Slivers and Silver Linings

One of my very best friends, who just so happens to be the best photographer, offered to gift me newborn pictures .Amy has taken all of the pictures that I cherish the most of Mark and me, and we were so lucky to have her take pictures of our little man. She also captured our very first family pictures, and I love them so much! Seriously, this girl knows what she is doing, she could make anyone look good, I swear!   all photo credit goes to http://amyeliseallenphotography.blogspot.com/     I was only two weeks post-partum in these pictures and I was scared that I would hate them, but instead I look at them and feel beautiful. Sure my body is changed, I’m still poufy from retaining water and swelling etc... but it’s a body that brought a healthy baby boy into this world, it did hard work for 9.5 months, birthed a baby ( which wasn't an easy task) and will continue to grow that baby until I decide to stop breastfeeding, I feel th...

Ryker’s Birth, is something that will forever be a memory I hold dear to me, regardless of how stressful things went, or how nothing went as I had hoped for. It was still one of the best days of my life, because in the end, we have a perfect baby boy. All I cared about was that my child be safe, and once we established that he was, then I was happy. His Grand Entrance As every first time mom does, I anticipated what labor would be like. In my mind I had done well to prepare for it, Mark and I had taken a Hypnobirthing course, and practiced our hypnobirthing relaxation scripts and breathing techniques. I had hired a doula (which is a birth coach) who I considered to be a good asset to our birthing team, she is in training to become a midwife, and has worked at a birth center and assisted with many un-medicated births. She taught us about counter pressures, and other ways to manage labor pains. I had also switched over to the Valley OB Orem Midwife group at 28 weeks, because I...