Hi, I’m Laura Ryan, a Charleston Newborn and Family Photographer. My passion for photography, specifically motherhood photography, came out of a season of grief after we miscarried our first baby. I needed to do something good – I needed to celebrate life.
It’s really a unique privilege. I think we can sometimes forget what a miracle creating a little life truly is, and for some, the journey to get there is filled with a lot of struggle, loss, and heartache. This family is, unfortunately, no stranger to that. After having their oldest son, they went on to lose six babies and then were told they would not be able to have children….but then Ollie surprised them!
I had the best time photographing Ollie’s one year session on the beach at Isle of Palms in Charleston, SC. There is also something about motherhood in black and white that has always spoken to me and it felt fitting to do it for this session!
A few words from Mama…
How did loss change you as a mother?
There are no words to describe the feeling of losing a baby much less, six. After grieving and being angry with life for a few years I realized that my battle with anxiety of always keeping a clean house and doing things like the laundry and dirty dishes could wait. I wanted to pour all my undivided attention into showering the healthy beautiful boy I did have with love, snuggles, storytime, sword fights, trips to the mountains, beach, Disney, playing transformers making forts or even just going to the park and making all the priceless memories I could possible with him! Time is precious – they grow so fast. I definitely took the time to appreciate not only good times of being a mother but the bad and stressful times too! After-all being a mother is one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs I’ll ever have the pleasure of having! Point being…loss made me into the best mother I feel I could possibly be, and my now 6 year old son is the sweetest kindest happiest little boy because of it!
What was that moment like when you found out you were pregnant with Ollie and then once you knew that he was growing?!
When I found out I was pregnant I was actually laying in pre-op with an IV in my hand waiting for an outpatient procedure to start. My husband and I had given up all hope after being told we wouldn’t be able to have any more children after all our losses and we were going to start our adoption process. Needless to say when the surgeon came in to tell me he couldn’t do my procedure because I was pregnant I wasn’t believing any of it! I remember looking at him saying no no I’m not that’s impossible he said yes you are I just burst into tears and asked if this was a sick joke because I was told I couldn’t have any more children.
I was so excited. I was also terrified. The days waiting to see my OB for an ultrasound were torture. Even after we confirmed the pregnancy and knew our rainbow was there and growing, I laid in bed for weeks, crying with every cramp, every random pain, or sick feeling I got. I was terrified of another loss. When I hit my second trimester and we revealed it was yet another healthy little boy, the tears again came pouring down my face. I just couldn’t believe that this was actually happening – my son had been dying for a sibling and he hugged and kissed and spoke to my belly every day after we told him he was going to be a big brother!
Thoughts as you celebrate your rainbow baby turning one?
It’s been one of the best years of my little families lives since our rainbow was born! Still days later I’m very emotional to think about how so very fast this first year flew by he’s the happiest, easy-going, full of attitude and the most strong-willed little boy I’ve ever seen! He’s been a fighter since he was growing in me! Born at 36weeks due to a very complicated high-risk pregnancy, he had a rough start at life but that has not stopped him and he’s been determined to grow up way too fast on this mamma! There’s no other way to say it but I feel truly blessed!
Gear
Canon 5d Mark IV
Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
Sigma Art50mm 1.4
Laura Ryan Photography
Website: https://
Instagram: https://instagram.
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