Routine

I feel like I am finally catching my breath this week. Since late March we have had visitors and travel non stop. It has been wonderful and draining. This week will be our first full "normal" week at home without someone staying here or us leaving mid week to travel in over a month. I feel like I'll finally be able to catch my breath and get my house, health, and relationships back in order. Routine is soothing for my soul. When I'm not in a good rhythm everything in my life suffers and I become lazy....thus the blog absence and my expanding waist line.

Anyway...

The biggest news that has come about in the last three weeks is my little sister Emily had her precious son. I was honored to be present for a big part of my sisters labor and delivery to take photos. I can honestly say I have found my new passion in birth photography. I've always enjoyed all types of photo shoots, but the intimacy and spontaneity and miracle of capturing a woman as she becomes a mother in all its beauty makes my heart beat fast and my eyes well up with tears. Granted, this was my little sister in labor, but even so, I know I would feel similarly for anyone going through this process. I'm drawn to the love that surrounds and exudes from a pregnant women as she opens her body to bring new life into the world.

I was hoping to get the very first moments of my nephew's arrival, but alas, after 3 days of exhausting labor Emily ended up with a c-section and I wasn't allowed in the delivery room. However, I snapped a few photos of Gabriel with his new son right afterward and then the next day I took some of the whole family and a few newborn portraits of the little man.

Welcome Theodore Eldon Duane Myrin. Here are a couple of those photos. To see more, check out my photography blog here.

P.S. If you live in the Nashville area and are pregnant and interested in maternity, birth, newborn or family photos contact me at kat@voyagecreatives.com. I would love to buy you coffee to talk about what I can offer!

Expectant Mom Delivery Basket

I'm one of those strange people who love pregnancy. And I don't just mean the idea of pregnancy or seeing another person full of life and glowing...I mean I actually loved going through pregnancy myself.

My pregnancy was one of those special, not-a-lot-of-complications-no-morning-sickness-relatively-easy pregnancies. (I know, I know...try not to roll your eyes). Even stranger, not only did I like pregnancy, but I liked labor. Don't get me wrong, my 20 hours of intense contractions and 2.5 hours of pushing was the hardest thing I've ever done. But in that process I felt more connected to my body, more connected to my husband and at time more peace (in times) than ever. It was like little bits of heaven and God's grace meeting me in each intense wave of pain and getting me that much closer to meeting the sweet red-headed child of my dreams was even better.

But, the whole process of packing the hospital bag. The anticipation of waiting for those first real contractions. Talking through different labor techniques and distractions we will use. Birth classes, books, blogs, youtube videos, documentaries and more all designed to help us prepare for something that we couldn't possibly grasp or understand till we went through it ourselves.

Today is my sister-in-law's due date. She is expecting her second boy and when we went to visit them a few weekends ago I got all excited thinking about her labor and adding another little boy to the Michael family tree. So before we left for our visit I put together a little goodie basket for her labor, delivery, and postpartum time in the hospital.

It was mostly snacks for her to keep up her energy during labor, but there were a few extra things as well. A headband, hand cream for her hubby to give her a lovely distracting hand massage during some rough contractions, a back massager, chapstick, tea for a sore throat postpartum, cold packs, tucks pads, nursing pads, some emery boards for the baby (hospitals don't provide files or nail clippers so it's a good thing to have to avoid baby scratching their own face), and some travel sized hygiene essentials so she can use them at the hospital and then leave them when she goes.

All of these items were really inexpensive or things I had around my house already. The new baby is usually the one getting all of the attention and gifts, but it's totally rad to think about the mommy and all her body, heart, and mind will be going through as well. If you have a friend who is getting ready to go into labor, a little basket like this might brighten her day!