The best thing about photographing your own baby is that you can work around his sleeping/eating and only do short sessions. You have to love a sleeping baby in a cute hat.

Hayden Alexander Hellsten was delivered at Baptist West Hospital by Dr Emily Evitt on Monday August 31. He weighed 8lb 15oz (4.1kg) and was 22.5" (57cm) long.

Although he wasn't officially due until today, I had an induction because he and I were both more than ready. After we arrived at Baptist at 6am, everything went smoothly, and I progressed very quickly. His heartbeat was great, and he never showed any distress, but eventually it was time to push. The pushing phase went on for about 2.5 hours. Unfortunately, his head was 15.5" (39cm) or a whole two inches (5cm) larger than the average head circumference at birth. His poor little head was squished into a cone, but it just wasn't going to fit through the birth canal. We went in for a Cesarean section, and little Hayden was born at exactly 6pm. He is just so precious, and I am filled with love for him and Marcus who is such an amazing husband and father.

We have been doing a sort of video journal since Marcus gave me an HD video camera for my upcoming birthday, but trying to take care of a newborn and recover from surgery has me beat so I haven't had much time for photos yet. Happily, my friend and fellow photographer Erin Browne came by the hospital to snap some pictures of Hayden, and I am so thankful that she was there to get those first photos for us. Even with the best intentions to take lots of pictures, having a newborn is overwhelming. I highly recommend arranging in advance to have someone come and do newborn photos at some point in the first week. Everything is just so chaotic, and it is impossible to have any sort of schedule. Trust me, if you don't arrange it in advance then it is just too easy to let time slip by, and you don't want to miss out on getting those very important photos when they are at their smallest.

Here are a few photographs of chubby baby Hayden that Erin took for us.











This photo below shows the security alarm that the hospital uses to keep the babies safe.









ETA: Olga, our day nurse at the hospital, took a few photos as well. You can find them on the hospital's site if you list babies born on August 31, click on my name, and then "view full detail".

Yay! Marcus finally hooked up a scanner last night and scanned in baby Hellsten's ultrasound pictures so that I can share a few.


12 weeks pregnant; approximately 2.5" crown to rump; approximate weight .8 ounce


28 weeks pregnant; approximately 15" head to heel; approximate weight 2.5 lb


32 weeks pregnant; approximately 17" long; approximate weight 5 lb

I had an ultrasound yesterday (38 weeks pregnant), but he is approximately 8.5 lb now and very cramped for space so it was difficult to get a good photo. He should be out very soon though, and then we can share some "real" photographs.

Marcus and I had our baby shower at Brixx Pizza Sunday and had a great time. I owe a big thank you to my friend Christa for organizing and hosting. We really appreciate all of our friends who were able to come out and celebrate with us including Matt Browne who was nice enough to take a few photos for the baby book. After pizza, we enjoyed a very delicious carrot cake from Magpies, and we didn't have to play any embarrassing shower games!

Even though I am a photographer and know that it is best to do maternity photos much earlier than the 35th week, I somehow managed to keep putting it off. Although I'm now feeling very huge with the lovely stretch marks and swollen ankles that go along with late pregnancy, we did snap a few maternity shots after the shower. For our out-of-town friends and family who have been asking about the bump, here you go. Keep in mind that the official due date isn't until September 6, more than a month away.

Congratulations to my brother Andrew who just graduated from high school! We are very proud of how far you have come and of the person that you are becoming.



Marcus took this photo of me with Andrew and our nieces just after Friday's ceremony at the coliseum. I'm not a big fan of photos of myself (especially since my pregnant belly is getting so huge), but I always advise mothers and mothers-to-be to take lots of photos of themselves anyway because our children see us with love-colored-glasses. I cherish photos of my mother and expect that my son will do the same ... which leads me to some of my favorite advice for graduates:

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.