Happy Birthday Luca | Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola

Being hired for Luca’s Christmassy birth at Sacred Heart Hospital, Pensacola was probably the biggest honor of my career. After all, his big sister Auden’s ultra precipitous birth the year before could have been a big reason for Lauren & David to decide birth photography wasn’t worth it this time around. Instead, they didn’t even hesitate to book me again (at an even higher price than last time!) and that is probably one of the best testimonials I’ll ever receive.

Needless to say, I wasn’t taking AAAAANNNNYYYY chances this time around and advised Lauren that I would be joining her when it was probably still too early… just in case. She ended up needing to be induced. Even though inductions typically take longer than spontaneous labor, I left to join the party as soon as the nurse called 4 cm… knowing in my heart it probably wouldn’t be long

And Luca was delivered a mere 6.5 hours from the time they arrived at the hospital for induction. In the end, I would have had plenty of warning, but really I was only on site for about 3.5 hours before he made his debut. Lower than the average time I spend in the birth space before delivery.

COURTESY CONTENT ADVISORY
Lauren has been gracious enough to share everything from her birth with the world. I caught a pretty epic series of Dr. Eckert (The Women’s Group) unwrapping a nuchal cord during delivery. Here is your chance to turn back if you would rather not see those graphic images of childbirth. Otherwise, play the slideshow!

Isn’t Sacred’s Christmas decor just adorable? The tree completely steals my heart. Maybe I should get a copy of the footprints of all of my babies and do something similar in my office this time of year…

Anyway, here are a few more favorites that either didn’t make the slideshow or deserved a replay in my highlight reel.

Also of note, this birth was pre-COVID. David was feeling pretty sick though and donned a mask before delivery as a precaution.