Bellamy Knox LaRue

Date: Saturday, February 21st, 2026

Time: 2:30pm

Weight: 8lbs 3.5oz

Length: 20in

Monday, July 14th, 2025 at 5:00pm.

My phone dinged notifying me that I'd received a message. I opened the latest text from my cousin, Stephanie, to an image of a sign. It was one of those letter boards you see in photos all the time - this one was velvet grey with oak trim. "We've been keeping a secret... or two - Baby LaRue x2 Arriving February 2026" it read. "Twins!" I typed back.

Tuesday, September 9th at approximately 3:30pm.

I stared down at my phone in devastation and empathy for my dear cousin - she and her husband, Zach, had lost one of the twins. I wasn't even sure how to reach out to Stephanie; wasn't sure how to convey how saddened I was to hear the news. I jumped right onto Etsy and navigated to a special folder I had saved with newborn digital backdrops and screenshotted an image depicting twins - one on each side, laying in a little bowl at the bases of a beautiful rainbow. I sent this to her and then typed, "We'll have to do something like this. What we typically do when a town doesn't make it is put her ultrasound to commemorate her." Then immediately I was kicking myself because I should have said something else. I also began obsessing over the fact that there is no "we" just I, what I typically do, not we. And also, I misspelled twin as town. Then my phone dinged and in response, "I love that."

We then slowly talked about planning maternity pictures and going forward with birth photos. I was finally able to express my condolences. I couldn't imagine. Well actually I could, I'd had two miscarriages before my own sweet girl stuck, but it's still so hard imagining it for someone else. I knew how difficult it was. Stephanie sent me a message, "I haven't cried for a couple days so that's an improvement. But I have moments. It helps talking about it." She went on to explain that about four weeks ago, both babies had strong heartbeats. Then at her most recent appointment, the sonographer was showing her the first baby - a boy - and found his heartbeat for Momma to hear. Then she moved on to baby two - she was pretty sure she was a girl - but the angle was off. She made some adjustments to be sure - yupp a girl! She then started looking for that heart beat and hovered over the area where her heart beat SHOULD have been and there was this flatline. "It's just so odd to look back at it." Stephanie said.

In Stephanie's own words, "This entire pregnancy was a surprise as I initially thought I was going through menopause after three negative tests. Thyroid panel confirmed pregnancy and we were ecstatic because we were both a bit sad; we thought we couldn’t have more. Fast forward to the first appt and [we] found out it was twins! Shocked to say the least. Everything was fine but at my 15 week appointment (Sept 5) they found one baby had no heartbeat and had stopped growing approximately 13w5d (about 2 weeks prior to appointment). That has been hard to process. We named her Imogen Faith (likely she was a girl). It’s still going to be odd to take one baby home when we should have had two."

Imogen. Imogen Faith LaRue. That was the name Stephanie and Zach decided to give to their little angel baby. Sweet little Imogen. I share this part of their journey because I feel that it's important to understand the many ups and downs and the navigation this sweet little family had to undergo with losing little Imogen. And the surviving twin? He too now had a name: Bellamy Knox LaRue.

Wednesday, February 18th, 2026 at 8:00pm

I started rummaging through my camera bag. One, two, three and four batteries. I quickly realized that one of them was not charged so I traipsed over to the kitchen counter to plug it in. Stephanie was going to be induced in just a few days and I needed to double check my camera bag to make sure I had all my gear ready to go. My bag had been sitting packed since week 36 but I always double check everything - and its a good thing I did so I could charge that battery. I probably would be fine without charging it at all but... I'm OCD just enough that I needed to have them ALL full of juice because, well, you just never know.

Camera? Check. SD cards (because I have on occasion completely forgotten to bring them period)? Check. On-camera flash? Check. AA batteries for said flash? check. My lenses were safely tucked into their compartments in the main portion of the bag and I had a bottle of water in the trunk of my SUV. Snacks, what about snacks?! I didn't have any but Stephanie decided she didn't need me to be present and accounted for during Bellamy's birth until she'd reached active labor.

I looked down at my phone and pulled up our text threads and began typing, "How are you doing Momma?!" And hit send. Dot-Dot-Dot. Stephanie was typing her response:

We chatted for quite awhile that night. About everything from how Stephanie's final week was going, all the emotions she was going through and final planning for Bellamy's birth. Stephanie was going to be induced at 7am. I had my daughter until 8am when her Dad would pick her up for his weekend. We agreed to a check in about that time and we would see how things were progressing. All that was left to do was wait!

