around a lot. I can feel him stretching, flipping, and kicking. If I'm sitting still, Andrew can feel too. Baby can also hear now. I went to a jazz club last night with some friends to hear Andrew play - the first jazz show for our little one! I'm sure that concerts will be more interesting when the baby doesn't have to listen underwater.