BABIES BABIES BABIES!

As of last week, I'll be on call for BIRTHS until we leave this summer!!! This is absolutely the most exciting thing ever, because I loooove photographing births.

What does it mean for me to be on call? Here are a few things that come to the top of my head:

1. I never go anywhere without my photography equipment. This can get a little tricky especially if I am going shopping or something and don't feel comfortable leaving my bag in my vehicle for long periods of time. I'm also paranoid, so it usually comes in with me!

2. My gas tank is always at least 1/2 full. Nothing like hopping in my vehicle at 2 am to drive to a hospital and needing gas, but nothing is open (or possibly not having the luxury of extra time! Babies can come realllly fast!).

3. I am a person who is very UN-attached to her phone. Cue=friends getting annoyed with me for taking days (um, sometimes weeks) to respond to a text. But when I'm on call, my phone never leaves my side, and as a result I get a twitchy and very phone attached. And it still takes me forever to respond to a non-birth-client text. But when that call comes, I leave WHATEVER I'm doing at the drop of a hatch. This means:

4. I am always thinking of a backup plan, JUST IN CASE. This means when I schedule family sessions I schedule a second back up date. When I'm hanging out with friends I let them know up front that I'm on call and may need to leave without so much as a goodbye. When I go to yoga, I pack an extra change of clothes, and tell the instructor before class I need to have my phone. I do not go on hikes or runs or out for a swim longer than 30 minutes out one-way (guaranteeing I could be back to my vehicle within 30 minutes). Also, I do not spend more than 30 minutes in a dead zone—AKA—the commissary. That's right folks, Brian does most of the grocery shopping while I'm on call, unless I just need a few items. I'm grateful for my amazing, understanding friends and clients for dealing with this!