“You’re going to miss your bump.”
I remember being pregnant and being told that so many times. I couldn’t imagine it then. But now, two children and ten years later, I understand it to my core.
You realize they didn’t just mean “the bump,” but all that it represents. Who I was becoming in that season, the transition from husband and wife to parents, my baby becoming a big brother, and all that it would come to mean for our family with each pregnancy. It’s a time in my motherhood journey that I have come to appreciate more as time passes, and why I feel so strongly about why you should take maternity photos.
I’d be naive to think that something so intimate and vulnerable as pregnancy is a one-size-fits-all. It’s not. Your maternity session is so much more than beautiful photos. It’s your story. It’s your journey to motherhood. It’s recognizing, celebrating, and documenting all that has been and all that is to come. And that will look different for every mother and couple. But I feel confident in saying that no matter your story, if just one of these reasons below resonates with you, don’t skip out on a maternity session.
1 – Capture Fleeting Moments in Your Pregnancy in Photos
The truth is, one day your memory will fade and there will come a day where you will want to go back. You won’t care that you didn’t look or feel like yourself. You’ll simply just want to remember. Photos not only give us the ability to look back, but they also take us back to how we felt. And trust me, that is a priceless gift to your future self and family.
2 – Celebrate Your Body with Maternity Photos
Pregnancy is something that I have always found to be pretty miraculous. Think about it…the baby that you will soon hold in your arms you have nurtured and grown within you.
So yes, while pregnancy can bring about significant changes to your body that can be hard (both physically and mentally), take time to celebrate it too. Embrace and appreciate the changes. Let your maternity session serve as a beautiful reminder of the incredible ability of the female body to bring new life into this world.
And if you’re doing your maternity session with me, my team and I will be there with you every step of the way! Our client wardrobe will eliminate any stress over what to wear and our hair and makeup team will ensure you feel as beautiful as you are on the day of your session.
3 – Maternity Photos Provide an Opportunity to Bond with Your Partner
The joy and excitement as you anticipate the arrival of your baby is unlike any other feeling, especially when it’s your first. Your maternity session can be a beautiful way to document those feelings, your connection, and final days of it just being the two of you.
I deeply regret not having maternity photos with my husband. I wish I had portraits that were equally as beautiful as that time of my life when I carried my babies in my belly. I wish I had photos of my husband and I young, more in love than ever, and naive to how much our would was about to change. I know how much I would cherish those photos and exactly where they would hang in our home today, but I was much too shortsighted to realize how much they would mean to me down the road.
4 – Highlight an Important Milestone in Your Family’s Story
Maternity photos highlight an important milestone in your family’s story. If this is your first baby, they serve as a way to document your transition into parenthood. And if it’s not your first, these maternity photos will not only preserve memories from this pregnancy but document yet another milestone- your baby becoming a big brother or sister!
Sure, it’s a little bittersweet, but there is nothing quite like your baby becoming a big brother or sister for the first time. Take this time to not only celebrate and document your pregnancy, but the bond and love you share with your older children too. Celebrate them and the new role that they are about to step into.
This season is a huge milestone for all of you, and I’m not sure anything can prepare your heart for the love you will feel. Not to mention, how special it will be to be able to look back on this season years from now.
5 – Provide Your Children with Family Heirlooms
Carrying a baby was a lifelong dream of mine. Yet, all that I have to show my children of my pregnancy with them are a few crappy iPhone photos. And maybe my children wouldn’t have known any better had I not started my photography business. But now, they see the albums we create (including maternity photos), and I know it’s something they would have loved.
It’s why we don’t stop with just taking your maternity photos. We work with you to create beautiful, heirlooms that you can enjoy now and pass down for generations to come. Our albums and custom-frames serve as precious keepsake not just for you, but for your children and future generations. They become a part of your family’s history, allowing your child, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren to look back and see the love and joy that surrounded their arrival.
Enjoy a little preview into one of our First Year Collective family’s maternity session! We documented big sisters first year, and now it’s time for her baby brothers! Yes, brothers- they are having twins!
Ready to Document Your Story With a Maternity Session?
Don’t be like me; don’t live with regret! Whether this is the last time it will be just the two of you, or the last time it will just be you and your first baby, or this is the last baby, don’t skip out on documenting this season in your life and chapter in your family’s story. Contact me so we can start planning your maternity session!
