A letter to all the Moms with spring 2020 due dates
Dear Mama,
I know that when you found out you were expecting last fall, you were so excited. A new baby! And you knew how lucky you were that you wouldn’t have to be pregnant in the heat of summer! (Seriously so lucky!) Things became a flurry of excitement as you planned a nursery, registered for shower gifts, dreamed of baby names and OF COURSE booked your favorite newborn photographer. And as your due date approached, coronavirus messed it all up.
It is bad enough that your baby showers are canceled. You won’t get to see the pinterst-worthy celebration that your best friend dreamed up. And you will definitely miss opening mountains of presents from everyone you love. It is the worst, but you can handle that one okay.
Now you have had to cancel your hospital session or reschedule your in-home session and it is just too much to take. Your heart is actually broken. You have dreamed of magical newborn images forever and now they won’t happen. You convinced your spouse and saved money to make the commitment and now you won’t get those professional newborn images from your favorite photographer until the baby is like 3 months old. This isn’t fair!
First and foremost, I see you.
And my heart breaks with you.
And you are right, this isn’t fair.
You are 100% allowed and justified to grieve this loss. What you had envisioned and looked forward too for so long isn’t happening any more and it is terribly sad. But the good news is that you are still becoming a Mom.
The next thing I want to remind you is that any pictures are better than no pictures. We are so lucky that we live in a time of cell phones with amazing camera technology. You can literally take 1 million photos of your baby everyday. And I promise you will. Those cell phone snaps are going to get you through. In the future, when you look back on your memories of when your baby arrived, you will have no shortage of photos to make you smile.
The great news is that when you DO finally get to have the photo session with your favorite photographer, you will get to cherish the experience even more than you would have before. The images that come from that session will still be completely beautiful. They will still be something that you can cherish forever. They will be worth the wait.
At the end of the day, take a few minutes to step away from Pinterest and social media and realize that your baby is the biggest blessing and that the newborn photos were just an exciting side note. Take a breathe and be okay with taking photos yourself.
I have been a newborn photographer for more than 9 years. I have gathered some really simple tips that will make a huge difference in the quality of images that you create for yourself. I have compiled those tips and created a FREE guide to help you take your own photos. Just fill in the opt in form below and you will get it delivered to your inbox.
I pray that these tips give you a bit of confidence in capturing your fresh new little one. But more than anything I want you to breathe. To know that your emotions are normal and validated. And to be grateful that you will get those professional pictures someday. They will be worth the wait I promise.
