Whewy! What a year! 2017 was such a good year. I will mostly remember it as a year of being pregnant for 80% of it, but that didn't hold me back from making a lot of business and life changes! As far as life goes, we sold our first home, moved in with my parents for 5 months, paid of some debt and got very anxious we would never find a house, then we found a new home that we fell in love with, begged the sellers for it and GOT IT! We moved into our new home in the middle of Septemeber, the height of wedding season for me, and I became a nesting queen! That house was in tip top living shape within like two weeks, but what can I say, i love to nest! On top of all of this life excitement, my business was booming. I photographed over 20 weddings, met some of the most amazing couples, traveled to Los Angelos, Savannah, Milwaukee, and Michigan to shoot the sweetest most beautiful wedding days. My sisters talent as a second-shooter was exceptional and we made such a great team. I truly feel this was one of my favorite years yet as a wedding photographer!
The most monumental part of 2017 was marked by the birth of our sweet beautiful Shepherd James Huff. He was born December 11th, 2017 at 10:33 in the evening after a whirlwind day of unexpected labor. I don't know if you've been following for long, but Luna's birth was a very difficult and traumatic experience for us (which you can read about here). I was really hoping Shepherd's birth would end a little less traumatizing, but unfortunately that didn't go as planned. It started out smoothly and I walked into the hospital 8 cm dilated, not realizing how far into labor i truly was. My doctor was not there that evening and her and I had a plan, I would only push for 1 hour and if it did not progress she would do a C-section in order to avoid a similar situation to my first birth. Once I started pushing though things took a dramatic turn. All of the fear and anxiety from Luna's birth overwhelmed my body and after an hour and a half of pushing i was in a complete state of panic and the baby was not budging. The epidural had completely worn off. I couldn't catch my breath. My body was in excruciating pain and the doctors and nurses just were not advocating for what i truly needed, which was another C-section. Eventually I ended up in the operating room in which I barely recall and woke up to the sight of the most chubby, perfect, beautiful baby boy I have ever seen. Our sweet Shepherd was here and in perfect health. All praise to the LORD! He is so so good. After he was born we received some hard news about my body and the future of our family, and I also received a catheter to wear around for 2 whole weeks. I know it may seem so silly in the grand scheme of life, but those were 2 weeks really emotionally difficult for me. Yet, God was so so sweet and merciful and provided us with amazing support and strength to make it through. We are now almost 7 weeks out from his birth and it truly feels like months and months ago. My body is healing ok and our hearts are starting to heal too. Shepherd is the most soft and special little boy and He has brought nothing but pure joy to our world! Luna is obsessed with him and can't wait to wake up in the morning to snuggle up to her baby brother. There is nothing this mama heart couldn't be more thankful for. If you've ever experienced a traumatic birth I would love to talk to you and pray for you. It's something you just never think will happen to you and when you start deeply thinking about it it can really mess with your brain. Thinking of the women years ago who may not have had the same outcome as us rips a whole in a place in my heart that I didn't even know I was capable of feeling. I seriously don't know how anyone experiences these parts of life without hope in Jesus, He truly is the only one who has brought absolute perfect peace in all of this and we are so thankful for this.
As for 2018! We are starting it with healed and whole hearts. I've got a list of amazing brides and grooms i get to meet and work with this year and i'm so stinkin excited!! Every year I sit and pray over this business and pray that God would provide it with exactly what and who it needs. I am so honored to be the one chosen to document such a special day in people's lives. Marriage is one of my absolute favorite things in this life-time and it is such a joy to get to be a part of a wedding day in this small way! Clients this year, I am praying over you and your hearts as you prepare for this big big journey and special day! That you would feel nothing but JOY and PEACE entering into your wedding vows and that you would have the most fun ever as you enter into marriage as ONE!!!!! Thank you for choosing me, it's a deep deep honor that I will never take for granted!
xoxoxox,
Kaitlyn
