Hey there! I'm so glad you're here! I'm Monica Brown, a wedding photographer from Indianapolis who loves to celebrate couples & photographers. I hope you enjoy browsing through recent work, advice for brides & photographers, and taking a peek into our personal life!

February 20, 2024

Zoe Joy’s Birth & First Month

One month with Zoe Joy!!

Her Birth

I was really hoping to not be induced this time around (I have been with all 3 now!) but with childcare logistics of our older girls & testing positive for group-b strep, we did decide it would be best for our fam to move forward with that. Drew and I got to the hospital around 5am on her due date, January 10th, and they started me on Pitocin + antibiotics pretty immediately. I had been 3-4cm dilated for 2 weeks prior but really didn’t make any progress until they broke my water. We walked the halls, watched a Hallmark & took tums because my heartburn was BAD (it had been the few weeks leading up to birth). I was having consistent contractions but nothing painful. My mother-in-love, Diane, arrived around 10:50am. It was really so special to have her there! The doctor was supposed to come around 11am to break my water but was delivering other babies so didn’t end up coming until 1:10pm. After she broke my water, I sat on the medicine ball and had lots of big gushes and contractions were finally starting to get painful so got back into bed. I tired the yellow peanut ball for the first time and things really started to pick up. I puked a few times (that has been my tell tale sign with all 3 that I’m extremely close to delivering) then listened to two Phil Whickman songs before I told the nurse “It’s time! She’s coming!” Since my first two births were fast, our incredible nurse had the room prepped so it felt way less chaotic than Ava’s birth (with Ava I unintentionally delivered her without the epidural which then gave me the perspective of what it was like and why I chose to not go that route this time around. It has been an incredibly empowering experience for me both times without and I’m so thankful!). The doctor got there and I started pushing at 2:38pm. Zoe’s shoulder got stuck for about 30 seconds and since I chose to not have an epidural, I literally felt the doctor reach in and pull it out…so wild but also cool ha. A total of 4 minutes of pushing, we welcomed Zoe Joy into the world at 2:42pm! I delivered the placenta which felt like a huge relief and then got 1 stitch and honestly that was more painful than actual child birth. I kept telling myself, “focus on Zoe, focus on Zoe” and that definitely helped. She wanted to nurse right away and after she was a little more full they did all her measurements, Drew & Diane got to hold her and then she was back in my arms. Diane left once we were settled to tap in with Nora & Ava so Mark (my amazing father-in-law) & Addie (my amazing sister-in-law, who Zoe’s middle name is after) could come visit at the hospital. The three of them tagged teamed watching the big girls and we were SO grateful!! They brought us dinner and a McDonalds coke (my fave ha) and visited for a bit. We called and texted the rest of our families and rested when we could. Since Zoe and I were both doing really well, we were set to get discharged the next day around lunch time but we had to wait for Zoe to have her first poop before we could head home. We texted several people to pray for her to poop ha. Thankfully right after dinner she did and we were discharged around 7pm, which was such a blessing! We were VERY ready to be in our bed again. My in laws kept the big girls until 5pm ish the next day which was amazing the first night home to get adjusted with just Zoe and not all 3 kids. Zoe struggled between 1-4am that night and the massive amount of poop she had in the morning explained why haha. The big sister meeting her the following day was the sweetest!! Reminding myself often of the indescribable gift these three precious souls the Lord entrusted to us are!

First Month

By the end of this month ZoZo (Pappy’s nickname for her ha) was 11lbs 15.5oz (98th percentile), 22.25in (95th percentile)…needless to say she is chunking up! She went from newborn clothes & diapers to size 1 diapers & 3-6 month clothing. She is a very smiley baby and so far has been just like her sisters as an amazing eater + sleeper. She’s doing 4-5 hour stretches at night by the end of this month and mama is SO thankful for that!! While we all LOVE holding her, Ava especially does. This month she attended her first wedding + baby shower, went to the children’s museum (it was our first outing as a family of 5), met lots of friends & family, got a cold (sounded like a bull dog poor thing) & baby acne. Zoe loves baths, tracking us & snuggling!

Nora & Ava meeting Zoe for the first time! This was the sweetest meet & greet!!

Shoutout to nana & pappy & Addie for being the MVPs and watching Nora & Ava while we were at the hospital!

Gigi & Grandpa got to visit right away too which was such a gift! My dad’s gpa sweatshirt has all three girls names on the cuff…such a sweet gift from Aunt Rachel! Ava’s precious face in this cracks me up ha