William Stewart Armitage | A Birth Story | Metro Detroit Newborn Photographer

Our second baby was welcomed with love into our home this winter. William’s (Liam for short) arrival was much anticipated by a mommy who was very enthusiastic to be done with her pregnancy (that would be the understatement of the week!) So enthusiastic that she turned to “alternative” methods to speed up his arrival. Methods like eating an entire pineapple… or two, eating dates, massaging pressure points and staying active by walking, walking and more walking (this part was pretty easy with a 2 year old toddler running amuck in the house.) With a January 25th due date, William’s entire family was certain that he would arrive early. There are lots of end of January birthdays in the family and I effectively doubled them with our two children – sorry mom! Uncle Dan’s birthday is the 23rd, Papa’s birthday is the 27th and big sister Olivia’s birthday is the 28th. We would’ve been pleased for Liam to arrive a few weeks early, very healthy and with fully developed lungs of course! However, he chose to wait until birthday week to add to the celebrations by kicking them off on January 21st.

After 12 hours of labor, little Liam’s heart tones dropped unexpectedly and his momma’s midwife and nurse couldn’t get them to go back up, so a rather abrupt and unexpected emergency c-section was ordered to get Liam out quickly and safely. It wasn’t the plan to deliver that way, but it was in everyone’s best interests so off to the OR mom, dad and in-utero Liam were whisked.

Because of the unexpected c-section delivery, the pain medications (sleep inducing) and surgical recovery, in combination with Liam being kept in a special care unit to raise the oxygen levels in his bloodstream and get all the fluid out of his lungs, he and his momma didn’t get to really meet one another until later that night. By then, Liam was already doing much better. His daddy visited him a couple times throughout the day for some snuggles. The nurses told mom & dad that he could join them in the hospital room in the morning.

Joined at last! Liam was welcomed into the hospital room with his parents the morning of January 22nd.

Big sister Olivia was VERY excited to see her mumma and to meet her new baby brother “Ium.” Olivia was thrilled to “hold” her little brother and was very interested in him!

I’m changing tone to first person now, yes, this baby story is about my son, to talk about William’s heritage a little. 🙂

In my first pregnancy, we had so many baby names on our list and took so long to finally narrow it down to just one name. Neither of us could agree on anything. My favorites were not my husbands favorites and vice versa. I was convinced that the only way I would “win” with my choice was to claim naming rights due to long, painful labor once she was already here. Surely my husband couldn’t refute me after enduring childbirth right?! In the end, hubby agreed to my choice as it was honoring family members on both sides of our family trees. During my second pregnancy, we hit a baby naming wall.

Also, my husband is British and I am American – if you think that isn’t an issue, ask yourself how you feel about the royal baby’s name. If you think George is adorable, you’re British. George is a very popular name for babies in Britain. In the US, George ranks #166 in the UK, George is #6. Not 166, just six. (It didn’t make my list.) Parker did make my list. However, in the popular UK cartoon “Thunderbirds,” Parker happens to be the name of the chauffeur and apparently is a name that “EVERY BRIT” will associate with that character. Awesome. Scratching that one off with a scowl.

My hubby’s mother’s family, with the exception of her generation, were all Scottish. Her mother was a thick accented Scottish woman and her parents were still slightly upset with her back in the day when she married an English guy. His grandmothers maiden name was Stewart as in the Royal Stewart’s of Scotland. It’s a long and muddled family tree but one we can trace all the way back to Robert the Bruce. Each generation at least one male family member has been called Stewart. Hubby was given the middle name of Stewart. This is where we decided to give little baby Armitage the middle name of Stewart.

Now. To decide on the first name. Nothing changed in the agreement department. For a long time we whittled away on a list and slowly came to a joint list of names that we liked. We considered many Irish and Scottish names as we have always liked the idea of him having a name something with our heritages. (I have both Irish and Scottish heritage in my family lineage.) We began to consider hubby’s mom’s family names. Her fathers name was Tom which we didn’t LOVE,  however her mother’s father’s name was William Stewart and some more digging revealed his father’s father’s name was also William Stewart. So since we were trying to honor hubby’s mothers side of the family we decided that his full legal name was to be William Stewart Armitage which would please everyone and avoid any bloody feudal disagreements in the family.

We decided to call him a shortened version of Liam. It is Irish in nature, but that is the part that is honoring my family lineage. So. William (Liam) Stewart Armitage. After wading through a thousand little boy’s names, it is “the one.” Phew!

If you ask mommy & daddy, they will tell you that they wished for their little girl to be a red head. (Mommy has red hair.) But, Olivia is an adorable, spunky little blonde. William, however, DID get the red hair genes it seems. Only time will tell. The sweet image below highlights his beautiful hair.

Photographer mommy was able to find a few quiet minutes when there were no doctors, nurses or visitors to photograph sweet baby William in his hospital room. Fortunately, pain medications were working fairly well at the time also to allow for her very determined mobility to document such a very beautiful and important time in their lives. The little details are so precious they are a MUST for documenting. Everything from teeny tiny hands and fingers, feet & toes to baby’s little button nose, chubby cheeks, squishy lips, fuzzy hair and even the umbilical cord stump. It’s all so important to help remember these first fleeting moments of life because, as any mother knows, baby gross all too quickly and everything changes!

It’s no secret. This photographer has an obsession with baby feet and toes. There’s just something about them that is so sweet. They can’t yet walk around, but they are perfect in every way!

Such a happy and proud big sister Olivia is! One day William will be grabbing her toys and pulling her hair and she will not think so highly of him anymore. Welcome to sibling-hood Olivia!

Welcome to the world William. You are so very loved by all of your family, spanning an ocean and two continents! You have stolen their hearts and will forever do so. You are perfect.