Mosley Elizabeth // Born in Dayton, Ohio

I’ve been trying for a week to write this post, but somehow, I can’t seem to find the words to explain how it was to witness a birth for the first time. The words just want to fly out, all jumbled and overly excited. But I suppose I’m getting ahead of the story…

Mosley was not in a hurry to make an appearance. Even though her aunties Kate & Sarah flew all the way home from California, staggering their visits before and after her due date, in hopes one of them might get lucky, she stayed safely tucked away. She teased us one day – Momma Amy went to the hospital for evaluation while the rest of the kids played games & waited at Grandma’s for official news: it was only a false alarm.

But babies can only be so stubborn, and she finally made her grand, chubby appearance on a sunday morning after a successful VBAC, weighing in at almost eleven pounds! Evidently, she’d been spending those extra few days filling out her cheeks, forming elbow dimples, and developing hefty little rolls in her thighs. Papa Brent remarked that her hands were almost the size of her big sister Lucy’s. Lucy is two. As you might imagine, a baby as big as Mosley doesn’t make for an easy birth. I won’t go into detail, but let me just say this: Amy is my hero, forever and always.

I operated my camera almost on autopilot the entire time. My consciousness felt frozen in amazement, wondering if every one of the 350,000 or so births on Sunday, August 28, 2011 carried such a weight of glory as I felt in that hospital room. Time seemed to suspend, the earth hold her breath until Mosley waved her fists defiantly and gave her first wail. All my life I’ve been a thrill seeker – as a kid I climbed every manageable tree possible, all the way to the bendy top; and I spent most of my teenage years with the accelerator on the floor everywhere I drove. I like to go fast and high, both together if possible. But never had Life pulsed so strongly in my veins as it did when I heard Mosley’s first cry.

Birth happens everywhere; everyday. Having not witnessed it, we might even be tempted to say it’s just a cliche.

I know differently now – a healthy birth is a miracle.

Every single time.

 

meet Mosley’s big brothers and sisters

the big day arrives at last