Marcus & I are the parents of premature twins.  Our boys were born 2 months early and they did not have an easy start to life.   I am forever in wonder of the perfect little crazy, boisterous, brutus, capable human beings that inhabit my house today, 7 years on.  The odds said it should not be this good.   So, because we know we are lucky, we do our little bit throughout the year to raise money for projects related to newborn babies and perinatal research.   Maybe more people will get to have healthy children like ours.

The day our twins were born at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital I became a “Royal Mum”, one of the thousands of women in the history of Queensland to give birth at “The Royal”.  The RBWH Foundation has created a book about Royal Mums documenting the stories of women since the 1930′s that have had babies at their hospital.   Volume 2 was launched on Friday with a fabulous morning tea.

We are proud to say that Studio Impressions has been a collaborator on this book.  We donated the photography for Volume 1 in 2010, and now we have photographed, Volume 2.  This has been an exciting and uplifting project for our little team.  We have gotten to meet women of all ages, from all over Queensland and who all have stories that are funny and sad and uplifting and heartwarming.    This book is both a story of the experience of women, the creation of generations of Queenslanders, and the story of the history of Brisbane as it describes historic events in our beautiful city through the eyes of new mothers.

Royal Mums: A Collection of Memories Volume 2 is for sale through the RBWH Foundation.  All the money goes toward creating a Mother’s Milk Bank which will provide life saving nutrition to newborns when their own mother cannot produce enough.

Here are some behind the scenes from Volume 2.   If you like what you see – buy the book - you’ll love what you read and you will help make a difference to the start of someone’s life.

Left Image:  Makeup artist extraordinare Kari Chaney who donated all the makeup for our Royal Mums, at work on Royal Mum Kaley.  Kaley’s boy, Vincent, was born a premmie.

Right: Marcus at work on the portrait of Royal Mum Angela.  Angela was presented with the first release of Volume 2 in honour of her beautiful baby boy Noah who was born on January 23rd 2011 and passed away a few days later.  Read more of Angela’s story here and how Noah’s life is making a difference for other little babies.

Below are the Royal Mums portraits appearing in the Book.  From top to bottom, left to right:  Anna Porfryio, Charmaine Giarratano and baby Brooklyn, Christine Bennett, Muriel Porter, Laura Perkins and Betty Biggers, Angela Perry, Marjorie Bowers, Barbara Underwood and Kaley Butten.  Ladies, it was a pleasure to take your portraits.  Thank you for being a part of this very special project.

The launch morning tea:

The launch was MC’d by ABC Presenter Jenny Woodward.  We also heard from 94 year old Betty Biggers who told the crowd what it was like to have a baby in the early days of the RBWH – when Dads were not allowed in the room, and long before the days of disposable nappies.  A neonatal intensive care nurse told us of the daily experience and hundreds of babies every year that will benefit from a milk bank, then CEO of the RBWH Foundation Peter Treseder spoke presented the book to Royal Mum Angela Perry.

If you are looking for a unique Mother’s Day gift guaranteed to make your mum laugh, smile, cry and retell her own story of your start to life – this is a book you HAVE TO GET.  PLUS it is only $35!    Should I say it again?   Do something good today -  Buy it now!