I am so excited to share all about our beautiful “surprise” maternity shoot! I’ve written before about how my sisters have been so amazing in trying to keep my spirits up and to get me excited about having a baby …. here is just one more example! At some point, I must have shared with my sister, Krista, how I would love to have a maternity shoot like the one she had done when she was pregnant with my nephew, Nolan, but never thought it would ever actually become a reality. J’s fall shooting/travel schedule has him all over the country and with me not working, I really couldn’t justify having professional photographs taken. It is shallow to admit, but one of the things I intially was most upset about in having an unplanned pregnancy wasn’t how I am going to raise the baby or any of the list of practical issues- that came later. My mind pretty much went straight to all the things I would be missing out on, like getting to celebrate and be excited for little moments, now that I was fast forwarding life…..will I ever get proposed to or get engaged? Will I ever be a bride? Will I just be looked at as a “mom” now? Will I get to travel? Will I get to experience showers and parties and photoshoots and all the somewhat unnecessary but nonetheless fun frills that come along with milestones in a woman’s life?– those are the kind of thoughts that ran through my head. My sister, in knowing how I had felt, wanted to do something special and give me a truly exciting experience…. thats is when she planted the bug in Jon’s ear…. behind every great boyfriend, there is an amazing sister/best friend letting him know exactly how to make her happy…I’m a right?
The two of them devised a plan to surprise me with my very own photoshoot taken by renown Photog, Joey Kennedy -who is pretty much the best in the biz. Check him out…He is amazing ! For weeks prior, J and Krista were coordinating dates and times with Joey and Jon’s schedule, ironing out all the details. While the planning of the shoot was a complete surprise to me, my sister knows me a little too well and knows how particular I can be about how I look💁🏻💄…So they did end up spilling the beans a few days before so I could pick out my own outfits and prepare myself! I was so excited and surprised! … 1.) I was unexpectedly getting to see Jon with a trip we didn’t have on the books 2.) This was really happening…I was getting to do something special that I never imagined possible when the initial, woe is me sadness set in after those 2 pink lines appeared.
Now that I was in on the secret, I immediately went into over drive with the shopping. I had just a few days to get outfits together, I went a little overboard and I pretty much ordered a 100 dresses online and hoping 1 or 2 would get there in time and work out… the pregnant bod isn’t the easiest thing to dress people!… Exhibit A
For some people, I suppose a photoshoot isn’t really any kind of big deal, but for me, it gave me a chance to feel beautiful after 7 months of feeling really anything but. For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard about this “Pregnancy Glow” women get when they are expecting. I keep reading about how these expecting moms never felt so beautiful or sexy as they do when they are pregnant… ya, well, that’s defineitley not me! The first 25 weeks of my pregnancy encompassed pretty severe “Morning – misnomer- Sickness.” I was lucky if I could get out of my robe or even could brush my teeth before noon… not so cute! Seriously, every time my toothbrush came out, gaging insued. Early on, I thought I would never be able to brush my teeth ever again without vomiting up everything in me….. Thank God that passed!🙏🏼
To the contrary of the pregnancy glow legend, you may have heard the old wives tale: When expecting a little girl, she steals all of your beauty. Well, I actually think there may be some truth to the myth because this pregnancy has brought out every bump and belmish…. I am talking more acne than ever before… I never even broke out this much during puberty. RIP flawless complexion!🙅🏻 Speaking of puberty and teenage years, for those who knew me when I was younger, know I had some big ol’ boobs ( just thrown it out there)… welp those suckers came back in full force this pregnancy. Some people might be excited for a little boost to their girls, however, when you get out of the shower and look in the mirror and your pregnancy belly doesn’t even look that big in comparison to the ta-tas.. things are little out of control! Not to mention, the overall just change in your body. I feel like everything changes, you swell, things get bigger.. it is hard not to notice. Like many other women, I have history of struggling with body image issues from time to time. Prior to pregnancy, I was pretty regimented with diet and exercise to keep me feeling good. When I got pregnant, I was really too sick to continue with my normal heated yoga/ workouts and my diet consisted of a “healthy dose” of carbs, on carbs, on carbs ( only thing I could keep down) ….I am pretty sure an everything bagel saved my life on multiple occasions during this pregnancy!🙏🏼🍩 Even though I have been trying to be gentle on myself, because, well, I am growing a human life inside of my body, which is pretty intense….still, sometimes I can’t can’t help but have the feelings of “OMG I am a freaking whale” with my ever growing and expanding body…..
That is why this next part is so sweet! Not only did J ( & K) surprise me with photoshoot they also planned for me to have a pamper session with hair and makeup to get me all made up and feel💯 the day of the shoot! It deinfelty was extra and I thought about not going through with it… did I really need it done?!? But, Jon really was so sweet and insisted, his treat, because he wanted to do it up right for me! I went to this cute, private little studio in the Northside of Pittsburgh where Hannah Conrad had me feeling fierce that day and looking my best!
Speaking of J’s participation in the shoot, clearly this was something for me that he just went along with to make me happy… The joke was that he basically was a prop (LOL) but he really was such a trooper. His time was limited, so he basically flew into Pittsburgh just for the shoot. I wanted him to stay longer. 32 hours together is never enough time- another story- but ultimately, it really was so sweet for him to make this happen for me. I know it was Krista’s initial idea but he went along with it and made it special for me, every step of the way… even picking out an outfit that was little out of his comfort zone because he knows my style!😘
Joey didn’t pick the location of our shoot until actually that morning. He chose Phipps Conservatory, a green oasis in the middle of Pittsburgh’s vibrant Oakland neighborhood that has a world-class garden experience, breathtaking seasonal flower shows and stunning outdoor botanical gardens. Little did Joey know how serendipitous his location choice actually was for us. Phipps is a pretty special place for J and I… we actually had our very first ( double… still needed a chaperon at that point) date at Phipps, which resulted in our very first kiss, way back in 2012! Every year since, during the holidays, we go back to Phipps. It has become our own little tradition so it was very fitting to have our maternity shoot with such special place to us and our first date spot in the backdrop!
Late September in Pittsburgh usually is a beautiful time of year where you can start to feel the chill of fall in the air. The day of our shoot was extremely beautiful but it was also very unseasonably HOTT …. I am talking high 80s in the evening! It got real sweaty up in there! However, after some wardrobe changes and some face dabs, somehow Joey worked his magic and still made us look great even as we “glistened!”
I’ve never done one of these photoshoot things before so I didn’t really know what to expect when we started and I know Jon really, really didn’t know what to expect, but we both ended up having such a great time. Jon kept saying to me during the shoot, “I know you’re just loving this.”😜 Joey made the shoot really relaxed and enjoyable… he kept giving J a hard time so we had some comic relief to put us at ease….We laughed and had fun. We took photos until all the light had faded. When we left, I had to ask J, ” what was I doing with my face.“ because we are just having good time and in the zone! I really am so thankful for this experience to capture our love and this special milestone in our life. I know these photos will be something we cherish forever and will be so neat to show our daughter one day! This photoshoot and all the sweetness that surrounded it was just another reminder to me that,
“we must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life we have waiting for us.”
Sometimes, if I just take a second to look around, I am sweetly reminded that, yes, my life definitely is not going accordingly to MY plan and maybe it never will but God knows exactly what I need and how I need it and THIS LIFE that is out there waiting for me is beautiful and it is surely blessed……
Thanks for reading…. Here are some more of my favorites from the shoot!
xoxo Heather
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Plan C 