It’s the last day of American Heart Month and I couldn’t let it go by without highlighting a recent little heart warrior I had the pleasure of photographing! I met Ashley in the summer for maternity photos and in our conversation I realized that her journey into motherhood would look quite different than most. Baby Celeste was born with a condition called Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries which required an open heart surgery called an anterior switch. Just 5 days after she was born, she was in her first open heart surgery! She also had multiple VSDs which were patched up in her second open heart surgery, just a few weeks later. She was on bypass for both open heart surgeries and spent the first 51 days of life in the hospital. I know what you’re thinking and YES, she IS incredible! In her first couple months of life, she has been through so much and is now thriving and smiling through it all!

I was so honored to take Celeste’s photos at 4 months old – she is such a happy baby and really stole my heart with her brave story. She was still receiving tube feeds via a nasogastric tube (which has since been removed, yay!!) and I loved that we were able to capture part of her story as it was unfolding.

Here are a few images from her session in my studio space – enjoy!