I recently had the privilege of photographing my dear friend Jamee's birth of her daughter, Madelyn. I got the call in the wee hours of the morning that Jamee's water had broken, so I met her at the hospital at about 5 AM. Things progressed at a slow-but-steady rate for many hours, with Jamee handling her contractions like a champ. Once labor was firmly established, she decided to get her epidural, and once she had relief from her contractions, she took a nap to rest before the upcoming delivery. After an hour of napping, her nurse came in to check on her, and as she was turning to leave the room, Baby Maddie moved in the womb--and suddenly her heart rate dropped and then became impossible to find. The nurse reacted immediately, and within minutes, an entire team had descended on the room. Baby was delivered emergently, with great drama , fear and anxiety, and after several tense moments with the neonatal team, we were relieved to hear her first plaintive cry. Maddie was whisked off to the NICU, leaving a storm of emotions in her wake. After several anxious hours, Jamee was finally wheeled down to NICU to finally hold her baby and meet her lovely daughter. Being with Jamee that day and being allowed to witness and capture the day was an honor. As her friend, I was also so glad to be there to support her through one of the roughest days of her life. Although the dramatic delivery meant no cameras in the delivery room during the moments surrounding the birth, the nurses tried to accommodate me in capturing the essence of the day. As a photographer, I see some missed focus, some chopped limbs and close compositions that were a product of being shoved into a corner during the action and the aftermath, but I know that despite the technical shortcomings, these photos will be treasured by the ones that matter most.

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