Adelaide's Name-story

He asked me where my favorite place on campus was, so we walked there. The Reading Room at Drake University was a spot that my mom and I had discovered during Freshman Orientation in 2003 and I'd loved it ever since. Tall, arched windows lined the south wall overlooking University Ave and you could watch the world go by if you had the notion to. The three remaining walls were lined with built-in bookshelves (it was, afterall, called the READING Room) and overstuffed chairs were scattered in groups for studying.

On this particular evening in 2006 that I became a tour guide for Gerard, there was an exhibit of photos from Drake's first several classes of graduates. Classes from 1881, '82, '83 and on into the early 1900's stared back at us as we read the names of the students in each group. The classes were small enough that each image listed every name, first and last...

Call us old souls in young bodies, but as we read through several names, something sparked. We weren't officially dating yet but just getting to know each other and somehow, when the name "Adelaide" was read outloud, I immediately thought, "Oh Lord, we just named our first daughter." 

Thankfully, we started dating soon after that tour of the Reading Room and 9 months later, were engaged. When Gerard is asked his side of the story, he'll say that he didn't think of Adelaide as a future daughter's name at the time, but when we were dreaming years later of children's names, he was the one who brought it up. With the middle name rolling off his tongue as well. I wholeheartedly agreed.

There was a moment in our pregnancy that we waivered on the middle name and tried something else, but ultimately stuck to our guns and thankfully when she came out, she looked like an Adelaide Leigh. We had successfully kept a secret for 7 years (which, if you ask my sister is a HUGE feat for me!). Throughout those 39 weeks, there were moments when we'd talk to her and use her name, but we really tried not to say it outloud much so we wouldn't slip-up in public. So even now, I'm getting used to saying it and using her full name.

Now, the nicknames...Gerard uses Addie and I use Laidy. Mostly, I use Laidy because she was so modest in her 20 week ultrasound, barely letting us know that she was in fact a girl. I want to always remember that modesty and lady-like quality about her. It can also serve as a reminder to her as she grows up.

See? She even has her pinkie raised in this image-always the little lady:

After letting our families know of her full name, my side of the family immediately picked up on a nickname for her-Laidy Bug. Totally appropriate coming from my mom who had the lady bug as a mascot of sorts during her flight attendant years.

Her name has "fit" in so many ways as we've lived through these sleep-deprived two weeks that I know we were in that Reading Room at the right moment way back in 2006. Amazing how God can place the right things literally in front of our faces to keep in our proverbial back pocket for use years in advance. I love how He works it out like that.

Leading Laidy Leigh

If you want the Cliff Notes version: She's here safe, sound, healthy and cuter than any other baby I've ever seen.

Now, if you want the full story, keep scrolling. :)

A little hisHERstory-since Gerard has been somewhat open about it, I will be as well, that it took us awhile to add a little person to our family. I've done my best to be conservative in how much of Baby Krupke's journey we share here because I know what it's like to struggle with The Wait and it is still my intention to keep this blog for my photography business. Though, I'm sure she will make an appearance every once in awhile. If you, or someone you know is struggling with trying to add to their family, I'd be more than happy to share our experience, because if our Wait can be encouraging to another person, I'm happy to help.

But, I want this post to be full of rejoicing-because that's what we're doing! So here's the fun stuff.

Speaking of fun, Gerard made a comment in the hospital that there's nothing "fun" about a woman's "fundus". "Dus ist not fun." As he said. I'll explain that one later...

May 2nd, we'd had an additional ultrasound because I was measuring 2 weeks too small and our midwife wanted to make sure Baby was still ok. Everything checked out great, so neither of us were worried. Life kept trucking and I kept gaining weight off and on in the weeks to come.

May 22nd, I hadn't gained any weight from the previous week so our midwife wanted to double check that things were still ok and we scheduled it for May 28th to be immediately followed up with a regular weekly appointment. Back on May 2nd, Baby was measuring in the 25th percentile for growth and if she was lower than 10th percentile at this next ultrasound, we'd need to deliver her.

We got to the ultrasound and I could see on the screen the gestational ages for her different body parts. Head, stomach, femur, brain...they all looked healthy, but they were all 2-3 weeks too small. Baby was supposed to read at 39weeks 2 days and she was around 36 or 37 weeks for everything. The ultrasound tech was encouraging-reiterating that everything looked healthy, but we'd speak with the midwife right after we left the tech room.

Our midwife calmly walked into our exam room and just as calmly and lovingly said, "Ok guys, Baby is measuring in the 1st percentile for growth. So, it looks like we need to deliver Baby and get her here. She looks really good today, but I can't guarantee tomorrow." Gerard & I looked at each other in shock. We knew she'd read small, but not THAT small. We were going to be parents in a matter of 24 hours. This happened at 4:00pm.

I was so glad I'd packed my hospital bags. I'd forgotten Gerard's. Oops.

In the drive to change parking lots (midwife's office is right next door to hospital), I called my parents, my colleague at work, texted my sister and Gerard did the same. We walked into the hospital at 4:10 while I scarfed a protein bar and yogurt cup then said to the front desk, "Long story short, it looks like we need to induce me today. My name is Carrie Krupke." I'm not one for great social interaction let me tell 'ya.

They had everything ready for us by the time we'd arrived. (While we'd been making our phone calls, they'd gotten one from our midwife.) By 5:00, the hospital gown was donned and I was hooked up to a monitor for Baby's heart rate and a petocin drip. Gerard raced home to grab his bag and let our pup out one last time. When he got back to me at 6:30, contractions were coming every minute and difficult to relax in between. Social interaction is a cake walk for me compared to dealing with pain. I requested Fentanyl. And the room started to spin. "Bucket" became the only word I would get out though I never (praise God!) used it. I try to avoid messes whenever possible.

By 8:30, Fentanyl had worn off and contractions were still coming every minute, sometimes less. My body was shivering and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably though I was far from cold. I'd progressed by 1cm and 10%effacement in that time and still couldn't relax. At this point, I was really thankful that I had kept an open mind to pain management options because so far, nothing had gone according to the "open-minded plan" I'd laid out in my head. Being the "Prove-it-to-You" girl that I am, I wanted to try to go without drugs, but knew I probably couldn't. So, whenever asked in the weeks leading up to this, I would reply, "Whatever gets her here safely." I highly recommend that attitude.

The anesthesiologist arrived around 9:00pm and asked me if I knew why I was receiving this drug. "I'm in labor." He asked me if I knew why I was in labor and I must've given him a look like, "Seriously?!" When he explained, "You have an InterUterine Growth Retardation baby. An IUGR." "What??" No one had explained it to me like that. No one refers to my baby with the word "retardation" in the sentence and gets away with it. "It means your baby has stopped growing." Oh, got it. Give me the drugs.

By 9:30pm, the drug was in, the room was cleared, lights were off, and Gerard and I prayed and then closed our eyes to try to relax. He was out and snoring while my thoughts jumped from "impending doom" to "motherhood" to "I hope she's OK".

At 10:30pm, the room began to wake up with the midwife and a nurse to come check me. Justine had a grin on her face as she looked up and said, "You're complete!" "What does THAT mean?" "You are 10cm, 100% effaced, and she is at a 4 station-I can see her head! Let us get suited up and don't sneeze!" Gerard sprang to his feet from the couch and immediately held my hand, showered me with kisses, and stayed close to my face. The next time I saw Justine, she looked like a metal worker with a plastic mask across her eyes, face mask on her mouth. I thought she should be wielding a firebrand torch and told her so. The room laughed and I realized that there were more nurses with us.  2 regular nursery nurses and 2 NICU nurses just in case Baby needed respiratory assistance.

