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Raffle for Lizz!
Posted on August 20, 2010
I have this friend, her name is Lizz. Lizz is many, many things. A loyal friend, a loving wife, sister and daughter, a hard worker, a Beattles fan, a scrapbooker…and most importantly, she is a mother.
She is also very ill.
10 years ago her body began to fail. She spent 7 weeks in the ICU, in pain and in fear. In August 2004 her mom donated a kidney to her and she was on the road to recovery. She fell in love, got married, got pregnant. In 2008 her son, Max, was born 12 weeks early. After 91 days in the NICU, he went home and has continued to grow, thrive, and bring light to everyone he meets. Three months after Max came home, Lizz’s transplanted kidney failed.
September 14, 2010 marks a new recovery. Thanks to the incredible family she married in to, she will receive another kidney. But despite the medical coverage, she still has her co-pays and prescription costs.
And this is where the raffle comes in. In an effort to help raise some money to help offset the costs of Lizz’s co-pays and prescriptions I am raffling off a Holiday Photo Session*!
Here is how it works: If you live in the SF Bay AREA, click the button below and donate 20$. You are automatically entered into the drawing. I will be taking entries until September 9th and the winner (picked by random.org) will be announced on September 10th. It’s that easy.
If you do not live in the Bay Area or don’t want to enter the drawing but would like to donate, click here to do so.
To read more about Lizz and her journey, please visit her blog.
http://libismorgan.blogspot.com/2010/07/broken.html
* Holiday Session is a 1 hour photo session, digital processing of 15 to 20 photos, your chosen photo on a holiday card and 25 cards with envelopes. Additional prints or digital negatives will be available for purchase from your online gallery. Winner must live in or be willing to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area.
It’s that time of year again!
Posted on August 20, 2010
I wasn’t sure until I conquered my first post-maternity leave shoot if I was going to open up holiday sessions this year. I wasn’t sure if I could handle working, being away from my baby, all the editing. Well, my shoot rocked! It felt so good to be back behind the camera, to meet new people. I know I’m late in announcing, but I am officially open for holiday sessions!
I’ve got my card templates and I can’t wait to use them! If you’re interested in a holiday session (with 25 cards + envelopes), contact me today!
And here is a sneak peek at the cards I am offering this year. I tried to pick a variety of designs to suite anyone’s style.
Pretty in Pink ~ Vacaville Baby Photographer
Posted on August 18, 2010
After a long hiatus, both from sessions and from blogging, I ended my maternity leave this past weekend with this adorable little lady. At 1 month new she wasn’t quite as sleepy and cooperative as most newborns but she certainly was sweet!
My baby is 2 months old!
Posted on July 12, 2010
Hello my loyal blog readers. I am sorry things have been so quiet around here. I had vowed to keep up with blogging, then I had a baby and my world got flipped upside down.
I will not lie. This has been ROUGH. I had incorrectly thought that my daughter would be a tiny clone of my son. She would like long car rides, love swinging in her swing. I could not be more wrong. Both the car seat and swing induce screaming!
When Grey was born, my milk never came in, despite my best efforts at helping it along. This time around, it did. I was elated. I was finally going to have the beautiful bonding experience that I had dreamed of! Um, wrong again. Breastfeeding is HARD work. Never ending work. The kind of work that has you constantly second guessing if your baby is getting enough to eat, if you’re producing enough, if her latch is right.
And the hormones. My goodness. To say I have been dealing with a bit of Postpartum Depression would be an understatement. I have a couple of very, very rough weeks. Questioning my position and ability as a parent. Questioning my love for my child. Questioning my choice in adding to our family. Starting medication and then deciding not to continue with it. Starting therapy. Starting to think positively. Having realizations.
I’ve finally let go. Just this week I realized that Winter is not Greyson. Winter is her own little person. She likes to be held like a sack of potatoes. She likes to walk around outside in the evening. She doesn’t like the swing or the car. She likes to be swaddled and sleeps best in her own space. She is the exact opposite of her brother. I need to try to figure HER out and stop feeling like a bad mommy because what worked for Grey in the early days does not work for her.
