My heart is so full for this beautiful woman who I feel insanely blessed to call my friend! ::sigh:: Guys! I have so many amazing and wonderful things to say about Laura, but I’ll try to focus just on her incredible story of waiting for Charlie!

I actually met Laura through her mom, Julie. Julie is one of my awesome and talented photographer friends. It was through our relationship that I learned that Laura was on a similar road of infertility. Julie and I talked often about my situation and she often asked me advise on how to best support Laura through her struggle. I knew Julie had shared my story and my blog with Laura and told her that I’d love to talk if she ever wanted to. But it was a while before Laura and I actually met and she is seriously such a beautiful soul – inside and out! I always feel a little hesitant to share other’s stories, but Laura did give me her blessing so I will do my best!

Laura and her hubby had been trying for a year and seeing specialists for their struggle to conceive. They didn’t really have answers for Laura as to why they hadn’t been able to get pregnant. And ultimately they were set on a similar path as my husband and I… towards IVF. Well just a week before starting her first round of IVF, Laura, (like us) felt called away from it. She told me that she was already feeling a little uncertain about proceeding with it and that day, it just so happened my old post about walking away from IVF popped up and she took that as the sign she needed that they weren’t supposed to move forward. So Laura hiked out to her favorite spot at Rock Springs and made the incredibly difficult decision of calling to cancel her appointment. I know that struggle all too well… the feeling of “giving up” even though that’s not what you’re doing at all. It’s the relinquishing control and giving it over to God… and it’s so so hard to do!

Well five months went by and Laura was starting to embrace her life as it is – step mom to two beautiful girls and dog mom to some awesome furry pups! And then the completely unexpected happened – Laura found out she was pregnant! This was exactly when they would have started the IVF process… I mean how crazy, beautiful is that! And Laura will tell you – there is nothing about how she got pregnant that makes sense or seems explainable. Their inability to conceive up until that point, the timing with her cycle (she conceived on day 28 of her cycle which shouldn’t have happened based on everything they tell you about charting)… Truly the only explanation for this little miracle is God being so so good!

To be honest – Laura’s story was what I expected my story to be… I had been sharing here for a while when we walked away from IVF. I truly thought we’d miraculously get pregnant shortly after giving over to him so that I could profess his awesomeness here for all of you! And while that was not and is not my story – I truly cannot think of a more beautiful, wonderful and amazing couple to be blessed with this amazing testimony! And I am so darn excited to meet sweet Mister Charlie very, very soon!

I’m so thankful that Laura let me create something special and one of a kind for her maternity session. I actually created the skirt for her session the night before. We met at Rock Springs and then we pieced the dress together with the skirt I made and one of her bralettes. I love that Laura just allowed me to create and trusted me with a vision for her session. It gave me the freedom to do something special, which isn’t always how sessions go! And I love that she let me capture some bare belly images for her. Laura has had a couple of surgeries in the past and I think the combination of the majesty of pregnancy combined with the truth of her abdominal scars is just beautiful!

So without further ado – take a peek at Laura’s maternity session!