Photographs of 12 sets of twins at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, go viral!
What a whirlwind of a week it’s been! My pictures of the 12 sets of twins, all born at the same Kansas City hospital, have been flying all over TV stations across the country and being shared all over the internet, with the culmination (probably for me and my boys anyway) of being interviewed for the CBS Evening News. Let me back up a bit though!
When my dear friend Rebecca, the March of Dimes NICU Family Support Coordinator at Saint Luke’s, called to tell me about all of the sets of twins in the hospital I think she knew I wouldn’t be able to say “no” to a special trip in, to photograph that magic. Of course a fellow mom of multiples (triplets here!) is going to want to witness that firsthand, and spread a little cheer to all of those parents! I really didn’t think it would go much beyond a fun morning in the NICU and a little joy for all the moms and dads….
When I learned most of our local news stations were going to pick up the story (after seeing my pictures and seeing the stats), I thought it was awesome, but never dreamed it would go further.
On Wednesday morning, we were taking a feeding break at a newborn session, when I looked down at my phone to see a new voicemail.
“Good Morning America on ABC would like to run the story, and needs your permission to use the photos.”
Whoa. I knew then that things were about to get really fun! Wednesday had a few more phone calls and emails with ABC & NBC, and then on Thursday (yes, Thanksgiving) had some calls from CNN and messages from Global News in Toronto Canada! (Links to these stories will all be listed below, in case you want to check them out!)
Friday morning I received a call from the CBS Evening News. We chatted for a bit, and in the conversation they asked if I would be available for a possible interview via Skype later in the day! I was heading to the studio anyway to wait on some packages, so told them that was absolutely fine and I’d hang there for a bit to see if they wanted to.
I had just decided they must have changed their mind on the interview, and was about to head back home, when they called and asked if I was still game! I ran Skype updates, ran to the drugstore across the street to buy some mascara, threw on some lipstick, and carefully arranged some cute baby pictures behind me in my office (nicely hid the large stacks of boxes and prints too).
The interview went wonderfully! I loved the line of questioning Errol Barnett used; some of them were questions I’ve been asked in the past, but there were several he took a completely different direction than others had. Nobody had ever asked me specifics about some of my favorite NICU moments to capture (parents holding their babies for the first time!), or asked me so many questions about my own family.
After the interview, they asked if I could easily find a picture of my boys when they were in the NICU (I happened to find the one of me holding all 3 for the first time together, when they were 13 days old), and also a couple of recent photos. My boys LOVED that they were included in the story, and their own celebrity status helped people watching realize I looked familiar because “she’s the triplets’ mom!”! Ha!
Thank you CBS, for highlighting this story in the way you did! You saw my passion for this volunteer work, and you let that shine through. I’m incredible grateful!
Links to other stories…
- Parents Magazine – they also took the time to interview me via my Facebook Page messenger, and I appreciated that!
- People Magazine
- Good Morning America
- Global News in Canada
- CNN
- KMBC 9 (one of the local channels that set things in motion)
- 41 Action News (one of the local channels that set things in motion)
- Fox 4 Kansas City (one of the local channels that set things in motion)
Plus TV stations around the country (before the national story aired, it was so fun to have friends and family from around the USA seeing my photographs on their local news!), and the other websites and social media pages that asked for permission to share.
I love this work, and look forward to many more years of photographing Kansas City babies and families!
In Celebration of 10, a Thank You! - Kansas City Newborn | Baby | Family Photographer | Headshot Portraits[…] the last 12 months with teaching people how to take better photos with their phones. I’ve seen my NICU volunteer work go viral and worldwide, multiple times, and have seen parents and grandparents moved to tears when seeing their priceless […]