Memories Portraits {blogged} » Peeks into Memories | Knoxville Photographer, Nancy Belden

Where to begin, where to begin… WHAT A DAY, yesterday!! First off, let me say that we all thought we had a week or so before these boys would enter the world. It’s amazing how quickly events change though. Mumma began to have liver problems, along with her preeclampsia and the doctors decided it was time. Within just a couple of hours Liam, Sully & Mac were here. We were in such a tiz yesterday scrambling to make everything happen (along with finishing client orders for our last pickup day before Christmas today!). Thankfully, Heather prepared the memory cards for the camera just the day before… just in case, because when we got the call, she practically threw them at me as I was running (literally!) out the door. The nurses and doctors at Fort Sanders Regional could not have been more gracious and kind. Not only did they allow Dad and myself in the operating room, they also allowed me to take my camera… something we thought would not happen! While I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, I set it up and one of the awesome nurses shot away for us. What an amazing moment to be in the room, when my three little brothers were born! They were only 33 weeks along, and we were all nervous about their health… but they are all doing so well! Dad and I went to the NICU last night to see them, and we got to hold little Liam. The c-section was a little rough on Mumma, but she’s getting through it and will hopefully be better with each day. Thank you, thank you to everyone who followed along with us yesterday on facebook, and for everyone who was praying for my family… our lives will never be the same. And, I guess with this, we are closing out 2010 and are so happy to welcome the Belden Boys to our lives. We’ll be posting more as we can.

Oh, and to answer the question that everyone seems to be asking — Memories Portraits is NOT closing, Heather and myself are taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays, and will be back to work on January 4th.  And Nancy will start back working Saturdays in about three weeks or so, we’ll have more answers on that in a bit.  Right now, we’re all trying to rest, recoup, and get a grip on our changing lives.  We’ve got big plans for the studio this upcoming year, and just couldn’t be any happier at the moment!!  In the meantime, if you really need something, find Heather Jones Moore on facebook and send her a message… do not send emails to the Memories website, they will not be checked until Jan 4th.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Happy New Year!!!  See you in 2011!!

Miss Addie arrived fashionably at 8:13 on 8/13… just how neat is that?! She was welcomed by such a beautiful and loving family, and I was so honored to be there. Her momma worked so hard and her daddy was so sweet, it was such a beautiful moment to witness the birth of Addie Morgan.

We have been looking forward to Candace’s birth for quite sometime now. She contacted us just after we posted the birth of Heather’s sister, and I was so thrilled to photograph her birth at Lisa Ross Birth Center. Candace showed incredible strength and courage during her labor and delivery of Kayla MacKenzie, and it was so amazing to witness her coming into this world. Her water birth was nothing short of amazing, and I have to admit that the moment took me off guard and had me sobbing for a minute! Her husband, Eric, was such a good support partner… truly a beautiful night!!

Alright guys, here it is, my first experience photographing a birth… and I owe a huge thanks to Liz and Seth for letting me in on their amazing day! Liz is so beautiful and the entire family was so, so gracious, I could not have asked for more.  All of this to say, as much as I’m talking about myself here, that is not what this day was about… this day was truly about just being there with my camera and this family during their most special day… documenting the first journey of sweet Anna Kate.  It was a true miracle to witness this precious girl enter the world… amazing family, amazing girl!   You guys are the best

And, thanks so much to everyone for the amazing response we have gotten for our birth photography services!  We are excited to have more upcoming births within the next little bit… Hannah & Candace — you’re next girls!

oh, and the artists to these amazing songs are Innocence Mission “Wonderful World” and Matthew West “Safe and Sound”.

Little Rory Kathleen entered the world this morning via planned C-section, and is perfect and healthy weighing in at just over 7 pounds. Her momma is so beautiful and so kind, I was honored to capture this beautiful event for them. We can’t wait to have Miss Rory into the studio for her Squish Session soon… we have big plans for this one!

