Happy Birthday, Georgia Lynn!

I had the absolute pleasure of photographing both of the births of Kara's nephews, so when she contacted me about capturing hers, I was over the moon! Having known Kara and Mark since back in our PR agency days (and where they first met!), this birth was a particularly special event for me and one that I was eagerly anticipating from the moment Kara approached me. As the due date grew nearer I began obsessively checking my phone every time it made a peep. With each day that passed my heart went out to Kara a little bit more as I knew the anticipation of meeting her first born had to be increasingly agonizing. On October 24 at 5:33 AM, 9 days post due date, I finally received an elated text from Kara alerting me that she was just admitted to the hospital and was already 4-5cm dilated. Little did we know at the time that 12 hours later to the exact minute, Georgia Lynn would be taking her first breath!

Initially Kara progressed very smoothly, but as the day went on her cervix began to swell hindering baby from dropping. This was likely the result of the baby's posterior position in the womb as well as baby being slightly on the bigger side. After a few more hours of monitoring, it was determined that baby's route into the world would be via Cesarean. I was hopeful that I would get to be in the operating room with Mark and Kara as some hospitals are more flexible than others, but unfortunately it was a no go as this particular hospital will only allow one person in the OR with the mother. We were all pretty bummed. Thankfully, the delivery happened very quickly and I got to capture the first glimpse of the proud new parents as Kara was rolled out of the OR with baby tightly cuddled on her chest. Adding to the excitement, Kara and Mark waited to find out the sex of the baby, so when Mark turned that corner with a big pink bow attached to his scrub hat, everyone squealed, "It's a GIRL!!" Immediately proceeded by Kara's announcement, "Her name is Georgia Lynn!" Naturally streams of joyful tears soon followed along with clambering of family members trying to get the first peak of Georgia up close. 

From the moment she entered the world, little miss Georgia was wide-eyed and calm as can be! Such a little beauty too. It's a good thing she has two older boy cousins to watch out for her! It certainly seems likely that Georgia inherited that sweet and laid back nature from her mama because Kara was SUCH a trooper from the beginning to end. Despite all of the setbacks and exhaustion, she had a smile on her face through nearly the entire process. It's probably fair to say that most women would have been hysterical if they were told they regressed (yes, regressed!) a whole cm after hours of laboring. Not Kara! Disappointed? Most likely, but you'd never know it based on that upbeat attitude. She honestly made childbirth look easy, and motherhood never so beautiful.

Oh, and what's with the cake at the end you ask? Kara is an insanely talented cake designer and the owner of The SweetSide in Seattle. Of course it only made sense that the day of Georgia Lynn's birth would be celebrated with a (seriously delicious!) birthday cake!

Mark and Kara, thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting me to be a part of this incredible event in your lives!