One of my main goals for my business is to actually show my face more often. In fact, I’d love to have a separate corner just to share all my travel experiences, personal thoughts and other non-photography-related interests that I feel like sharing. One day! For now, I’d like to share my very own maternity session that we took inside the Bird Haven Greenhouse in Joliet, IL.

We’re probably more dressed up than most but I am not sure if this will ever happen again so we went a little over the top (but not too much in my opinion!). I booked a hairstylist and a makeup artists who did such an amazing job making me look fabulous! I wanted to rent an over-the-top maternity gown but this was all put together very last minute that I didn’t have time. So, Amazon it is! Good thing my husband still fit in his suit. Haha! Who took our picture? My cousin. She’s not even a photographer but we basically set everything on-camera up for her and all she had to do was click the shutter! She did a great job though, didn’t she?!

Why did I say this may not happen again? Well, just a little backstory. Erick and I have been trying to have kids for at least 3 years now. I’ve had issues with my endometriosis. What is endometriosis, you say? A quick Google search will tell you that endometriosis (en-doe-me-tree-O-sis) is an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus. Endometriosis most commonly involves your ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining your pelvis. I’ve had a couple of surgeries for it. It caused so much pain during my time of the month which required a few visits to urgent care or emergency department.

Truthfully, we went through a few cycles of fertility treatment that led to multiple disappointments. The financial, physical and emotional burden are nothing I would wish on anybody. After a while, we decided if we can’t have children, we’ll just travel. Not a bad plan, right?

After almost 3 years of trying, we’ve had a few decisions we made that brought us back to Illinois. We both got new jobs, lived with our best friends for a few months until we bought our second house. A couple of months later, I said, let’s try again. It’s a different provider and fertility treatments are actually covered through my new insurance. All the workup was re-done. I was literally waiting for my first cycle so I can call my new doctor to tell me the next steps. I came back from a work conference feeling sick. I humored myself by taking a pregnancy test, and sure enough, I was pregnant!!! Naturally!

I was shaking when I saw the positive test! I could not believe it! I didn’t want to have my hopes up so much as I’ve had false positives before. I called my doctor to let them know and they ordered a blood test. That same afternoon, I get a “Congratulations, your results show you are indeed pregnant!”

The way I told my husband, our families and friends can be a separate blog post altogether. What I can tell you is that happiness was felt all around. Everyone was probably waiting longer than Erick and I have for this moment. Now we are only a couple of months away from meeting our bundle of joy. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. We’ll leave that one last surprise for ourselves.

I do think it’s a boy though…. LOL! What do you think?