I got the call from the hospital that mom was dilated to a 9 and will have the baby soon. They had no idea if the baby was alive or not, they weren't monitoring her. This is pretty common when there is a high chance the baby could be stillborn.
Everyone was anxious to meet little Emberlee. Her two older sisters were near so they could meet her and mama was of course excited to hold her little angel. Emberlee had Trisomy 18. Although alive in the womb, they didn't know if she would live through birth, and if she did live, would it be minutes, hours or days? Sweet baby girl made her arrival and snuggled with her mama and sisters for five hours and twenty three minutes. I can't explain the feeling of being in the room with these families. Little Emberlee was so sweet, and so beautiful. Her oldest sister held her and cried and said, "I just love her so much". You can see the love in all of these photos. You can feel the love in all of these photos. I appreciate these families letting me in to be part of their very private and valuable time with their loved ones. This family was no exception. I loved all these girls! They will always have a special place in my heart. As I left the room, it was mom and Emberlee. Mom placed her sweet baby under her robe, skin on skin and enjoyed every second with her baby. |
“When I do Little Heroes sessions I always ask for a story. I leave it up to each family on how much they want to share. Mama Jill did an amazing job sharing little Gracyn's story. I like the stories to be shared so we can all be educated and get a small glimpse of what people go through. If you would like to read about Gracyn, please go to the link below:
🌏 http://photographybykam.com/searle-family/ |
Ziyah Lucius was diagnosed with DIPG on April 23, 2021. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma is a brain cancer in the Pons of the brain stem. It’s is a rare cancer only affecting about 200-300 kids per year but is also the most fatal of all children brain cancers.
On April 22, 2021, the day before Ziyah was diagnosed, she was completely lethargic and could not keep any food or liquids down. We took her into the doctor and told it was likely a virus. Later that evening her symptoms were worsening. We quickly called 911 out of fear of driving with her in the car to the hospital. In the ER they asked millions of questions and ran every test all of which were completely fine. They found a mass through CT scan that night. She was admitted to the PICU in the early morning hours of April 23rd. That morning/afternoon Ziyah had her first MRI. They were able to tell from MRI that Ziyah had DIPG. She was given steroids, fluids, and an NG feeding tube to help build back her strength and reduce any swelling or bleeding the tumor was having. It was recommended by Seattle’s Children tumor board that Ziyah receive radiation treatments as soon as possible. So on, April 30, 2021, only one week after diagnosis, Ziyah began her first treatment of radiation. She received 30 rounds of radiation therapy and finished June 18, 2021!! ...please see the rest of her story in this blog post: http://photographybykam.com/ziyah/ |