I shot out of bed. It was 5 a.m. and my water had broken. For some reason I was quite concerned about the bed, and jumped up so fast I caused a large, painful Charlie Horse in my calf. “What’s wrong? What is it?” “Cramp! Cramp!” ⁃ pause – “Oh, and my water broke!” It was my husband Chris’s turn to fly out of bed. I rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a quick shower (because, shaving.). Within minutes the contractions began. Chris packed his bags and called my mom to come stay with Daniel, our two-year-old son. I fluttered around the house doing last minute preparations and, strangely enough, laundry, in between contractions. We passed in the hallway. “Do we need anything else babe? I think I have everything loaded in the truck.” “I – ” long pause to breathe through a particularly strong contraction “think that’s it.” “Go sit down. You’re gonna speed things up and have this baby here at the house if you don’t go sit down.” He was only half wrong. We raced to the hospital, Chris blowing through a photo-enforced red light while I struggled through yet another painful contraction. “This just turned into an expensive drive to the hospital hunny.” I laughed after the contraction passed. “I know! But you were having a contraction!” We flew through the hospital doors. It was now 6:15 and within minutes I was getting all hooked up and learned I was dilated to five centimeters. “Do you want an epidural?” “Yes but I’m gonna need one that WORKS.” But alas, it didn’t. It failed entirely. It failed worse than it failed when I gave birth to our son. In fact, it failed so bad they didn’t even put a catheter in and I was able to flip myself from side to side in the hospital bed all throughout labor. *deep sigh* Luckily (I think?) our sweet baby girl decided to make a fast and furious entrance. I was feeling intense pressure very quickly. The kind of pressure you have to scream your way through, to be exact. The nurse checked me again. A five. Still. “No freaking way!” I remember thinking to myself. But I accepted it and resigned myself to the fact that we weren’t ready to push yet even though I felt like my body was quickly getting to that point. “Brittney is asking if she needs to head up here yet. What should I tell her?” Brittney, my amazing friend and amarillo birth photographer, was waiting for us to give her the green light to come up to the hospital. “I. Don’t. Know. I’m still a five. Tell her to wait.” Oops! Bad decision. Minutes later the pressure had escalated to the point that I yelled for Chris to get the nurse. She needed to check me – NOW. I was feeling just about ready to push! The nurse rushed in. I was a nine! It was just about go time. “I almost need to push! Like, I need to push REALLY SOON!” I was basically pleading with the nurse. “I know hun, I’m calling Dr. Wilkerson and as soon as she gets here we’re going to push ok? Just hang in there.” At this point I told Chris to call Brittney in between my screams. (Yes, screams. I didn’t scream during labor with my son, but this girl felt as if she was about to rip her way out of me so yeah, there was some screaming this time around.) Everything is a bit of a blur after that. The nurse came back in after what felt like a million years but in reality was only minutes. She was talking calmly to me and all I could do was yell, “WHERE IS SHE???” The nurse very gently replied, “Dr. Wilkerson or your Amarillo photographer?” Ha! “BOTH OF THEM!” I yelled at her. She was amazing and took it like a champ. Next I remember Dr. Wilkerson swooping in and sitting on her stool getting ready. As she was gowning up I had to push and there was no stopping it. I pushed once unassisted and then Dr. Wilkerson rolled over. At that point Chris was at my right, the nurse was on my left, and Dr. Wilkerson told me to push again. I pushed hard. So hard I thought I may honest to goodness just split in two. Unmedicated birth is not for the feint of heart. A third push. I pushed as they counted, “3, 4, 5…” “We have a head!” “6, 7…” “And we have a baby!” Boom. That precious babe came literally shooting out of me on my third push. I had gone from five centimeters dilated to literally birthing a baby in 20 minutes. Later my doctor joked, “That gave a whole new meaning to ‘catch the baby!'” Praise the Lord, hallelujah, she was here. Almost at the exact same time baby girl was born Brittney came flying through the door, shooting photos like the paparazzi! They laid Nadine on my chest and I’m positive the world stopped. Our beautiful, precious baby girl, all covered in goo. Didn’t matter. She was more beautiful than I could’ve possibly imagined. It took a second for her to scream, but once those sweet sounds came out of her and I knew she was breathing and all was well all I could say was, “Thank you for coming out of me!” She entered this world at 9:38 a.m. – exactly 4 hours and 38 minutes after my water broke! She looked just like a little Italian baby – head full of dark hair, olive complexion and all. Not only that, but she was a big girl, just as I predicted! Her daddy guessed she would be under 8 lbs, and I said 8 lbs 4 or 5 oz. She weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long! Needless to say I’m very thankful she decided to arrive almost two weeks early. After everyone was stitched up, cleaned up, and snuggled up Chris prayed the most beautiful prayer over our new addition and our family. What an incredible gift from God my husband is, and I am so thankful he and I were blessed to assist God in the creation of a tiny miracle a second time. Everything was utterly peaceful after Nadine arrived. Our family had not made it up to the hospital yet – not surprising since my labor was so quick! We were able to enjoy sweet, quiet moments together – the three of us – that I will forever cherish. The second I saw our baby girl I knew her name would be “Nadine.” Nadine means “the courage of a bear” and “hope.” It took us awhile longer to come up with Raelyn. Raelyn is a combination of both our moms’ middle names – Rene and Lynn. It means “grace.” So our precious baby girl’s name – Raelyn Nadine Vieth – means grace, hope, and courage. Beautiful and perfect, just like her. Welcome to this big, wide world my precious Nadine. Your mommy loves you so.

I have been the Vieths photographer from the start of their engagements, wedding, and from the birth of their first born. It is a HUGE blessing to still be here and seeing life unfold for you guys, you are extremely blessed. Love you all!

Amarillo Birth Photographer | Amarillo Photographer | Brit Nicole