Rainbow Baby, Scott & Alicia, Coe Family, Infertility, Infertlity Struggle, Bakersfield Photography

I first met Alicia and Scott when I was hired to shoot their wedding in spring of 2017. They were adorable, madly in love, and truly a pleasure to work with. I get to know some of my clients on a more personal level than others and Alicia and I instantly clicked. She shared with me that she and Scott had been trying for a baby for years and were dealing with the ugly twists and turns of Infertility. We met for coffee to finalize wedding details and I asked, “Do you think you will have any kids soon after the wedding?, Alicia shared her story with me and also mentioned that they were seeking fertility treatment and that once the wedding was done they were going to try the first round of treatment. Anyone who has gone through fertility issues knows the struggles, heartbreak, financial investment and emotional rollercoaster it can take a couple on. I must add that Alicia never once acted pitiful instead she was so hopeful when sharing her feelings with me about fertility treatment and ended it with “It’s all in God’s hands”. She joked that when that time came (meaning in the future) she wanted to surprise Scott with a photoshoot to announce her pregnancy. We remained in touch and she mentioned they had just seen the Dr. and were getting ready to start treatment but she physically felt off, like something was going on with her. Alicia assumed she was sick, or coming down with something until her Dr. ordered a blood test and low and behold it came back positive for prengancy. Pretty ironic it was literally days before they began the first round of fertility treatment.

Truly God’s timing. I wanted to share with a few words from Alicia’s personal experience. If you’re struggling with infertility, do not loose hope <3

This photoshoot was one of my all time favs as a photographer. I get to photograph so many happy moments in my line of work but Scott had NO idea, we totally set this up and his reaction was so sweet. Congrats to the Coe Family, cannot wait to meet miracle baby Coe!

From Alicia Coe:

From the outside looking in it would seem we had it all great relationship just bought our house two cars you know the American dream but we were empty we were missing something. Infertility could be the hardest thing we will ever go through month after month, test after negative test and oh lets not forget the Heartbreak and joy that come with all the pregnancy announcements your friends make. In all of our years of being together we always discussed having children together but that was really just it. I have a son from a previous relationship I had him very young I was only 15 Scott has been in our lives since my son was 4 years old so for a while he (my son) was all we needed. Then bam pregnant! It took five years we were so happy,surprised, Overjoyed, You Name It We were feeling it. The feelings were short-lived we gained our angel baby at 7 weeks pregnant. That’s when are real fertility Journey started. The doctor visits, ultrasounds, blood work, ovulation testing, shots, pills, and 4 doctors later I was tired. It had now been over a year and a half of let down every month I was tired. I was tired of the relax and it will happen, tired of the eye roll from my friends when talking about my new fertility obsession, tired of temping in the morning before I moved too much, tired of peeing in cups. I…was…done. we decided to put trying on hold for a while and plan our wedding. I was secretly hoping that in this time of not trying it would just happen as everybody said it would. Scott and I became husband and wife on our 8-year anniversary in front of all of our family and friends. After returning from the honeymoon I was back to it, researching the best doctors and fertility clinics within a 200-mile radius. Our appointment was set and our fertility Journey was back on. The doctor we chose to see only came to town 2 times a month so our appointment was a little over a month away. He had our stack of records and went over them before our appointment I remember sitting in his office feeling so nervous. Going over every little detail to finally hear you guys are going to have to do IVF anything else will be throwing your money away and with both Partners having fertility problems IVF is going to be the best option. We left the appointment feeling hopeless. IVF?!?! That’s like 17 grand!! Okay infertility you win when give up!! We didn’t have a “plan” now and really didn’t even discuss it at all after the appointment. 2 weeks to the day latter I was getting ready for work and looked at my stockpile of ovulation and pregnancy test and thought why not someone’s got to use them up. So I did my usual peed tested set it on the counter and continued my morning routine. until I looked over and saw what I had been hoping to see for the last 2 years….2 lines?!? Does this test really have 2 lines!? 2 BLAZING lines at that! So naturally I Take 5 more at work… Yep I’m pregnant!! No fertility meds no IVF just a miracle from God!! I was literally pregnant at our consultation and didn’t even know!!! I couldn’t wait to tell my husband but it had to be perfect. I text our photographer for my wedding and we set up a photoshoot that night. His reaction, takes a minute to sink in but the pictures are priceless  and you can feel the emotion looking at them. Infertility doesn’t have to be a hush hush topic. Does it hurt? Heck yeah it does! Does it at some point consume you, yes. Does it seem impossible to have your dream of a family, sure. But are you alone, no! Our journey was long and tiring but of course worth it now. Our Dr has told us we can write a book using our pregnancy and how the baby is measuring and heart rate. Please don’t ever give up!! Our little miracle will be here march 28th 2018!!