Documenting

In late September, we had some really special photos taken.  We had settled into the house, finished all the renovations our budget would allow (plus some unexpected ones), and generally calmed down.  This left me lots of time and mental space to think about Lily coming.  Everything was looking fabulous on her ultrasounds, and I know God is capable of delivering to us a perfectly healthy baby despite all the early indications that she is very sick, but I felt a need to do some preparing.  I wanted to be sure that no matter what the outcome of her birth, we had documentation of her life inside me and the joy she has brought us. 

Our good friend, Veronica, who works at Early Childhood Intervention, and has been Avery’s developmental specialist since birth, put us in touch with an amazing woman.  Jennifer Maler (Red Balloon Photography) gladly took on the task of documenting Lily’s life and did so with compassion, sympathy, and an incredible ability to capture emotion.  She also realized, more than I did, the need to include Mario and Avery in many of these photos rather than just take shots of my humungous tummy.  She even snuck in a few candid pictures of Avery that are now some of our favorite photos.  I regret that we didn’t have Katie with us so she could be in them too. 

I’m still at home on modified bed rest, and so thankful to have made it almost another full week with Lily tucked safely inside.  My Dr. will be back Sunday and I see her Monday morning.  The plan is that she will be taking me off all my contraction stopping meds, and as soon as Lily tells us it’s time, we will let her come on out via c-section.  Monday is Halloween, and Wednesday is my birthday, so Tuesday would be nice, but we would be happy to meet her any day of the week.  I hope and pray that we will soon be sharing tons of new baby pics of Lily, so I want to make sure we get these precious photos shared now: