It was such an honor to be present at the birth of sweet little Matilda March Montague, born to Brad and Kristi Montague. I was lucky enough to be at the birth of their first child Miles as well. Brad and Kristi have been part of my life for about seven years now. I worked for Kristi first as a student photographer, then as her assistant after I graduated. Kristi taught me so much of what I know about photography so really, I wouldn't be here without her.
I was SO, SO nervous because Kristi's due date was actually March 8. You might remember from my most recent blog post that I was in Louisville, Kentucky shooting a wedding on March 7. I was so worried that she would go into labor while I was shooting a wedding six hours away. Lucky for me, Kristi's babies absolutely love her womb. They always refuse to leave and have to be given an eviction notice. Wedding weekend passed, no baby. Then the week after that passed, no baby. Finally, on Sunday March 15 Kristi started having contractions during church and let me know that they would keep me posted.
Later they Kristi told me they were heading to the hospital and I should go ahead and come. At the hospital they told Kristi she wasn't progressing and should walk around the hospital for an hour to see if something changes. This is our one hour hospital adventure.
Brad taking a selfie of him "at the beach"...
... and bragging about it to Kristi.
We climbed about 8 flights of stairs to try and get things moving. I felt terrible because I was more out of breath than the pregnant person. That probably means I need more cardio, right?
Kristi tried to plie the baby out.
You can't say she didn't try... but when her hour was up Kristi still hadn't dilated at all, so they sent her home so she could come back on Monday for the scheduled C Section.
I arrived at the hospital Monday morning at 7:30 for her c section at 8:00. We hung out in the room for a minute while they prepped for surgery and then they took her back.
Kristi and Brad went back to surgery. I couldn't come in because only one person is allowed. Kristi chose Brad... still don't understand why. Psh.
I waited for about an hour reading a book in the recovery room. I thought I had just a few minutes before the c section would be over and I decided to try and rush to the bathroom. On my way out the door I ran in to Brad and he had a tiny human with him!
Finally Kristi was wheeled in to the recovery room and baby was able to spend time with mom. She must have been SUPER hungry because she nursed for like 45 minutes the very first time. Like a pro.
While Brad and Kristi swooned over their new daughter, they deliberated names. I liked so many of their choices! They picked so many adorable baby girl names. I don't remember what made Kristi laugh, but it was something Brad said. I love that these two always make each other laugh.
They finally picked a name and this is Brad's "We Named Our Baby" dance. You should have seen it in person. The photo doesn't do it justice. I think he's also on a rolling chair, so the whole thing was very graceful.
This is Matilda March Montague!
Baby Matilda was wheeled away to the nursery to get cleaned up and I followed to get some photos. Once she went into the nursery I never saw her though! They took her back to bathe her and so I just waited. While I was waiting I bumped into these cool people! Big Brother Miles!
Miles was super excited to see his sister and kept trying to find her in the nursery, but she wasn't in there.
I have a photo of this, but decided not to share it. Kristi was being moved from recovery to her private room and she wheeled right past us waiting at the nursery window. Miles saw her in a hospital bed and immediately started crying. He was so scared! What I think is incredible is that I don't think anyone has explained to 2 year old Miles that hospitals are where people are sick and sometimes are in trouble. There's nothing intrinsically frightening about a hospital bed, they are frightening because usually it means that someone you love is sick or dying. I don't get it, but Miles knew that his mom in a hospital bed was a bad thing and panicked. He needed some comfort and cheering up so the rest of the family headed to the waiting room and Miles went to go make sure mom was ok.
When Miles arrived at the private room he was upset to see her in the bed again, but Brad and Kristi convinced him that everything was fine. Brad and Miles sat down on the couch and had a snack and talked about the new baby! Apparently for weeks Miles had told everyone that he was going to hold the baby and then boop her on the nose. Kristi asked him to show me how he was going to hold the baby and boop her nose and this is what happened.
Brad and Miles went for a walk while waiting for baby Matilda to come nurse.
I love little bitty baby hands.
Matilda finished nursing and then Brad brought Miles back to meet his baby sister!
THAT FACE.
This very excited big brother immediately wanted to give Matilda the gift he brought her.
Miles was so excited to introduce everyone to his baby sister. He went to the waiting room and brought everyone back.
You can't tell from this photo, but Kristi's sister April is pregnant and will have a baby boy in only a few short weeks! April was excited to meet her baby boy's cousin Matilda.