Justine briefly taught me how to push, working with each contraction (1 big breath, 3 big bear-down pushes) and the next time I felt pressure (I'd been given a "half" epidural to enable me to still feel something and work with my body) to give 'er the ol' heave ho! Each contraction, I'd ask, "Is this one?" All eyes would go to the monitor to confirm and when given a "yes", I'd go to work, channeling my inner Venus Williams (hey, we used to share the same last name...) with a loud "gah!" at the end of each push. I don't know how women do this silently, by the way. . .

Gerard could see that Baby had really dark hair and I made the comment, "I hope she doesn't have your nose. It looks great on you honey, but not so much on a girl..." The nurses politely busted a gut. Later, on one of the contractions, my push wasn't very productive and the nurse said, "Must be that nose that's got her stuck!"

Answer to prayer: I was able to be nice to Gerard and the room was as relaxed as it could be with laughter.

At 11:12pm, Baby was on my chest. 30 minutes of pushing and as Gerard tells me, "She popped out!"

In the rush of everything, with her on my chest, she started to cry so strongly. I told her, "Good job Adelaide! Keep going! Keep crying!" And with that, her name was revealed. We successfully kept a secret for 7 years. (that story is for another post)

Answer to Prayer: I could still think clearly. As the nurses were looking Adelaide over, I was giving Gerard camera manual mode settings to take photos. {insert pat on the back here} We got the settings down and the nurses got these awesome images: (note-none of these are edited. I'm embracing any lack of perfection and just want to show off my perfectly made daughter to the world!)

While all these images were being taken, I kept asking if she was OK and the response every time was that she was doing great. I was fully convinced of that only when the NICU nurses left, showing they weren't needed and they brought her back over to me:

These next several photos were taken in the two days we were in the hospital. Daddy skin-to-skin time, first diaper change (for both Gerard & Adelaide), feetprints, and first bath.

First real outfit (hat made by hospital volunteer)

 First family photo

A lot of this time is a blur. Hospital clocks move really fast especially when you don't leave a room from 4:10 Tuesday until 6:00am Thursday. Literally, the pain was so terrible on Wednesday morning (the "fun"dus comment from earlier) and we were so consumed with trying to get that under control, that I didn't feel remotely close to human until after a good long soak in the whirlpool Wednesday evening and had some narcotics steadily in my system.

However, there are so many things throughout pregnancy that were surprisingly comfortable to me. All 5 pillows it took trying to fall asleep at night, 5 minute chiropractor appointments when I got to lay on my stomach, elastic waist pants, and to top it off: a whirlpool. I've never in my life really enjoyed a dip in one until now. oh! it was heaven.

Now that Adelaide is already a week old (gasp!) people have asked me if it was all worth it. The length of time we tried, the discomforts of pregnancy, the excruciating pain of labor and after labor, the healing that my body is still undergoing....is it all worth it? I used to respond, "I'm a little fresh to answer that one."

(taken just minutes after we arrived home, Adelaide let us know that her GI tract was working really, REALLY well. Please note, I still had loads of drugs in my system at this point in time.)

But slowly, steadily, our Leading Laidy is worming her way into our hearts and I might soon respond with an unhesitating "YES!"

Gerard was asked his perspective on it all by a colleague and he couldn't admit to falling head over heels with her (in his sleep deprived delirium), but that he was more impressed with the knowledge of a Creator who has created us in His image and Adelaide is so fearfully and wonderfully made. The words: "The heavens declare the glory of God."  come to mind. The way our Lord has designed our bodies to do something this miraculous-truly is a glory to behold. And we wholeheartedly rejoice in what He has accomplished in our family.

(Adelaide, 4 days old)

Happy 1 week Laidy Leigh!
Love,
Mom & Dad

Kayla::Newborn

As a lowly incoming freshman at Drake, the seniors in the music department seemed so intimidating to me. I remember accidentally walking into a closed door while trying to carrying on a conversation with one of them and being utterly mortified at my social blunder. When the flute studio students started interacting on a more regular basis, I realized that I had nothing to fear. One of those seniors was a sweet gal named Jessalyn and after graduation that year, I assumed our paths would never cross again.

