{Newborn} Joshua Michael

This session is a favorite for me because this is little guy is nothing short of a miracle. Joshua was born to our dear friends, Gerdi & Sarah, 5 days early with lung and kidney problems. Sarah's mum lives out of town and was on a holiday when Joshua was born and Gerdi called me to be with Sarah during those initial hours, which I was honored to do. There was a lot of waiting involved as they worked on him and attempted to stabilize him before transferring him to another hospital; Sarah didn't get to see him for hours after his birth. He had a hole in his underdeveloped lungs and major complications with his kidneys - a condition called Posterior Urethral Valve.

Joshua and Sarah were transferred to Children's Hospital by ambulance and Gerdi and I followed behind an hour later; there was a lot of waiting for them to stabilize Joshua before being able to see him. I also brought along my camera because there was so much uncertainty about how things would turn out, I wanted to give them as many pictures of their sweet baby in case their worst fears came true. Following into that room where Joshua was and having them get to see him for the first time hooked up to all those machines was very emotional. It was such an honor to be there to support them and pray with them through that evening.



My husband and I went back when he was two weeks old, where he was looking significantly better and almost ready to come off his ventilator as the hole in his lungs had healed and he was breathing mostly on his own. What a significant change from the first day!







Exactly one month after he was born, Joshua was officially discharged from the hospital (though he'd had a few day passes on Christmas to be home) and has been doing so well since then. Other than a bulging belly, he looks to be completely healthy and does indeed continue to amaze his doctors who did not think he would make it. He still has regular check ups and blood tests that get done and is under the care of doctors, but he really has made remarkable progress!

So, when Joshua was home, we planned to do a photo shoot of him, but then we had to wait until his baby acne had cleared up, so we finally managed to do his photo's just before he was three months old. Welcome, Joshua! You are so loved!

{Oh, baby blues!}




{I absolutely love top picture below; he is definitely a fighter and this picture just happened to be a captured moment that showed his fighting spirit}






{He has this lion as a symbol of being a fighter}


{Look at those cute rolls on his shoulders/back!}