Brent + Marissa

I had the absolute honor of being welcomed into the home of Brent, Marissa, Lily, and their newest addition, Leo, this afternoon.

You know those couples that have such a strong connection, that you can tell how much they love each other the minute you see them interact? That’s what it’s like to be with these two.

Brent and I have been dating since high school, 12 years this February. We grew up in the same town and went to the same school. After high school, we went colleges that were about 20 minutes apart from each other. Brent played football and I spent weekends being his number one fan!

Last year, I posted  an intimate entry about infertility and began to share the stories of men and women from all over the world who were on this journey.You can read those stories here. Infertility is close to my heart. I’ve struggled with it, my friends have struggled with it, and I began to realize, after reading those stories, that I was not alone.

After seeing my post, Marissa reached out to me. She began to open up about their desire to have a baby of their own, and I tried to be someone that she could talk to about their struggle.

In May of 2016 I went to my first of many appointments at the WVU Center for Reproductive Medicine. Between May and now I have done multiple rounds of medication to make me ovulate, I’ve given myself shots in my stomach to ensure that ovulation and I’ve done a round of failed IUI. After the failed IUI in September we decided to take a break for mental sanity.

After Brent and Marissa decided to take a break from treatment, I offered to tell their story. I want to tell it from this point in their life until their first baby is a year old. With that, comes many, many trials and tribulations. There will be happy days, and there will be sad ones. I will be there to capture every intimate moment, in hopes of being a light; in hopes of telling their story.

Marissa is a strong woman, and Brent is a caring man. They have the greatest outlook on life and a strong faith in the Lord. Marissa told me “I want to remember that even when times got really tough we had each other to get through it. I want to remember that even though there were really low days, there were days that we laughed and talked about our future and had high hopes and a positive outlook.”

At the end of the session, they read letters to each other and opened up about their feelings toward this chapter in their life.

 

 I think our goals are to document these times to have something positive to look back on when everything does work out and hopefully shed a light for other people that they aren’t alone.

So, this is only the beginning. Chapter 1, if you will. Brent and Marissa have a beautiful story to tell, and I am so excited to be there to witness it all.