so last friday night, adam and i were packing for sarah and jake’s maternity session the next afternoon. at 11pm i get a text from sarah
saying her water broke and she’s in the hospital! WHAAAT?! she just became 33 weeks!! they put her on steroids to develop the baby’s lungs
and magnesium to stop her labor. she was contracting regularly by that time. the plan was to keep sarah in the hospital until lily came. the
next day, i visited them in the hospital and did a mini maternity session there! let me tell ya…it’s NOT very easy to make photos look good
with all the crap in those rooms lol. but we had to capture that baby belly because we weren’t sure if she was coming in 24 hrs or a few weeks.
sarah was only allowed to stand when going to and from the bathroom. so i had like 5 seconds to shoot. 
she had nothing to wear bc they just threw stuff in a bag and left…and we weren’t about to have her wear a hospital gown! i brought her up on of my fav fake
maternity shirts! (i refused to wear a skirt hanging from my boobs, so all my ‘maternity shirts’ were actually just long shirts i found at kohls and such.)
you remember these two, right?
******
fast forward to last night. i talked to sarah telling her i was bringing her lunch at noon, she updated me and we hung up. i hardly ever leave my phone
in another room while i sleep and i did last night. figures. i wake up to find 5 missed calls from them and a 3am text from jake, “8cm, in labor”. holy
cow! so baby lily decided to take it WAAAAY easy on mommy. (minus being in the hospital for a week 
) after 4 SHORT hours of labor INCLUDING
pushing…she delivered completely naturally, drug free! so proud of you sarah! she weighed in at 5.1lbs and 19inches. you read that right, that big at just
about 6 weeks early!! thats only a pound less and an inch LONGER than nori was just a week early! yikes!!
most preemies haven’t yet developed the ability to suck and breathe at the same time so they figured she’d be on a feeding tube. NOPE! not this lil missy!!
they were able to give her a bottle and now she’s latching onto sarah!! how awesomeeee!! that’s just so remarkable to me!
it was so surreal to me to be back in the nicu so soon, holding a teeny baby again. a flood of memories and emotions overwhelmed me. we are so blessed
to yet again be visiting the healthiest baby there. she is tiny and fragile, but so strong! you can see her little needle marks and bruising. 
hello there, lillian violet! you sure are beautiful!
she’s bright red, because her hematocrit was a bit high. nothing to worry about.
that’s ridiculous.
…sarah’s mom, not sister! grandma! crazy! lily, you’ve inherited some beautiful (anti-aging) genes!
we are so happy mom, baby and daddy are doing great! just another example of how ‘not in control’ we are of our own lives. especially situations like this.
what’s that saying? ‘you want to make God laugh? tell him your plans!’
lily, nori says to tell you, “can’t wait to have our first tea party!”
oh yah, i forgot to mention!!! it’s sarah’s birthday as of 13 minutes ago! (friday) nothing like getting a healthy baby for a present!
happy birthday mama!!
love you guys. heart, mel, adam and nori!
12 Comments
She is beautiful. What a wonderful gift, just in time for your birthday. Loved the photos. Brian & Andrea
I am so glad I checked the blog this morning!!!! TEARING UP!!! Lilly violet is so beautiful! I am so amazed at Sarah’s courage and her joy through this whole experience. And i am sure as she said, Jake was a great coach! Congrats on your new life!
Mel, it’s such a blessing you are able to catch such beautiful moments for these families!
With all my heart,
luci
Awww, thanks for sharing. Love all the precious photo’s. Congratulations Sarah & Jake and Happy Birthday, Sarah. What an awesome early birthday present. She’s beautiful. So glad everyone is doing so well. Natural wasn’t so easy at 9 pounds…but you would remember, Sarah, since you were there! Good job, I bet your labor & delivery nurse was proud of you! Love to all, Aunt K & Uncle Jim
What a beautiful child. What a wonderful birthday present too. Congratulations to the whole family.
The pictures are adorable. It is amazing how healthy she is for being born so early. Happy birthday Sarah (and Lily too of course)
Happy Birthday baby girl and Mommy! Congrats to all of you from South Africa. We are so excited to see these pictures of a beautiful healthy baby girl. We are thinking about you guys and wishing you much joy in your role as new parents.
Love, Beth, Will & Carolina
These pictures are priceless, what an amazing gift you have Melanie! Congratulations to Jake and Sarah, Lily is so beautiful! We can’t wait for Lily and Bayleigh to meet, love to you all!
How wonderful…congratulations Sarah and Jake. And happy birthday to Sarah too! What a miracle your little Lily is…..the Lord never ceases to amaze us. Can’t wait to hold her…all that hair means lots of bows! Great pictures as usual Mel and Adam. You made the hospital scenery work well with shots of a beautiful prego couple.
GENIUS on the long skirts idea! I’ll keep that in mind for some day
you did a great job on these! Yay for baby Lily!
baby lilly really IS so BEAUTIFUL!!! she is the cutest little thing ever. awesome pics!
Sara and Jake,
Congratulations on your beautiful new daughter. She is so precious. May God keep you all in the palm of his hand. We can’t wait for you to bring her up to the lake! Of course we have heard all about her from Grandpa Bill! We love you guys and of course Lily too!Absolutely great photos!