“Motherhood was never a question for me. Since I was a little girl, I dreamt of the day I would become a mom. My journey into motherhood, however, wasn’t easy. My first pregnancy came after a year and a half of trying to concive and a surgery to remove polyps from my uterus that were preventing from becoming pregnant. My second pregnancy ended up in a heartbreaking miscarriage. The beginning of my third pregnancy was overshadowed by fears of my previous loss. And then came my fourth pregnancy. I honestly was hoping for it to be smooth sailing. And then when I was 7 weeks pregnant, on Christmas Eve, I started bleeding. It was overwhelming and scary. We had just told our families about the pregnancy. We decided to wait it out and not stress everyone during the holidays. I would have 5 more bleeds throughout my first semester, resulting in me going into a modified bed rest due to a subchorionic hematoma. It was scary and every time I saw red, I thought I would for sure lose the baby. Every bleed came accompanied by days of nonstop cramping. I am so grateful the hematoma was cleared by the time I hit 13 weeks and I was able to go back to normal life for a few weeks before Covid hit the states. I think sometimes we look at people’s lives on social media and we often don’t realize the struggles and tears that can come with motherhood. While my journey certainly hasn’t been as difficult as other’s, it still has had its challenges. Even though motherhood hasn’t always been what I imagined, my boys have so been worth it.  I am extremely grateful for my babies and I am so honored I get to be their mom.

“I became a photographer because of my love for photography. I grew up in a house of photographers and photographs were always such an important part of our lives. With every pregnancy, I have made it a priority to document every part of it. We had, of course, planned for a maternity session with a fellow photographer but then, Covid happened and all of our plans were upened. This is my third and most likely final pregnancy, and it was so important for me to feel like I was doing it justice. I wanted to cherish and document this because I know I will miss this time in our lives. I was heartbroken when I realized I wouldn’t get the photos I was hoping for. After grieving my idea of what could have been, I planned for an alternative session – one that would involve a tripod, my self timer and my husband. I am so happy we found a little patch of green where we could set up the tripod and capture my little family and my little bump.” Photographer and Expectant Mother, Valentina

VALENTINA GLIDDEN