Why I did Maternity Portraits with My Second Child

Today’s blog post will feature a different point of view: Theresa Weidner. Theresa is my friend, and associate at Little Mother Photography. I hope you will enjoy!

Is it just me, or does some of the magic of the first pregnancy disappear for the sequential ones? The excitement, joy and surprise that accompanied your first born can seem muted and lesser. This time around I am raising a toddler, am heavier than I’ve ever been, and am more exhausted than ever. I’ve not been taking the weekly (okay, daily sometimes!) bump photos like I did with my daughter. I’ve not been journaling or posting to social media nearly as much this time around.

Initially, I didn’t think I’d want maternity photos for my second child. I already had them from when I was pregnant with my daughter; why did I need more? In my second trimester, I changed my mind.  I needed a boost, a thing for myself, and I wanted to feel pretty; Little Mother photography helped me to do just that. I wanted this baby to be able to see me pregnant with them. In looking at my own family photos I’ve only been able to find one photo of my mom carrying me, and it’s a special image I treasure. In the age of social media, oversharing, and excessive photo taking I wanted this child to have these images.

It wasn’t easy to convince my husband to go along with this. He doesn’t seem to value family photos to the same extent that I do. He already had posed, smiled, (and paid for) images of me with a big belly the first time around, why did he need to do it again? Luckily he was a good sport and went along with it. The results were magical. We now have beautiful images capturing our growing family. In one way the session captured an ending: the final portraits depicting us as a family of three; but even better, they capture new beginnings. They depict our beautiful growing family in the most magical way imaginable.

Maternity portraits are a personal choice, and not for everyone. I don’t know if this will be our last pregnancy or not, but if it is I won’t have any regrets about not capturing it.  I’m so glad I had Little Mother Photography capture this wonderful time in my family’s journey.