A Fort Wayne Lifestyle Maternity, Family, and Newborn Photographer, I am sharing the story of my first pregnancy and all that came along with it! From pregnancy tests to holding my newborn baby in my arm, this is the beginning of motherhood!

The Journey To Piper

Come time travel with me back to 2015 . .

It was a hot summer day in Seattle, my husband and I had just finished a church staff meeting and we were anxious to head home and take a very important test!!

But first. . . .

My first daughter was not my first pregnancy, I had a miscarriage with my first pregnancy in 2014 so going into another pregnancy felt unsteady and unsure. It was a mix of excitement, fear, anticipation, and longing all in the same pot. 

So this test was a BIG deal. There was a lot of emotion on the line. I opened the package, nerves becoming more intense, and as I handed the test to my husband to look first my eye caught a glimpse of something that made my heart STOP.

PREGNANT

And so the months of holding my breath, leaning into the uncertainty and celebration started.

The months crawled by, and I journeyed through, preparing, dreaming, and going to midwife appointments. I documented each month, well let’s be honest, most of them with little shoots of me, baby and whatever fruit or veggie was the corresponding size.

AndSoon, we found ourselves at the midway mark and we knew we were going to find out if this baby was a boy or a girl. 

When I was bout 18 weeks along and I had a moment amidst holding onto the self-protecting fear that I realized God was reminding me that this baby needed me 100% right now! This child needed me to commit to them no matter what happened.

I didn’t want to feel the pain of loss again so I think that mentally and emotionally I was holding back from committing to loving and preparing for this baby all the way. But I took that step and chose to mentally shift and no matter what happened I was going in open-handed and living for the best outcome. 

I started talking to our baby more and playing one specific song every day so she would know it. When I Meet You, By Listen to it HERE – I highly recommend it if you are expecting!!

Making decisions to do things like this and bringing people into my journey for support were meaningful and helped when my feelings threatened to ruin all the joy that had been building.

Ok, back to the big moment! We gathered lots of friends and face timed family to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. I knew I wanted this big impact moment because it was important in the commitment to our baby and would foster more joy and excitement! 

Parents usually say they don’t want a boy more than a girl or vice versa, as long as the baby is healthy.

Well, I was not one of those people! Ha ha! Don’t get me wrong, I wanted a healthy baby and I would have settled into contented joy if we would have had a boy first, but I WANTED a girl SO BAD!!  

Watch THAT MOMENT when we found out HERE

Then, in a moment of pure joy, we found out that we were indeed going to be having a girl!!

My husband had a name already picked out before we were even dating, so it was decided; Piper Traynor! And later we would land on Joy as her middle name. We were nervous, excited, and humbled ad this new identity and path in life as parents. 

Another key moment in the journey was taking maternity photos. It brought a unique kind of specialness to what was happening by making us slow down, invest in a day, and dwell on the goodness of bringing a new life into the world. 

Pregnancy and stepping into motherhood is a sacred time filled with many emotions and learning curves. I look back on that first time with empathy, fond feelings, and compassion. I knew so little and yet I grew in confidence over those 9 months that we would figure out what to do and be given an indescribable gift of a baby girl. 

I tell this story to encourage, inspire and drop some joy into your day! I LOVE hearing pregnancy stories, well any stories really, so please share in the comments, or tell me yours on www.myemilylouise.com

And if you are curious about what happened next I have Piper’s Birth Story HERE so check that out! 

And I will meet you in the next blog!!