Vantage Pictures . Wedding Photojournalism . Pennsylvania . USA . Earth

Finlee was being a bit too “expressive” for our niece’s sense of smell…

Good ole family first impressions.

I’ve tried to capture as many of them as I can, although I can’t help but feel that the snapping Nikon D700 could affect things a bit. Still, I’m very happy with how these personal photos turned out.

Our friends Joel and Rita Wiebner bravely agreed several months ago to photograph the birth of our daughter, Finlee. I of course had my camera at the ready and was snapping away, but I was only able to capture so much of the story. 

We first saw the photos and slideshow that they produced this past Saturday, and were blown away. We are so incredibly thrilled with the pictures that they were able to capture! It was very difficult for me to keep back tears during the whole presentation! To view the slideshow, click on the photo, or here.

Thanks again guys!!!

It’s been a roller coaster of a couple of weeks. Yesterday our daughter turned a whopping 2 weeks old! We have no idea where the time has gone, but we’re loving every minute of it (yes, even the night-time feedings!) We’ll be posting more photos in the next few days and weeks, and will get back to our regular routine once we figure out which way is up! (Any suggestions anyone???)

Wish us luck!

Finlee McBride  ::  2.3.09  ::  10:16 am

Here is a brief accout of the birth of my daughter, our first child:

At 4:30am Tuesday, my wife Sarah woke me up with the often repeated warning: “I’m having contractions.” After timing several of them out, we determined they were just Braxton-Hicks contractions, as opposed to the real deal. However, her body just didn’t listen to my objective pronouncement, and the pain kept on coming. 

After a long bath, lots of talking, and a few naps, we were surprised that the contractions were still coming. 4 minutes, 8 minutes, 2 minutes, 14 minutes apart, they were all over the place. Despite Sarah’s assurance it wasn’t “it”, I suggested we call the triage nurse at our OBGYN, and she agreed. 

We had only had one false alarm up until this point. With Sarah’s due date still 2 weeks off, we figured this was false alarm #2. Despite my “expert” analysis of Sarah’s lack of real progress, the nurse suggested we head in so she could be checked out. By now, it was 7:30am, only 3 hours since things started. 

We (meaning I) threw the last few things in the suitcase, and we drove the 20 minutes to the hospital, arriving shortly after 8am. We waited about an hour to be seen by our midwife (who was delivering 2 other babies that morning), during which time Sarah became increasingly uncomfortable. Finally the our wonderful midwife (who is very much a former flower child) arrived. She went straight into checking how dilated Sarah was. After a very brief pause, she looked up at us and asked, “would you mind if I used somewhat objectionable language”? I said no. Glancing at Sarah and then at me, she said, “Holy S***, you’re EIGHT centimeters!” (That’s 8cm out of 10cm total. In other words, a ton of nurses ran in and RUSHED us off to the delivery room!)

Now, because we had known for 9 months that we would be having a baby at some point, we’d arranged to have our friends and fellow photographers, Joel and Rita Wiebner on call to photograph the birth. I had called them on the way to the hospital, and Joel was already there snapping away (those to come in the next few days!)

Anyway, we were now in the delivery room, and much to our surprise, they told us that once Sarah’s water was broken that our daughter would be here in about an hour!

They were wrong.

It took 30 minutes!!! Of that time, Sarah only had to push for 9 minutes! It was so fast that there was no time for any of us to get nervous. Before there was a chance for anything to really sink in, Finlee was here! 

6lbs 15oz + 19 inches long + 8 and 9 on the Apgar test = a very healthy girl.

WHEW!

More to come!