Being a mother is absolutely the greatest joy in my life. I want to start this post off by saying that, that it is truly what I believe I am here to do. I knew my entire life I wanted to be a mother someday, and I’ve been blessed with four littles (one is on the way). Being a mother is fun, exciting, exhausting, trying, has pushed me to become a better person in every area of my life. Being a mother has also taught me to love unconditionally, and I mean truly unconditionally. Being a mother has also taught me to trust my gut. Always. And to trust my body. It’s taught me to listen when a doctor says ‘take it easy’ or ‘light/moderate bedrest’.
As most of you know we are currently expecting our fourth little. We have had a great pregnancy so far, minus morning sickness, even now. I’m 24/25 weeks and we’ve been extremely blessed to have an uneventful pregnancy up until now. We have a set c section for October 14, 2017 at 10 A.M.. ( Due to several reasons we have to have c sections and this is my fourth one). This past weekend was quite eventful, however. It started with some severe sickness and then some other symptoms that landed me in the hospital Sunday morning , Which was coincidentally a big holiday (Eid) for us. They were concerned that my cervix might be shortening, though it is not! Thank God for that. What they did find was two marginal sinuses/bleeds of the placenta. What this is, is ‘Any of the discontinuous venous lakes at the margin of the placenta.‘ If they rip, or rupture, they cause a placental abruption. Which is a VERY serious condition and requires delivery. That being said my doctors still feel we will go to our scheduled date, so long as I listen to them and my body. Ours are considered stable. What this also means is I was immediately put on light/moderate bedrest. I am NOT on strict bed rest as of yet. And baby Zaynab is doing extremely well, as am I. But we do need to keep an eye on them and I do need to do what they say. One thing is I had to start a new medication that has hellish side effects, but that I’m grateful for. What the list of things included, was no more working. Which if you know me, you know it was devastating to hear that. I love my job. I love documenting families, little ones, the good and the bad. This meant I had to cancel several birth sessions, a wedding, maternity sessions, newborn sessions, etc. As hard as it is for me to do this, I absolutely know it is what I need to do. Another concern I had was, my family is scheduled to go to Disney world (we go every year) in 9 days. And again in late August, as well as I was hoping to squeeze in a camping trip. Unfortunately, I did have to cancel my later two trip, thankfully the doctor said I could still go on our Disney trip in 9 days, so long as I take it very easy and relax. We have a lot of family joining us on that trip who will be with my littles non stop. For that I am grateful. I was told no more long walks, no more hikes. Which again, if you know me you know is hard for me. Another big, the second biggest whammy, was NO more lifting. At all. Which means my sweet toddler who is almost two is not able to be picked up by anymore. Thankfully she’s very independent and we are figuring out ways around this and lots of snuggles. However, through all of this, I know full heartedly that I’m doing what’s best and that my family comes first, always. One great thing about being forced to take a step back a bit earlier than planned is I get to spend these last few months with my littles and documenting MY family. The laughs, the cries, the hurts, the snuggles, the bed time stories, all of it. I get to enjoy this before our dynamic changes again, for the better again I’m sure. We can’t wait for Zaynab to come earthside, though we want to wait until October 14th, and to see how she fits into our sweet, fun, chaotic, loving, energetic family. Don’t worry though! I plan to still document my family and post and to keep everyone updated. I promise to be back to work after little miss and can’t wait to document my client’s lives again too when the time is right! I have tons of sneak peeks to post still and lots of images of my littles to share. In fact, I can’t stop laughing and crying about how fun it is to just focus on them. We are always appreciative of all prayers, good vibes, good thoughts and well wishes! Thank you all so much for understanding and for continuing to reach out to me! <3.