Little did I know that her in-laws live in the same town where my husband and I would teach 4 years later. (Imagine me walking into the proverbial closed door again...)

So, when she contacted me to do her daughter's newborn photos, I was more than happy to oblige and do my best by her. The weather was uncooperative the day we scheduled our session, so we headed indoors and made the best of the challenges presented to us. Thankfully, it worked out beautifully that the room we used at my church was stifling hot-perfect for keeping a 6 day old newborn toasty and asleep-while Jessalyn & I huffed and puffed our way through. :)

We started first with her three sons-Caedmon, Jayden & Benjamin. Jayden was even willing to give a two thumbs up to having a new baby sister:

 I can just imagine what these boys will be like when Kayla starts dating....when she's 30.

Jessalyn brought some great props to personalize their session. Among the options, was her pair of ballet slippers from her en pointe days. After having 3 boys, it must be so fun to get to be girly!

Kayla's Aunt Lois crocheted a baby dress for the little miss and it was the perfect feminine touch:

This is a rare thing for a baby 6 days old, but in the midst of dreams, Kayla graced us with some smiles!! What a way to end our time together. :)

Jessalyn & Mark: Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to get to know Kayla in her first days of life. She's such a little treasure and I know has already stolen your hearts. I can't wait to see what she looks like in 6 months for our next time together. Take care in the transition from 3 kiddos to 4 and revel in the girly-ness!!
Blessings,
Carrie
PS You can view the remainder of our session HERE.

Nolan::2 yrs

Hard to imagine, but this little guy is now a whopping TWO! I photographed Nolan when he was a fresh newborn and now, he runs, giggles, points out his favorite modes of transportation ("Bike!"), and loves tackling his parents, Ann & Jason. But, as we were getting warmed up, he seemed very protective and loving. Hand placement says SO much. :)

Then we started pointing out cars, bikes, trucks and the smiles made their adorable appearance.

But the bubbles....oooooh boy, the bubbles!

After a few more "traditional" family photos, Nolan was all ready for the tackling and tickling...

Jason has trained his Little Man in the ways to win a gal's heart-especially in light of Mother's Day approaching at the time of this shoot. Sweetest moment of the shoot? He came to give me one too!

Sweet Nolan, happy 2nd birthday!

 Ann & Jason: Thank you so much for allowing me the privilege of documenting Nolan's milestones. It's been a blast watching him grow and change. I'm also really grateful for your trust, understanding and most importantly, friendship. You guys are wonderful!
Blessings,
Carrie
PS You can view the rest of our time together HERE.

Calvin::3 years!

We celebrated his little sister's birthday with a family reunion on Easter weekend and now it was Calvin's turn to play in front of my camera to commemorate his 3rd birthday. Though it was a blustery, chilly, May afternoon, we warmed him up with some bubbles and I love how the light played through the soapy circles.

Just chillin'.....:)

 Melissa was craving spring colors just as much as I've been, so we took advantage of the beautiful blossoms in Waterworks Park for their family photos during this session too.

I include this one because it helps tell the story of just how chilly it got while we were out and about. Poor Mr. Calvin was such a trooper as I wanted to try one more idea with him to "date" the session. His tiny teeth were chattering in this one I'm sure, and this was the last one we took before he tossed the slate to the grass and said, "Done". It's a wrap!

Melissa & Chris-Hard to believe we've done four family sessions in the past year and each time your kiddos have grown and changed so much. You have an adorable family and I can't wait to see how Calvin & Alivia evolve into the Kid Stage and out of the Toddler stage. I have a blast every time I'm with you guys. 

Thank you so much for having me!

Blessings,

Carrie

PS You can view the rest of our session HERE.