Baby Thomas #2 is on the Way!

Just in case you don’t follow me on social media (click HERE and HERE if you’d like to!) and you missed the announcement, Baby Thomas #2 is on the way! I wanted to make it “blog official” and talk a bit about how this pregnancy has been so far!

The first trimester was pretty rough, to be honest. I’m not sure if I was actually more sick this time around or if having a toddler accentuated the symptoms. I’ve been feeling better the past few weeks but it still hits me around 8pm every night. So my bedtime has just moved up a bit!

Mostly I’m just extremely excited to meet this little nugget! I think that’s what makes a second pregnancy SO special – I know what’s coming! I’ve experienced that moment when you lay eyes on your baby for the first time. I know what it’s like to be so proud of my child learning something new while simultaneously mourning each day that he gets older. I know it’s all wonderful and hard and worth it.

Now, in true pregnancy blog fashion, I’ll answer some popular questions:

When are you due? My due date is March 11, 2017 which puts me at about 19 weeks (almost halfway there!). As we all know, babies come in their own time and Finn came a week after his due date, so we’ll see!

Are you showing yet? I do have a little bump starting to make it’s appearance. Some days I feel bigger than others, but mostly I love watching my belly grow!

Have you had any symptoms? During my first trimester, I was very nauseous. Thankfully that has subsided a bit, but I do get nauseous at night some still. For the most part, I’m feeling MUCH better these days, though!

Any cravings or aversions? I kind of always crave carbs, which has been hard as I try to eat healthier, but that’s about it for now. I craved sparkling water at the beginning, which I also did with Finn – so random! As far as aversions go, I couldn’t stand the smell of any kind of meat during the first trimester. Now I’m just always hungry!

Are you going to find out the sex this time? We plan not to find out again – it was such a sweet surprise when we found out we had a son the moment Finn was born! I’ll be honest and say that it doesn’t come easy for me to wait, but Vaughan reminds me over and over that it will be OH so worth it! I got through our anatomy scan yesterday so…so far so good!

How long will your maternity leave be? Maternity leave is something that’s very important to me so I definitely plan to take a good break from work. Here’s what that will look like:

BLOG –  I’m hoping to schedule some blog posts ahead of time so it’s not complete radio silence over here. I won’t be blogging during my maternity leave, so I plan to write a lot of blog posts ahead of time.

EMAIL – I plan to put an away message up for 2-3 months. I don’t know exactly what that will look like – I may check periodically, but it won’t be a priority. I may have someone checking emails for me – it’s pretty much TBD right now.

PORTRAIT SESSIONS – I plan to take 2 months off of sessions and more if needed. Because I shoot film, which requires minimal editing, I hope to be able to jump back into this more quickly than births. So, as long as I’m feeling up to it, I’ll be taking late Spring 2018 clients for portrait sessions.

BIRTHS – This one’s the “biggy.” I will be taking at least 6 months off of birth photography. I know that seems like a long time (believe me, it scares me a little, too), but it’s important that I prioritize my family during this season. Because I’m planning to breastfeed, I won’t feel comfortable leaving my new babe for a long period of time before he/she is 6 months old. This will also be a little bit TBD as I navigate having two children and being on-call. If you have any other questions about my maternity leave, feel free to email me at lauren{at}laurenjollyphotography{dot}com

Will you still take on birth clients after baby arrives? As of now, I am planning to come back to births after my little hiatus! I love this work so much but I also want to take the time needed for me to adjust to life as a mom of two. As mentioned above, I plan to take 6 months off but it may be more depending on what this new little life has in store for us :)

What are your name ideas? We are about 95% decided on a girl name but still struggling with a boy name. I’m not sure we’ll be sharing them ahead of time, but I’ll certainly let you know if that changes!

Basically we are OVER THE MOON excited to meet this little one and to see Finn in his new role as big brother. I can’t believe it’s been 2.5 years since he arrived in our lives and now, as we gear up to welcome this new life, we thank the Lord for His blessings on our family!