Justin Alan is actually named after his dad so he’s a II (a second!).  So they’ve nicknamed him Jac, which are his initials, and I love it!  Names that have meaning (even nicknames!) are so special and I love that Bailey and Justin chose to name and call their son this.  When Bailey first contacted me about photographing their birth, they weren’t sure if they were going to find out the gender or not.  Several of my couples did that in 2016 so I was beginning to think I was the only one wanting to find out what we were having before the baby was born ;-)

But by the time we met over Skype, they had realized they couldn’t wait that long and found out they were having a boy!

Bailey was due on New Year’s Eve so leading up to the end of 2016, she and I kept in close touch but 2016 went and 2017 came with no signs of Jac wanting to join us.  So less than a week later when she went to the hospital to be induced, she was surprised to find out she was already having contractions!

I kept expecting to get a phone call during the night that she was in active labor, but when I woke up Friday morning at 6am, I was surprised that I hadn’t been woken up by a call from Bailey.  So, we touched base and I decided to leave a couple hours later to arrive in Columbia by 10am.  With a snow storm coming in, I didn’t want to get stuck in the upstate and not be able to make it in time for Jac’s birth!

This brave girl didn’t have an epidural when I arrived.

Justin was by her side through every contraction.

Bailey’s mom was awesome!  And it was so sweet to see her and Justin taking care of Bailey the entire day.

Bailey’s dad was there too, giving as much support as he was able to while watching his little girl suffer through so much pain.

The tattoo on her wrist could not be more true about her.

The photo above was the last one I took before Bailey decided that the contractions were getting far more intense than she ever thought possible.  And we all told her there was no shame in opting for an epidural.  Besides, I only made it two contractions (yes, TWO FULL CONTRACTIONS) before asking for an epidural.  Bailey went H O U R S.  So, she’s a hero in my book :-)

I was so glad she was able to get some rest that evening.

After every check, we all anxiously waited to see how much she had progressed, so after this last one at 9:15pm, the doctor said she was 10cm!!  They wanted to wait one more hour to give Jac some more time to make his way down on his own and in turn give Bailey less time she would need to push.

I followed Justin to the waiting room to tell the family and Bailey’s mom was in shock :-)

And she was so excited to see her daughter before meeting her grandson!

Justin and Bailey were married on 11/11/11 so we were kind of hoping Jac would join us at 11:11pm…

He actually came just a few minutes later… as perfect as perfect can be!

That first squeeze of your hand by your baby is priceless.

Don’t even get me started on baby toes!

Look at Jac getting a good look at his mama!!

The grandparents and Justin’s sister were waiting to meet Jac on his way to the nursery.

And Justin’s mom was so proud!!

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