Be Unique Photography: A year with Mr. Henry

Our ninth baby is officially a year old and boy did this year go by quickly! Henry was born July 30th, 2015 at 9:01 PM....weighing seven pounds and five ounces. He has been one of the happiest and most content little boys I have ever met. He only fusses when hungry or when Gemma steals his toys:) God knew with all my health problems this past year that Henry needed to be easy going..... Around each child's birthday I get nostalgic ( more than normal ) and start pouring over old pictures. Being a photographer I have tons and tons of pictures, edited and unedited. I find the best of each month or so and put together a collage. Well Henry has so many that I decided he should have his own blog post:) Sort of like a baby book for this digital age. I hope someday he and all the other kiddo's can go back through my facebook and blog and be nostalgic themselves! The pictures from this past year represent so much more than normal. This past year I could hardly use my hands for a good portion of it and so being able to take pictures or even hold my baby means a lot. I look back and can't believe I ever took the use of my hands for granted! Shortly after Henry was born I still had a nagging limp leg. I thought it was just sciatica left over from the pregnancy. I thought the best thing to do was get back to my normal physical activity, lose the baby weight, and all my aches and pains would go away. So at Henry's one month mark I headed up to Red Lodge to participate in the 5k fun run. I mostly walked and about 2.5 miles into it my right leg was so numb but I kept on going, until I tripped on a bump and went flying. Well meaning runners all stopped and lifted me. They offered the first aid station but I shook it off. I instantly got a headache but figured it was tiredness. The next day I got shooting pains up and down my arms. I couldn't carry my baby and had shooting pains up and down my arms. It was a nightmare. I wore Henry in my tula baby carrier and used pillows to hold him up while I tried to nurse him. Paul was gone in Williston and I didn't know what was going on. Finally after many doctors blowing me off and many tests I had an MRI. An amazing Dr. finally listened and believed something was wrong. I got the test results and found out I have a disc bulging into my spine in my neck and two herniated discs in my lower back. Those were the two basics with lots of little things accompanying:( Mentally I felt defeated and as though my body had betrayed me. As time has gone by, I have done many things to help myself heal. Each month I feel a bit stronger and hope this is all a thing I only look back on and do not deal with for the rest of my life. The most important part of all this has been Henry. He has made me smile when down, made me want to be healthy so I could hold him. He has kept me going so I could be the kind of mommy a little boy deserves. I thank God we chose life and were open to a ninth child. I am told so often that my body is worn out. For awhile I believed all this. I thought what kind of idiot would really have this many kids and expect to be strong and energetic. But I left the most important part out of my thoughts. GOD gave us these blessings and GOD has always taken care of our family. So tonight I celebrated this past year the only way I know. At my physical therapist's suggestion I ran an amazing two miles. If you made it through all my personal revelations, thanks! I don't typically share things on the personal side but I am trying to open up more. If you see me out and about give my Henry a hug and tell him Happy Birthday! Here is sweet little Henry in the hospital. We had him late in the evening and thanks to our wonderful Dr. were able to leave the next morning.