Unconditional Love

A Mother's love, unconditional.

A Father's love, unconditional.

Today I had the pleasure and honor of accompanying one of my best girlfriends and trees, all day long in her labor and delivery room. I didn't want to take the place of any family members or feel like by being there, she wasn't getting enough rest but she kept assuring me that she wanted her, "easy breezy friend" to be in the room with her for some good laughs and company. Well she definitely got the laughs and a lot of company. Her sister, the God Mother, her husband and I sat with her for the long haul. She checked in at 7am to be induced one week early. Her baby was measuring at about nine pounds almost two weeks ago, so the doctor set a date. And as luck would have it, she began having natural contractions on the way to the hospital. When I arrived at around ten, the room was happy, light and comfortable. She was just hanging out and taking it easy. It was still such a surreal feeling knowing that "baby Poppy" (as we have nicknamed him for the last 9 months) would soon be arriving. We had some good laughs but the REALLY good hard laughs began when her sister walked into the room. These sisters are extremely close. They are similar yet very different. Her sister is a spitfire. And I will tell you this, within minutes, she had her laughing so hard, I thought that we'd need to page the delivery doctor. The girl is a natural story teller and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day wiping away tears of laughter. Even the nurses were chuckling when they would step into the room and catch the last half of the punch line, all of our laughter was contagious. But things were progressing pretty quickly. Every know and then, I would catch my good friend holding her breath.......as she worked through a contraction. Never once did she complain about it. She just rode it out and then joined back in to the conversation.

At around 4pm, the nurses felt that she was ready to start pushing. At this point, I had planned on giving her space and waiting it out in the waiting room. Oh no, she wanted me to stay. Well I was honored. We all were. We had spent all day enjoying one another's company and now we were going to have the opportunity to see the biggest miracle that life has to offer.....the birth of a baby. Now I have seen her work hard before as she has been my weekly spin partner. But never before have I seen the determination that she was giving in that hospital room. When the doctor said to push, she pushed with everything that she had. Her sister was stationed right next to her with the video camera and she was a pretty funny sight to see. She would cry quietly and then laugh very quietly and then cry a little more. At one point, during a rest in contractions, her sister said to the nurse, "Wow, my back is starting to hurt just a little bit from all this standing, any chance you can hook ME up with a little epidural???". Oh my hilariousness, it was the funniest thing I had ever heard, considering the timing. My friend didn't even skip a beat. She looked at her sister and said, "Really.....YOUR back is hurting??" and her sister responds with a quick, "Well....I'm just sayin'....." Oh the two of them together are a comedy show. Thick as thieves. Best friends.

After one hour of pushing and the mentoring of an amazing doctor and nurse, sweet little (big) Poppy was born into this world. 5:01pm.....and the running joke with the doctor all day had been that the baby would wait until 4:59pm to arrive, as 5:00pm was the end of her shift. There was not a dry eye in the room and baby boy Poppy was absolutely adorable weighing in at 10lb 2 oz. "10 pounds????" everyone shouted. The doctor looked at my friend and told her that she delivered exceptionally well for the size of baby that she was carrying. The nurse was laughing about the fact that the newborn diapers were already too small. The experience was absolutely amazing and having the chance to see her baby placed into her arms for the very first time, is a moment that I will never forget. A moment that I was lucky to catch with my zoom lens.

I snapped lots of photos yesterday for the family so that it would be one less thing that they would have to worry about. So many blips to consider for today. I am actually back blipping this due to such a long day yesterday. I chose this particular blip for one solitary reason....the emotion. The emotion on both of their faces says more than any words could ever try to express when trying to explain seeing your brand new baby for the very first time. Their eyes express pure unconditional love. The unconditional love that they will have with their baby boy forever. This was a beautiful moment and I am so glad that I was able to capture the tear in her eye. She is a wonderful Mommy with a heart of gold. This tear signifies true love and this tear is why I had to choose this picture for today's blip!

Congratulations!

WE LOVE YOU!