The 2013 newborn photo session contest is now underway!
If you are expecting a baby on January 1, 2014 or later, you have an opportunity to win an all inclusive newborn photo session with Chandra Lee Photography. The contest starts today!
The winner receives a complimentary full service newborn photography session with Chandra Lee Photography including the following:
Exclusive newborn photo session with Chandra Lee
30 high resolution digital images
permission to print letter
30 fine art 5×7 prints
11×14 mounted print
8×8 hard cover story book
some additional free goodies that Chandra may throw in as an added bonus.
The value of this package is over $1,500.
To enter the contest simply submit a 500 story on your journey to conceive a baby. The couple with the most comments/votes wins!
Google “get online votes” for tips and creative ways to get more online votes. Tweet, blog, Facebook, use your instragram or Pinterest and ask your family and friends to help you raise votes.
Chandra has put together a list of ideas to help you come up with a 500 word submission.
Talk about your trying to conceive journey
Who was your doctor/fertility doctor
Name of support groups/on-line forums
Name of fertility treatment (i.e. intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilisation (IVF), gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), etc.)
To sign up for the contest and see full details, click the link to the Newborn Photographer Toronto | Photography Session Giveaway here.
My Trying to Conceive Journey
I received fertility treatment including in vitro fertilization with ICSI to conceive my daughter. Struggling for many years to conceive a child and wanting nothing more than to be a mother, I understand how couples feel who are undergoing the assistance of fertility treatment. The financial strain is also something I can relate to.
Some of us have not undergone fertility treatment to conceive a child, but many couples wait a very long time to conceive.
I put everything I had into conceiving my daughter. It took about 3 years until I finally reached out to my family doctor for help. It became evident that the chance of conceiving naturally was about a one in one million chance.
I went home and cried for about 3 days. Called in sick to work. After all, there is nothing more important in life than our families. I had wanted to be a mother for many years. To realize I might never be a mother was devastating to me. After a few weeks I decided to see what could be done. My family doctor referred me to three fertility specialists I had researched. My research led me to Dr. Michael Virro of the Markham Fertility Centre in Markham, Ontario, Dr. Essam Michael of Astra Fertility Group in Mississauga, Ontario and Sunnybrook and Women’s College Hospital Fertility Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
Dr. Essam Michael was the doctor who helped me achieve a successful pregnancy. I am grateful to him beyond words because he gave me my daughter Madison. She is the centre of my world and the reason why I became a newborn baby photographer.
I was working as a law clerk in Belleville, Ontario and the drive to the fertility clinic in Mississauga was about 2 hours each way. There was a number of pre-tests required before the IVF treatment could take place. I was very fit at the time with very little body fat and the fertility team advised me to cut back on exercise as it may affect the quality of blood flow to the uterus. I gained 10 pounds instantly.
They prescribed me with a Menopur and Lupron/Gonal-F protocol which required daily injections into my stomach for 30 days. One month prior to the Menopur and Lupron/Gonal-F protocol commencing, I was required to attend the clinic for blood testing to check my hormone levels about every other day.
I only had 7 eggs retrieved. One day after the in vitro fertilization procedure took place, the clinic nurse advised me that only 3 embryos were left surviving. I cried again. I had been a member of Fertility Friend, an on-line resource for women who are trying to conceive for several years. I had seen so many women struggling and was aware that my first round of ivf treatment didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped.
Scheduled to have the ivf transfer take place on day 3, I ended up with 4 embryos for transfer. They had missed the cell division of one embryo. All 4 embryos were of very good quality and the highest grade we could have for day 3. I insisted on 3 embryos being implanted even though the doctor suggested transferring two.
Shortly thereafter, I attended the clinic to check my hcg levels. My levels were low but I was pregnant. The line on my first pregnancy test was so faint you could barley see it. My stomach and my arms were black and blue from daily hormone injections and blood tests.
I was cautiously optimistic and as the weeks and months went by and I was still carrying my daughter, it became apparent that my wish of becoming a mother really was about to come true.
I am thankful for everyone who helped me conceive my daughter. Dr. Essam Michael is a wonderful doctor and within minutes of meeting him, there was no doubt that I wanted him to be my doctor.
I love my daughter Madison more than anything in this world.
After my daughter arrived, all I wanted was beautiful images of her to remember her being so little forever.
I want to give away a complete newborn photo session to help another family document a time in their lives that is so special after going through so much to conceive.
With much love,
Chandra
