Grand Rapids Maternity Photographer // Derrick + Sabrina + Baby Boy!

Derrick & Sabrina have been on a long journey to get to this point in their lives.  Such a roller coaster of emotions, ultimately leading to this happy moment.  I was going to try and explain to you their journey (with their permission of course), but thought it would be better coming from Sabrina….so here it is, Derrick and Sabrina’s story:

“Our journey to become parents started 8 years ago. I got pregnant with our first. My pregnancy was perfect until we hit 19 weeks. I was rushed to the hospital and found out that I was already 2 cm dilated. It was at that moment I was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix. Meaning in the 2nd trimester the weight of the baby causes your cervix to painlessly dilate, resulting in the loss of your child. I was admitted to Spectrum where I’d stay on hospital bedrest in hopes to reach viability, which is 24 weeks. I was only able to make it to 20 weeks and 1 day. I had to deliver my daughter knowing that they would not resuscitate her because her lungs were not developed enough. She was born alive and laid on my chest immediately, where I watched her move her fingers back and forth. We held her and kissed her until she passed away in my husband’s arms an hour later. That was the worst thing a parent could ever go through . Before then, I had no idea what an incompetent cervix was or that you could even lose a child like that. 4 years later and many early miscarriages in between, we conceived another baby. We immediately started seeing the high risk maternal fetal medicine doctors at Spectrum in Grand Rapids. We did a cerclage which stitches your cervix closed, in hopes to get you past viability. Unfortunately we were not aware that it does not have a great success rate. I started strict bedrest at 14 weeks. We ended up in the hospital at 20 week again. My cerclage has caused my water to break. I was on hospital bedrest with our 2nd daughter for another week and a half before I went in to labor. Just like her sister, she was born and we held her until she passed a way, an hour and 56 mins later. At this point the thought of trying again was not on our minds. We thought that there were not any other medical options to help us carry a child to term and we just could not handle another loss. Through facebook pages that included women that suffer from incompetent cervix, I found another option.

Two years later we decided to give it one more try. We traveled to Chicago to see Dr. Arthur Haney, for an operation called a transabdominal cerclage. It’s a permanent band around the very top of my cervix that has almost 100% success rate of a full term baby. No need for bedrest and most women can carry on like a normal pregnant woman would. The only thing is all babies would be born via c-section so that the band could stay in place, should we decide to have more children. I am proof that it works. Today we are in the 3rd trimester, without bedrest and I’ve been on my feet working full time this entire pregnancy. My hope is to help other mothers out there that have gone through what I have. To help them cope with the grief of losing a child and to be able to offer them hope for the future. Having our maternity photos taken was such a wonderful, important day for us. Thank you Kellie, for helping us celebrate our rainbow baby by photographing another milestone passed. A Rainbow Baby is the understanding that the beauty of a rainbow does not negate the ravages of the storm. When a rainbow appears, it doesn’t mean the storm never happened or that the family is not still dealing with its aftermath. What it means is that something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy and hope.”

I love that some of the colorful fall leaves never fell off…

Remember their pregnancy reveal?  If not, look at it over here!

LOVE how happy they are here!

Derrick is one of the sweetest guys ever.  He’s always so kind and so accommodating to Sabrina.  He is going to be a great dad!

Sabrina – you are a gorgeous momma!  Love the red that peeks through in the photo below!

Oh Derrick & Sabrina….. As I sit in my office reading the story, balling my eyes out, I am feeling SO thankful that you are trusting me with your photos and SO thankful I get to be a part, even a small one, of your journey. I am so sorry that you have had to go through all of that, but I am extremely excited for your little man to arrive! Reading stories like this make me appreciate my little girl so much….even after it’s been a rough day with her. Thank you again! I cannot wait to photograph his first breath and first cry.  It will be a moment I will never forget!

If you want more information on this procedure click here.  If you’d like info about contacting Dr. Haney, visit this link!