Saturday, February 21st, 2026

My alarm went off at 7:45am. Don't ask me how I do it, because I honestly couldn't tell you, but somehow every other Saturday morning when it's time for Anna's Dad to get her - we manage to get ready in about 15 minutes. It starts with me nudging Anna (who is always snuggled into my side and taking up most of the bed) and telling her we have to get up. We pick out her outfit and get her dressed and then I go about managing the mop of hair on her head that is always a mess. Then its time to brush teeth and get her shoes on. Usually that is when her Dad shoes up to get her.

I kissed her goodbye and told her to have fun with her Daddy. Once she was off and on her way, I wandered back to my bedroom to search for my phone that had somehow gotten lost in a nest of sheets and blankets. Again, I pulled up our text thread and began to type out a message to Stephanie to check in on how she was doing and to see if she'd gotten settled in.

About an hour later, Stephanie had received Pitocin and was having unsteady contractions. Her doctor planned to up the dosage by two units every 20 minutes until the dosage reached 30. Momma was taking it all in like a champ as she hadn't yet gotten an epidural. She texted me about her contractions saying, "I'm actually aware of them, it's weird."

After another hour of sporadic contractions, she managed to get a little nap in. And the real waiting game began. I counted it out - if she was receiving two units of pitocin every 20 minutes , then that meant she was receiving six units every hour. So in about five hours, around 2:00pm she would be at the max for her dosage of Pitocin. And with her history of delivery times, she might already have a baby by then (not that there's any science to delivery times... there aren't but superstitiously...). So I decided that I, too, would try to take a nap.

I honestly don't remember what time we both woke up and started texting again and my phone stopped giving me times. I imagine it was about 11:30am or 12:00pm when I checked back in. Still no epidural and her doctor hadn't yet been in to break her waters.

The next message I got was about 1:00pm, "I have this feeling like she's gonna break my water and I'm gonna get my epidural and he's gonna be like 'just kidding - I'm gonna be here like now!' haha." Now one thing I've learned is to always listen to a mother's gut instinct and my personal practice is to show up for sure when the waters are broken because sometimes, baby comes pretty quickly after that point. I asked Stephanie if they had broken her water yet and she replied that they were about to. Which meant she would also be getting her epidural soon as that was the gameplan. So I started to gather my things and headed to the hospital.

I arrived just before 2:00pm and realized I probably should have washed my hair. Thankfully my cousin did not care - she seemed to think that she did NOT look good in her current state to which I laughed and said she was absolutely gorgeous. Because every mother in birth is! Stephanie was getting check for how dilated she was when I first arrived. She told me when I walked in that she'd just gotten her epidural and they had broken her waters. The nurse let us all know that she was dilated 4cm.

Now I know what you must be thinking... 4cm... she's got a while to go yet but let me tell you... in just a short 30 minutes - so many things would happen leading to the birth of Bellamy Knox.

After getting checked, Stephanie laid with the peanut ball for just a few minutes until her discomfort started to set in. She got very uncomfortable, very fast. So the nurse adjusted her position and put her into princess sitting position... basically she was sat up in her bed with the bottom of the bed dropped so she was almost sitting on a "throne." This was much more comfortable and Stephanie was able to distract herself by checking missed messages on her phone. Zach had brought his laptop and was playing a game while we all visited.

Very quickly however, Stephanie was uncomfortable again. She said she was feeling a lot of pressure in her perineum as if she wanted to go number two. Now whenever a Momma talks about needing to go to the bathroom for that - it's a key indicator that baby may be near ready to make his or her appearance. So the nurses came back in and checked her again. She was now 6cm dilated!! In ten minutes time!! So the nurse called for the crew to come and start setting up the room for baby. They set up the warmer and set up a sterile field with some instruments and sponges to be used during delivery.

Effort was taken to get Stephanie to feeling more comfortable. It was back to the peanut ball. You could tell that she was exhausted. Stephanie and Zach already have three little girls - the youngest just over a year old. She'd told me that she barely got much sleep the night before and hadn't been able to nap but just the one time. I was relieved for her when she laid down on her left side and began to shut her eyes for just a little bit.