Yes, it took me 11 weeks, and many tear filled days to figure this out. And I haven’t blogged HERE, because I knew my blogging would sound absolutely nutty! 
I am back. I am starting to feel like me again. I am starting to understand my daughter. I am starting to feel the love. And sometimes, while nursing, I even feel that beautiful bonding moment that I had dreamed of.
With all that said, I am ITCHING to get back to work just a little bit. I’d like to start booking sessions again, on a very limited basis. I’ll be opening myself up for ONE birth shoot per month, starting in August. and will open up TWO portrait sessions per month, starting in August. If you’re interested in booking, contact me!
Also stay tuned for some site updates. I’ll be adding new products and pricing soon!
I’ll leave you with a few pictures of my cutie pies.
The Birth of WinterRose – April 28th 2010
Posted on May 5, 2010
*at a certain point, the details get fuzzy. I’m sure Teri can correct me. Or tell me that I am nuts and making this alllllll up *
Around noon on Tuesday I started to have some mild contractions. They were very irregular, ranging from 8 minutes apart to 20 minutes apart. I tried to stay active. Bounce on my ball, go for walks but they weren’t getting closer together. They were actually slowing down.
I hadn’t sleep much the night before so around 5pm I decided to lay down. Ben hung out with Grey and I was able to sleep pretty well.
I woke up close to 7pm and started having contractions again. I thought it might go the same as earlier, so I didn’t get too excited. My mom decided to come over to wait, instead of waiting at home. I started timing and they were 10 minutes apart for about 30 minutes and then got increasingly closer together. Around 11:30 I called Teri to let her know that it might be a good idea to head this way.
Around midnight, the contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart and I felt like it was time to head to the hospital. We called Teri to have her meet us there instead of the house. When we got to Kaiser we went through the whole triage rigmarole and found that I was 4cm dilated and could be admitted.
After being admitted, I had my IV put in so I could have my antibiotics since I am GBS+. The contractions were pretty strong, but I was handling them well. I was still laughing and joking. I remember at one point saying, “Someone should update facebook and let everyone know how awesome I am.”
Soon though, it got hard for me to find a position that offered any relief. I was checked internally and was “only 5 to 6″. I was instantly deflated and saddened. I thought I would be much farther along.
Around 4:15am, Teri suggested getting in the shower. Unfortunately, the nurses wanted to monitor Winter for 2 contractions but were having trouble getting her monitored because I was “moving too much”. While standing by the side of the bed, with the monitors on, I suddenly heard and felt a POP! I thought it was Winter kicking, but then *gush*…my water had broken. I used the F word and a few other choice words. Very soon after that I was 9 CM. Most of what I remember was feeling completely animalistic and making noises that I didn’t even know I was capable of making.
I was on hands and knees on the bed, using the head of the bed as support. I was told at this point that I was complete and could push. So I did.
I don’t remember WHY I flipped to my back, but when I did I was checked again and found that I was actually still only at 9cm and was instructed to NOT PUSH. uh….I couldn’t not push! I was told to breath through the contractions, which were long and hard and only about 45 seconds apart…if that. Again, i was making noises that almost scared me. Mostly low and gutteral.
I decided to go ahead and get a dose of fentanyl in the hopes that it would help me relax a little and let my cervix get to 10. It didn’t help. I was at the point that I had feared all through my pregnancy and i felt like I would not make it through. I don’t know what I thought would happen but I felt like I could not take much more of what I was going through. Then I was told that I had swollen a bit and was back to 8cm. At this point, I opted to get an epidural. I needed it, in order to relax and get back to 10, because with every contraction I was trying not to push, but pushing little pushes and I could not help myself.
The Epi was ordered and it was going to be about 30 minutes before it could be administered. I kept apologizing to everyone and felt like I was letting everyone down. I was scared. I also questioned how in the hell I was going to hold still long enough to have the epidural put in.
