In the summer of 2011, I had the pleasure of photographing Katte’s homecoming.
During this deployment, he had a bullet bounce off his Kevlar during a firefight – one year later, Katte found out she was pregnant. Â Here is her birth story…
October 28, 2012, I was 4 days overdue.
I was tired, swollen, and well, just very tired of being pregnant. Like the rest of the Northeast we had been watching the news listening to the updates of Superstorm Sandy, living on the Jersey Shore my whole life, we had been through this before. A year earlier, Irene barely touched my tiny one square mile town right on the Raritan bay and we expected this to be the same. They were telling us to evacuate, but I was incredibly pregnant with three dogs, there was no where for my husband and I to go. At around 11 that night, my water broke. I had been have irregular contractions for the past two days, I immediately called my OBGYN and with everything going on he told me to wait until I could time them 10 minutes apart so, we went to bed.
The next morning the fire department came around handing out mandatory evacuation notices, but where were we to go? About an hour later my doctor calls and tells me to come to the hospital for him to check me, and if necessary an induction. Myself, my mother, and my husband loaded up the car and drove the 20 minutes to the hospital. The sky was dark, the wind picking up and the rain beginning to pour. When we arrived nurses were waiting with a wheelchair and it occurred to me I has having this baby tonight. I was admitted and brought into a birthing room, contractions were getting stronger and when my doctor came in to check me I was already 5 centimeters dilated. He started a slow pitocin drip and I was told to relax. That’s when the pain began, for two hours it was unbearable the nurse came in and asked if I wanted an epidural and I accepted. It had to be done twice because the first one only numbed my right side. By this time it was dark, and the hospitals power had gone out and was running on a generator. My husband and I were relaxing watching tv, when all of a sudden I felt pressure, I rang the nurse to come in and check my dilation. She pulled the sheet up, her eyes went wide and said “I hope your ready, this is it.”
My doctor and another nurse suddenly appeared in the room with all the needed carts and gadgets and told me to push. The epidural had worn off just enough so I could feel when, 15 minutes later at 8:52 pm on October 29, 2012 my beautiful daughter Delilah Magnolia Haviland was placed on my chest. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, my husband hugged us both then she was taken to be weighed and measured, 6 pounds 15 ounces and healthy. My labor was extremely quick and easy. Unbeknownst to us, five minutes earlier the dunes in our tiny hometown broke, and the water destroyed our boardwalk and everything in its path. Our home had taken on 5 inches of water, we were lucky compared to most. When Delilah was taken to the nursery, another nurse came in and informed us my husband had to take my mother home, in the hell that was going on around us. We protested, but it had to be done. Thankfully, he got her safely to my aunts house which had remained untouched. He tried to go to home to check on our dogs, but the water was so high on the streets surrounding there was no way. When he tried to get out if town, another surge came and flooded our car, he called 911 and quickly grabbed everything out of the car he could, while the water rushed up to his thighs. EMS came and rescued him, but was told he had to go to a shelter and could not leave. I spend the first night with our beautiful baby girl alone. The next day, I went on my phone and started seeing pictures of the destruction, and could not help but to break down.
Our entire community was devastated. We had no car, an no home to bring her to. I was released two days later, and my husband came in my grandfather’s truck, before we went to my aunts house, where my entire family was. He drove me past where we were allowed to go, and my heart just broke. What was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives, was taken from us, and I realized we had a long road ahead. She was our light through this darkness, she is now a very healthy 4 month old, we have now bought a beautiful new home, and a brand new car. Our community, and the ones surrounding are still rebuilding, and are stronger then ever. I am thankful for a heathy and beautiful baby , and that the damage to our lives was nothing compared to most. Attached are pictures of our beautiful little girl, and the destruction our town survived.
