Since becoming pregnant, I have learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot about my body, a lot about my marriage, a lot about the kind of person I want to be, and a lot about the sweet little person I want to raise. Some of the things I’ve learned are funny and others are a bit more serious, but I love being able to look back and see how far I’ve come. It really deserves a blog post of its own because pregnancy has truly been one huge maturation process for me.
That being said, in the beginning of my pregnancy I was completely against maternity photos. I hated what was happening to my body, (if we’re being honest — in some ways I still do) and I was so self conscious about documenting the process in such a formal way. However, over the past nine months, I’ve realized that this process has so very little to do with just me and my body, but everything to do with us as a family. I decided that no matter how the photos turned out — no matter how chipmunk-y my cheeks looked and no matter how swollen my belly — that it was important to document this time.
I decided that maybe one day our kids will look back and think it’s cool that we did. Even if they don’t, I’m sure we’ll be happy to have the memories to bring us back to these quiet moments where it’s just the three of us – Joe, Henry and I.
So… two weeks ago we took maternity photos. The woman who took them, Courtney, has done what I feel like are endless photography projects for our family. Every time she’s around it’s more like you’re being wrapped in a warm hug than at a photo shoot. She’s seen our little family evolve over the past few years, and in the process, she’s become a friend.
She took the photos in our home because it’s where we feel most comfortable and like ourselves. I also figured that it would be the most meaningful backdrop for this time in our lives. Joe and I are very much homebodies. There’s really nothing we enjoy more than just being together and spending time at home with our closest family and friends; I wanted that to come through.
Fast forward two weeks.
This past Saturday morning I received an email from Courtney with our pregnancy photos in it. I love them and I am so so so so so SOOOO excited to share them with you.
Take it from me, if you are on the fence about doing a maternity/pregnancy shoot, I say go for it; even if you don’t love being pregnant. For authenticity’s sake – I am going to tell you that most of this pregnancy has been spent praying that one day I’ll just forget the whole thing. That one day this neck, back and hip pain will seem far far away. That one day I’ll forget that even sitting at my desk for work was excruciatingly painful.
For authenticity’s sake – most of this pregnancy has definitely been spent venting to my girlfriends, “I [explicative explicative explicative] hate being pregnant and I want it to be over!”
But, and this is a huuuuuuge but, in the scheme of life, I know this time is special, and I know I’ll want to remember it fondly. The older we get, the more you realize that you can’t get these moments back. Having these memories documented allows me to remember this time in it’s most beautiful version forever, and for that, I am sure I will be grateful.
Who knows – maybe one day these photos will even dupe me into child #2?
Hahahhahaha – let’s not get ahead of ourselves now.