And then…just a few minutes after agreeing to an epidural and being told I would have to wait about 30 minutes…Winter was being born. I don’t know why or how I felt the difference, but I just knew that this contraction was different. I said that she was coming and asked for that to be confirmed. 2 contractions and 3 pushes later, at 6:26am, WinterRose Elizabeth was born!
I could not believe it. I DID IT! with the exception of a dose of fentanyl, which did *nothing*, I had birthed my baby with out pain meds. The experience was SO different from what I went through with Grey. It was by far the most intense experience of my entire life. I am still in awe. I do not consider myself to be a strong person and i had so many doubts…but I did it!
My friend Michelle was on hand to take some pictures. The pictures are great, but I’m not quite ready to share the more intense labor photos. For now, here are some post birth photos. Taken by Teri. Then more photos taken by Benny and by myself.
Zemya Photography
Posted on March 30, 2010
One of the things that I love about the photography business is how supportive photographers are of eachother. It truly is community rather than competition. So when I learned that my friend and client, Ava, was building her portfolio and starting her own business, I was thrilled for her! I’ve known her to be a photography enthusiast and love the photos that she takes of her own family. I quickly volunteered my family for a maternity shoot. We met up on Saturday at Daffodil Hill in Livermore. Unfortunately, the daffodils looked like they were on their way out, but the rest of the area was great, with high grass and cobble stone wall. I loved the area!
Baby J ~ 3 months old ~ Oakland Family Photographer
Posted on March 23, 2010
I will admit, I was having one of those pregnant days. You know the kind. You feel big. You feel like you don’t want to leave the house. You certainly don’t want to meet someone new! But I had a shoot and there was no way I was going to cancel just to be a big baby.
It was a beautiful day, and after a relaxing drive through the tunnel, I was met with this face.
!!!
This face made leaving the house today MORE than worth it. As if it wasn’t enough to be photographing an insanely cute baby, I also got to turn my lens on his insanely attractive and incredibly sweet parents!
I have been having such a blast this evening going through their session. It was hard to narrow down just a few for the blog. L & J, I hope you love your sneak peek so far!
Slideshow ~ The Birth of Sebastian Henry ~San Jose Birth Photographer
Posted on March 9, 2010
The birth of Sebastian Henry – AKA: The slideshow that almost didn’t happen.
The forces of the universe were working against me on this one, and everything that could go wrong…did! Thankfully, all issues were smoothed out and I was able to upload the slideshow this weekend.
Music in the slideshow is by Renee and Jeremy, who have officially become my favourite children’s music artists. I am so thankful that they are open to having photographers use their beautiful music. I will definitely be using one of their songs for my own birth slideshow next month! I highly suggest checking out their site and downloading both of their albums.
Please enjoy:
- The Birth of Sebastian
14 day old Henry ~ Sacramento Newborn Photographer
Posted on March 7, 2010
The minute I saw Henry’s little face, I fell in LOVE. At 14 days old he looked just like a little man. I’m not sure the love was mutual, as he was not a big fan of having his picture taken. We had fun anyway and got some pretty cute shots.
Enjoy your sneak peek R & D!
Budding Talents – Bay Area Family Photographer
Posted on February 12, 2010
The last couple of Sundays I wrote about my 3 year old and his growing interest in my point and shoot camera. Over the last few weeks he has finally learned to shoot without covering the lens with his finger and even aim at a subject.
A few days ago we went out on a walk around our neighborhood. I let him bring the camera to take pictures of things that interested. I was seriously impressed by some of his photos! I just had to share.
And yes, I made a watermark for him I didn’t want to use my watermark, as I didn’t take the pictures. I added a bug to the mark because Bug is his nickname. The “explosion” pretty much embodies him as a 3 year old. So full of energy!
I am loving sharing my passion with him and am really excited to see if photography is something he sticks with and develops.
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What a wonderful thing to do! Wishing Lizz and her family all the best! We have a family member with a kidney transplant and it’s an incredible and hard thing to deal with.