But Bellamy had other ideas about this. And in about ten minutes time, Stephanie was up and feeling QUITE uncomfortable. She kept saying she wished she could just go poop. And as the contractions came on more heavily and steadier, she was beginning to FEEL them. She said her legs were numb but the space where baby needed to come from was feeling a lot of pressure and pain with each contraction. She called for her nurse and asked to be checked again.

Stephanie had progressed from 6cm to 8cm in just 10 more minutes!! Holy moly - talk about a mother's instinct. Bellamy was READY to come out. Stephanie's nurse said, "I think it's time to have a baby!" and began to assemble the delivery team while adjusting Stephanie's bed, swinging the leg holders out to the sides and helping to lift her numb legs into them.

This is about when Stephanie began to really whimper and cry out in pain. As I always do, I felt so bad for the pain she was experiencing and wished there was something I could do to ease that pain - but the only things that would help was to have that baby. As the doctor began putting on her booties and placing a drape around the delivery space, Stephanie's nurse gently encouraged her to push with each contraction and to put her chin to her chest and really push for a good while with each wave. Stephanie cried out that it hurt so bad and then she quickly put her chin to her chest and began to push.

Every nurse and the doctor in the room began encouraging and cheering Stephanie on as she pushed through the soaring pain and with every ounce of her being. She then fell back on the bed. Her nurse came to the top of the bed and laid her hand on Stephanie's head and quietly calmed her and assured her that she was already SO close to meeting her baby.

And then it was time for another contraction. Through all of this, Zach stood next to her holding her hand through each wave and supporting her as she worked to bring Bellamy earthside. And then, with one final scream, out came Bellamy!! After about 10 minutes of pushing, at 2:30pm he was finally delivered into the world.

Bellamy's Nurse gently wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in Stephanie's arms to hold right away. While her doctor delivered the placenta and set about managing her bleeding down below, Zach was able to cut Bellamy's cord. This is always such a fun and special moment for supporting partners to participate in. Little Bellamy was then laid directly on his Momma's chest for some much needed skin-to-skin time.

This next part is very sensitive if you would like to skip this paragraph and move right along to the next one. Again - this paragraph may be triggering if you have experienced a miscarriage or fetal demise. But I wanted to include this part because it is part of Imogen's story. When the placenta was delivered, there were two sacs: Bellamy's AND Imogen's. Little Imogen was mostly reabsorbed by the body but some tissue remained. There were no features or anything left - just tissue, but that was little Imogen's home for her short life and this is what remained of her at delivery.

Stephanie rested her head and her body back onto her pillow and the bed. She was pale white and looked spent. She had a lot of bleeding going on but thankfully her doctor was on top of it and getting it all taken care of. The very first thing she ordered was a shot of Pitocin which the nurses had already available in the room. Pitocin is a brand of oxytocin that is given to help the uterus contract back down and compress blood vessels. It's the first line of treatment to control bleeding post-partum.

While Stephanie laid back and held on to her baby, her bleeding was getting under control. She had a 2nd degree tear which her doctor fixed with a couple stitches - after of course giving her some numbing medicine. Then her delivery team cleaned her up and fixed her up in bed more comfortably so she could try and nurse.

With a little coaxing and after a couple tries, Bellamy latched right on and snuggled into his Momma. To be quite honest? These are the moments I am most jealous of. I wished so bad to be able to breastfeed Anna but my milk just did NOT want to come in. The bond between Momma and baby is so strong during these moments. I was so happy that Stephanie got to experience this once again. This precious golden hour.

Bellamy was breathing a little funny so his nurse decided to listen to his heart and lungs. She wrapped him back up and then it was Daddy's turn to hold his son for the first time. Zach looked down at Bellamy fondly and held him close until it was time to get his weights and measurements.

Bellamy was placed on the scale, weighing in at 8lbs 3.5oz. He measured in at 20 inches long. He did not like being taken away from his Mommy and Daddy; he didn't like that warming lamp he was placed under. He survived getting his footprints taken and was soon back in his Mommy and Daddy's arms.

I glanced around the room taking it all in. I had a camera full of images that I couldn't WAIT to look through. And I couldn't wait to tell this story and give those bits and pieces back to his parents to remember. This is why I love birth photography so much - when I sit down to edit, I actually get to relive each moment along with all the feels. I love being able to give that back.

So this is usually where I depart - I leave my little families in their brand new beginning. I gave my cousin a big smile and I gathered my things to go home leaving them there, wrapped up in their very first moments together, while I carried a small piece of it all with me home.