When Owen met Margot
A few weeks ago I joined Margot and her family at the hospital, when 3 year old Owen was about to meet his brand new baby sister for the first time. He was curious about her, as well as all the interesting things in the hospital room.When Shelby first got in touch with me, she told me about what excites her the most about this time in their lives:
“This is my first pregnancy. We have a toddler that we adopted at birth, and we had no intention of having a biological child; but surprise! Seriously, everyone thought we were joking when we first told them; and a few even didn't believe it till they saw my bump in person. So as someone who loves surprises, that's been kinda fun.
My husband is one of those guys who thinks pregnancy is cool and sexy and awesome, so seeing his response and involvement in all this has been really special and not something I thought we would get to do.
But my absolute favorite part has been seeing how my son has processed my pregnancy. One part has been how seeing my belly growing and talking about what's happening in there has opened up a ton of conversations about how he grew in another mama's belly and what it means to be adopted, and how his birth mom fits into our family picture.
Another part is just the day-to-day excitement he has about becoming a big brother; asking first thing every morning if she grew enough overnight to come out and play yet, asking to put his head in my lap so he can feel her kick him, and the heart-melting times when out of the blue he will just lift up my shirt and kiss my belly and tell her he loves her.
I know things will be rocky at times once she's actually here and he has to share his world, so I'm trying to soak up all the sweetness and wonder while I can.
And on a more personal note, I worked for six years as an on-call documentary photographer in hospitals for families whose babies were stillborn; I know from experience that these things don't always work out how we expect them to, so I'm trying to commit everything about this time to memory just in case it’s all I have. Because of this I've been able to be more mentally present and in-tune with my body than I've ever been before. " - Shelby
I was about a year older than Owen when my sister was born – and honestly, I can't remember a thing. Shelby makes sure to print photographs and display them at home, which means that Owen will be reminded of this day every day while he grows up with his sister.
