No Maternity Pics

Everyday I feel so deeply lucky that we finally had a procedure work for us.  I love every minute so far of being a mommy.  There’s nothing I want more than to be hangin’ with my girl. 

But being pregnant wasn’t really fun for me.  I liked the idea that we had a baby on the way, but the physical reality of it wasn’t a good time.  Most of the time I was uncomfortable or in pain.  I threw up 8 of the 9 months.  Most days I was lucky to get out the door with a bath and clean clothes.  Washing and styling my hair, shaving my legs, wearing make-up – some days it was just too much for me.  I was pale, pasty, had huge bags under my eyes and I waddled everywhere I went.

So, to put it midly, photo shoots were not at the top of my daily to-do list.  I knew I wanted to take maternity pictures with Troy during my pregnancy, so I pretty much relied on that to record our memories of the time.  The photo shoot was really important to me – I hadn’t taken many pictures along the way, and we may never get to be pregnant again.  So I wanted to make the absolute most of them.  I researched online poses I wanted to do and picked out matching outfits for us – jeans, long sleeved white shirts, and my red converse tennies and his blue ones.

I found who I thought would be the perfect photographer.  I had joined an Austin Parents of Infants and Toddlers Meet-up group a few months before, and the moderator recommended Kat Evertsen, a woman who had just moved to the area and was offering a professional photography shoot in your home for half price if you used the meet-ups promo code.  Kat had a blog that she has since disabled, but you can see part of her story here:  http://www.snappymoms.com/www.snappymoms.com/Baby_Alex.html.  Kat’s blog talked about losing her baby Alex to a heart defect as an infant, and how part of the proceeds from every photo shoot went to a research/aid fund for parents of infants with the same defect.  She seemed perfect.

Kat came to our home in February right after my grandfather’s funeral and did our shoot.  It took about two hours and we enjoyed Kat and every minute of the shoot.  I was so glad we’d gotten it done before the baby came.  Kat said she’d be mailing us the disc of the pictures along with a release letter within two weeks.  I made the horrible mistake of paying her cash.

Time went by and the pics never came.  We called, we emailed, she finally responded that her father had a health scare and she’d been out of town.  That’s ok, I said, just send them when you can.  Months more went by.  Davie came.  Calls and emails went unanswered.  Finally, I found and contacted her on Facebook.  She finally admitted the pics were gone.  She had a long, convoluted story about how her hard drive was destroyed and her computer was sold and wiped.  I’m heartbroken.

I feel like such a fool.  I was taken, I’ve been had.  She says she’ll refund our money, but I doubt it will happen.  I don’t even care about the money.  The memories are all I want.  Those pictures.  I NEVER should have relied on someone I didn’t know with such precious memories.  I should’ve gone to Sears or Penney’s, anyplace more professional.  I can’t even kick myself, I’m just to heartsick.  What makes me saddest of all is that she uses the horrible, tragic death of her son to fleece people.

I’ve seen now on FaceBook she’s advertising in-home child care.  I hope no-one will trust such an unscrupulous woman with something as precious as their children.  I don’t know much about FB but I wish I could post a warning.  I Googled her back when she wasn’t answering our emails (I was looking for the Alex blog, which I discovered she had disabled), and found many complaints about her.  Apparently she also offeres photography classes, but has been accused of taking people’s money but not ever holding classes.

Please be sure to take pictures while you’re pregnant and of your little ones.  I’d hate for anyone else to lose those precious memories like I have.  I was lucky enough to finally find five pictures of myself while I was big, but not one of them with Troy.  But – I know what you’re thinking – and you’re totally right.  It’s time to let it go, to live and learn.  I still get to hold my little girl at night, so I still win.  I win big. 🙂