Ashland Birth Center Delivery :: Ridge
They were the friends who didn’t see the other coming. In fact, their mutual friends saw their love story before they did. Both are avid fitness aficionados and as Mollie tells it, they were friends who both enjoyed the gym; until at dinner one night with friends, Isaac tried to hold her hand. After she got over the shock, it was Mollie and Isaac. It’s been Mollie and Isaac ever since.
At two days overdue with their second baby, Mollie texted to inform me that contractions had started, but didn’t feel urgent. I made arrangements for my children, stayed in contact with her care provider, readied myself to run out the door and waited. We birth photographers pray we make it to the birth center or hospital before the baby arrives and most times we do. But babies have their own sweet, singular timing. I got the text and I call I was waiting for, jumped in the car, hit the gas pedal, arrived at the birth center, and rushed up the stairs. I stopped short, hearing the unmistakeable mewling cry of a newly born tiny human. Mollie delivered Ridge Isaac 25 minutes before my arrival, and only 15 minutes after her own arrival at the Ashland Birth Center. Her labor? Under 3 hours in length, and thus termed a “precipitous labor.” After this mother of all workouts (pun intended!) she slugged a well-deserved smoothie, rested, laughed, and gazed at her son, Ridge. An aptly titled bracelet circled her wrist: “Champion.”
I introduced myself and we chatted easily as I snapped images, learning about them, their story, their recent move back to the area. Isaac’s folks brought their son to visit and Axel met his brother Ridge–likely a best bud in the near future. But at the end of the day as in the beginning, it was Mollie and Isaac. Mollie and Isaac with the newest addition to their now family of four. Mollie, a gorgeous, blonde tattooed woman and one who epitomizes the term “Champion;” Isaac–kind, supportive, and so gentle with his new son–and who let me cradle Ridge in my arms and breathe in his sweet, newborn smell: You are both beautiful people–inside and out–and make beautiful babies. Thank you for the opportunity to celebrate and to document the birth-day of Ridge Isaac!
