Maternity Leave | Nursery Reveal
Some of you may (or may not) know that we are expecting our first little bundle of joy! We, of course, are over the moon excited for this new adventure in our lives. When we initially announced on our Facebook page, we indicated that there was an issue discovered at our 20 week anatomy scan. We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support, well wishes, prayers, texts, calls, messages, emails...(I could go on) we have received. We want everyone to know that we are beyond grateful for all they have done! The most ironic part of this has been that we never (publicly) let everyone know what the actual issue is, but that didn't matter - everyone rallied around us and wrapped us in their love.
The Story.
At 20 weeks, we were unsure if our baby would live week to week, but here we are at 33 weeks with a scheduled delivery date and officially on maternity leave. So, although I don't want to focus on the negative aspects of our pregnancy, I think it's only fair to let everyone know why they have been praying so hard for our baby. The anatomy scan revealed a perfect baby all except for a teratoma growing from her tailbone. Although the doctor gave us a name, Sacrococcygeal Teratoma (SCT), and a lot of scary information, we had no idea what we were truly facing. Luckily, our doctor at Pinnacle Health was familiar with not only the best children's hospital in the country, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), but one of the doctors who is familiar with this rare birth defect. Within 4 days of finding out about this horrible news, we were sitting at a conference table with the top doctors and surgeons in the country letting us know what their plan is to help our baby. Unfortunately, SCTs (like all tumors) are a bit unpredictable and, due to our early diagnosis, there was no way of knowing if our baby would remain healthy until she was developed enough to deliver. We went from going to occasional ultrasounds at CHOP to weekly ultrasounds as the tumor continued to grow (as they expected it would). We are still going weekly to keep a very close eye on our baby, but at this point we have (thankfully) made it to to the point that she could survive outside the womb if she is in direct danger. Although we still have delivery, surgery, and a NICU stay to endure, we know that the power of prayer truly played (and continues to play) a vital role in our baby's outcome. If you want to read much more detailed information regarding SCTs, CHOPs site is the best resource to do so.
The Nursery.
So, with all of that being said, we were apprehensive to buy clothes or any baby item since we were unsure of what we were actually facing. But as time wore on we felt more comfortable making purchases and setting up our nursery. I love decorating our home, so it felt especially exciting to set up the nursery that our sweet baby could feel at home in and we could feel at peace in. I didn't have a theme in mind, only that I wanted it to be a beautiful, happy, peaceful space since our pregnancy was anything but. Our home is primarily decorated in warm, earth tones, so it felt natural to do the same with the nursery. We settled on a gold/coral/cream/soft warm tones color scheme and, like all of our rooms, the room came together organically with new and old items (some of the decor we actually already had, but didn't fit in other rooms). We are so excited that the room turned out exactly as we envisioned and I think we even managed to capture the peaceful feeling we were trying to achieve (I've already tested out the glider, which proves fabulous for napping!).
Maternity Leave.
I am currently already on maternity leave since we will be delivering at CHOP. Also, because the SCT can rapidly change even now, we are being closely monitored to ensure our baby stays as healthy as possible in my womb for as long as possible. If something suddenly changes, it's vital we are ready at a moment's notice to deliver her. I plan on returning to work the end of October and will resume photographing weddings and portraits sessions then. Between now and then, I am still monitoring email and working remotely, which allows me to set up sessions, working with my clients, and scheduling 2016 weddings - so please don't hesitate to send us an email!
Again, we are forever indebted to everyone who has been thinking of us and her and praying for our baby girl's healthy arrival. We know we can't ever repay you all, but we plan to pay it forward in any way we can. We are so anxious to meet our sweet baby girl and can't wait to share the good news with you all when she finally makes her arrival!
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