I think maternity photos were sort of on my mind since the beginning of our second trimester. After all, it is very unlikely that we will ever have another baby, and part of me wanted to capture this time in our lives forever.
Though I mentioned it to my husband in passing, I think I knew that financially, it just wasn’t in the cards. We spent A LOT of money to conceive this baby, and I’m taking at least a couple of months of unpaid maternity leave. Maternity photos just couldn’t be a priority.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I was almost 37 weeks pregnant, and out of nowhere, I just had this pressing need to get some photos with my husband. I know that he is not a huge fan of things like that, but I think he could tell it was important to me. So, I told him my idea, and he agreed.
I asked a close friend if she would mind giving us an hour of her time, and I started thinking of what my ideal maternity photos would look like. Mark and I had briefly talked about the beach. That was my initial plan, but it just didn’t feel like “us.” It needed to be more original, but it also needed it be outside for the best results.
About five years ago, street art murals started popping up around the downtown area of our city. It had started as a few commissions to help cover up graffiti in the rapidly growing area, but it quickly turned into so much more. I realized, with about an hour to spare, that these wall murals, on the sides of local businesses, were the perfect locations for our DIY maternity shoot.
I knew I wanted to wear some fun, nerdy t-shirts in the photos, because that style captures who we really are. My tank top is the fitted flowy racerback tank from Jordan Dené, and Mark is wearing a unisex t-shirt of the same design.
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I wanted something fun to pair with my shirt, so I was excited to find a black tulle skirt in my closet that I had actually forgotten about, and Mark just donned some black shorts.
Once we were ready, we ventured downtown just in time for golden hour, and our friend, Nicole captured these amazing photos.
Of course, no maternity shoot could ever be complete without our oldest child. Our dog, Gimli, has been such a huge part of our life, and such a huge comfort to us during our infertility journey. I wanted a few photos with him, but he is such a little homebody, so we had to go home to get those final pictures.
Infertility and Adventures 