Hey guys, this is Michelle here entering my first ever post on the Memories blog! Many of you know that I’ve been working at the studio for just over a year now, and I’m now taking a more active role behind the camera. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of photographing the birth of beautiful Anna Kate. This has to be one the most amazing events in my life that I have ever witnessed! Liz was incredibly brave, and delivered little Anna so gracefully. Did I mention she looked great before, during, and after?! I have to thank her husband, Seth, and family for their great kindness… they just made this whole experience even better! Thank you so much Petree family for allowing me to be apart of this amazing day for you all, and congratulations on the birth of your lovely daughter. This was such a great experience and I look forward to photographing many, many more births in the future!

Let me start off by saying just how very excited I am to finally reveal this video slideshow!   Many of you already know that my sister is an apprentice for Lisa Coomer, and has been planning for a home delivery ever since she found out she was pregnant.  But I’ve got to share with you a little about this amazing day, because I don’t want the images of the paramedics to leave you wondering.  {And a note about the video, I nearly decided to leave out the paramedic image, but ultimately decided to include it because it was an important part of the day… not a part that we planned on, but a major part of Robin’s delivery… so it’s in there, because real life happens.} My sister texted my mom and I around lunchtime to let us know that it was probably ‘Baby Day’… and not too long after that, we got a phone call from Jason (my brother-in-law) that we had better hurry on over because it was happening fast.  Let me tell you, we drove like a couple of crazy ladies to the other side of town just to make sure we didn’t miss this moment.  Once we got into the house, Robin was nearly ready to push.  Two hours later Luna Summer entered the world (did I mention that we all just knew that this baby would be a boy?!) We were so elated and surprised when Jason announced “It’s a GIRL!” just a second after delivery.  About 45 minutes after Luna was delivered, Robin delivered the placenta but it did not properly detach – part of it was still connected which meant that she was bleeding uncontrollably.  I immediately called 911, and Lisa began giving my sister medication to stop the bleeding.  The ambulance came and took Robin to the hospital, where she had to have surgery to remove the rest of her placenta.  After a couple of days, the hospital released Robin, and she’s doing more than fine now.  Robin showed incredible grace and perseverance during this amazing event, and I have never been more proud to call her my sister… and sweet baby Luna was born perfect and healthy, and is growing more beautiful by the day.  I feel like I should also tell you that what happened during Robin’s delivery is very, very rare; and I don’t want to frighten anyone who is considering a home birth.  Robin was Lisa’s 603 delivery, and this was only the 4th time that she has had to call for an ambulance transport… I don’t know the stats on anything, but I’d say those were pretty good numbers!  And I must say that if you are considering a home birth, I would 100% recommend Lisa.  I found her to be kind and caring, but also bold and assertive when it was necessary… just the combination you need in a good midwife.

Now… onto business.  We have been considering adding Birth Photography to our services for a while now, and now that we have done one… this project is AGO!  Most of our clients have met Michelle, Nancy’s daughter, working in the studio.  Michelle has an excellent eye for photography and also has become quite the Photoshop user around here, and she will be photographing these very special occasions.  Memories is currently looking for 5 expecting parents to allow us into your Labor & Delivery to photograph your amazing experience — at no charge to you!  With these special sessions, you will receive all of your original images, along with about 50-75 images in black & white on disc, a video slideshow set to music on dvd and an additional file that you may upload (if you wish), and a set of black & white 4×6 proofs of all images included in your video.  What we promise to you — to be a fly on the wall — we are not there to be in yours or the staffs way, or to distract or to interrupt your experience… we are simply there to document your day, as it happens.  There are so many things that are easily and quickly forgotten about these special days, we believe that it is important to preserve these memories just as they happen.  What we need from you — rights to your images and your video — in order to promote this new service, we need images and videos with which to share… we promise to use creative cropping, just as I have done in this video here  (and we can leave out the actual birth photos — my sister has given full permission to share, so they have been included in this video).  The last thing that I want to say is that I’m sure you’ll notice that we elected not to do touchup on Birth Sessions.  While we preform vigerous touchup on all of our portrait sessions, we feel that cleaning up skin and reducing body sizes would not accurately display the true events of the day… and these days are beautiful, so very beautiful, just as they are.

because. they. are. real. life.
[video type="vimeo" id="12755807" width="720" height="480"]

Interested expectant parents, please contact us with your due date and birth plan, so that we may see if we can accommodate you with a Birth Session… we can’t wait!