On Sunday June 1st, the day after shooting Samantha and Ryan’s wedding, my wife and I awoke bright an early to head to the IWK to induce her labour.  I was excited and nervous, combine that with getting home late from the wedding, and I didn’t get very much sleep.  Robyn was monitored for a couple of hours before being sent home with a request to be back at 2:00pm.  At 2:00 we repeated the process and left with instructions to return at 8:00am the next day if labour hadn’t begun yet.  At around 8:30 pm, nothing had happened yet and I mentioned to Robyn that it looked like we were not having a June 1st baby.  She agreed and made way for a shower, I sat down at my computer intending to finish off editing Kristy and Scott’s Engagement session.  About 15 photos into my edit Robyn hopped out of the shower and told me that she thought her water had broken.

The drive to the hospital was pretty much like you see in the movies, I was busting my ass, pushing my limits with yellow lights and the speed limit while helping time contractions; 1 minute apart, lasting around 40 seconds…shit.  I was not going to deliver a baby in the car.  When we got to the hospital, I parked in a no parking zone due to a transport truck blocking the short term parking (telethon weekend was being cleaned up).  We got Robyn admitted and upstairs, they ran a couple of tests and asked if she wanted an epidural.  We weren’t sure what the timeline was like but it seemed early to be asking about an epidural since Robyn’s contractions had slowed.  After spending nearly 2 hours in the early assessment unit, they took us to a Labour and Delivery room where she got the epidural almost right away, and it’s a good thing she did.  We were told it may not have time to take full effect and I didn’t want to see her in any unnecessary pain (it was going to be enough with the epidural let alone without it).  I called Robyn’s parents in Lahave and they made their way in.  At one point we were sure they weren’t going to make it in time, but the epidural slowed things down significantly.

I’ll pass by the details, but at 6:03 am on June 2nd, 2014, our first child was born, Miss Isla Niamh Hall was 7 lbs, 6 oz, 19.25″ long, and an absolute beauty.  With Robyn being a redhead, everyone wants to know if Isla is also a redhead, but we will have to reserve judgement on that for the time being.  While she does have hair, I know that the colour of a baby’s hair when born is not necessarily indicative of what the colour will be, as it can fall out and come back different.  I am going to go on record as saying I think it will be red, so if you want to buy stock in sunscreen companies, now is a good time to do so.

After spending a few hours in the Delivery room, they sent us up to another room on the 5th floor, where we were going to spend 2 days.  The room number was 567 (floor 5, room 67), and for those of you who know me, you know that 67 is my number, so I will take that as a good sign.  I would like to say that the Nurses and Doctors did a great job with everything and were very helpful.  I don’t think we had too many questions, but every one was answered, and in a pleasant manner.

After 2 long, fairly sleepless days, we got to go home mid day Wednesday June 4th.  I had visited the dogs to feed and walk them, but they hadn’t seen Robyn for a few days, so they were really excited to see her.  Then I brought in Isla and they weren’t quite sure what to make of this little person.  Ginger was really sweet and cute with Isla, and Cinnamon was excited as she is rather excitable, so we decided to make stretch out her introduction over a few days.

Isla has been settling in at home with her proud parents and we’re all figuring out what sleep is going to look like for a while, but we’ll get there.  Everyone has made an assumption that because I’m a photographer, Isla will be experiencing a 24/7 photo shoot as a newborn, but I’m just trying to enjoy being the father of a newborn, so while we did take some time for photos, and I will take some every day, the main focus for us right now is just being a family, and I’m really enjoying that.

Enough blabbering from me, here are some photos which will show you what a beautiful little girl we have.

Enjoy!!!

www.DustinHallPhotography.ca