Infertility Journey to baby Salvador | Duplechain In-Home Newborn

A Mothers Perfect Plan

“Go to college. Become successful in my career. Get married. Have a son. Name him Salvador….this was my life plan for as long as I can remember. Those who know me, know I like my plans. I’m an absolute control freak (just ask my husband), and I plan out everything! I also usually have a back up plan for my plan. It’s a bit insane, but it’s who I am. I started working on this life plan when I graduated high school. I went to college, became an RN, met a wonderful man, married him, went back to school to pursue my master’s degree and become a Nurse Practitioner, all according to my life journey.

At this point, I had further perfected my plan to the point of deciding the exact month I would get pregnant! (Again, yes I realize I’m insane). I wanted to get pregnant in August of 2017, so that I would have my baby in May of 2018 (the same month I was graduating NP school) and be able to stay home with him for 3 months before starting my new career. And guess what!! Yep, you guessed right. It happened almost exactly like that! My husband, Ryan, and I started trying to get pregnant in August of 2017. In September, I had my first positive pregnancy test! To say we were excited would be a total understatement. I literally had everything I had ever wanted in life. My fairy-tale was working out just as I had planned…. so I thought.

Healing in Faith

On October 8, 2017 We lost our first baby, I was 8 weeks pregnant. I had always heard of other people having miscarriages, but never thought it would happen to me. I was devastated and confused and depressed, but I wasn’t giving up. Many people told me that miscarriages are very common, and most women go on to have a very healthy pregnancy the next go-round, so we started trying again a few months later. I won’t bore you with all the details, but long story short, we went through 3 more miscarriages, a year of infertility, a million dollar work up in the lab to tell me “you have a rare case of unexplained miscarriages”, fertility treatments, specialists….the list goes on.

Nothing was working! I was exhausted, defeated, depressed and hopeless. Losing my faith, I was angry with myself and with God. I couldn’t understand it. Why me? Everything I had worked for and “planned” for was to get me to this part…the part where I got to be a mom, why was He making it so hard for me? Many people in my life helped bring me back to my faith- my sisters, my parents, my friends. Everyone was adding me to their prayer lists, blessing me with holy oils, praying with me and for me. God sent his angels in full force, but the most amazing thing He did for me was introduce me to Sister Dulce…a healing nun in Baton Rouge.

Answered Prayers

The first time Ryan and I met with Sister was in March of 2019. I had just had my 4 miscarriage, which was a complicated one. Sister prayed over me. She felt my pain. She told me to stop all fertility treatments and to trust in the Lord. She told me that within 3 months (once my body had time to heal from losing my last baby), I would be pregnant with a son. God or “Papa” as she calls Him, showed her an image of Ryan holding our son-and he was strong, healthy and perfect. I cried in a way I had never cried before on that day….was this true?! Was I going to finally be a mom?! Only time would tell, so I trusted Him, and for once decided to follow someone else’s plan 🙂

The Most Precious Gift

On June 5, 2019 (3 months later) I had a positive pregnancy test. I was pregnant for our 5th child, but this one, we finally got to meet face-to-face. You are looking at him now on this blog. His name is Salvador “Sal” Joseph Duplechain. He is perfect and he is loved. Sal is the most precious gift the Lord has ever given us. God had a different plan for me, and even though I may never fully understand why, I know now that the only way to live is to live out the plan He has for us-He knows what He is doing.” -Heather

Mother and father holding newborn baby as the mother tells the story of her infertility troubles that lead to getting pregnant with her baby boy

Mother and Father in their home holding their rainbow baby boy after they went through years of infertility

parents holding newborn baby boy and he yawns

Parents hold newborn baby boy as they rub his head to sleep, they waited many years to have a child of their own

mother gently pats baby's back as she put him to sleep while he is resting on her shoulder

first time dad holds his newborn son that he longingly waited for after he and his wife went through years of infertility

baby sleeps in mothers arms and his little toes dangle down, his dad softly rubs his head and sings a lullaby to get him relaxed

parents cuddle newborn baby boy as he goes to sleep during his newborn photography session

parents happily gaze at their newborn baby boy as they have had many miscarriages leading up to finally holding this baby

New parents share a kiss at home as they hold their newborn in their arms

new mom snuggles newborn baby boy in her arms

new parents may on bed in master bedroom with newborn baby boy smiling at him

newborn film photographer medium format film portrait of baby boy laying on bed in lifestyle session

newborn baby has happy dreams as he lays with his mother while he sleeps

parents cup newborn baby's head into their hands as they hold him, he is staring right up at them with a grim

rainbow baby, newborn boy wrapped in muslin white gauze blanket as he is wide eyed and bush tailed kicking his feet into the air

black and white portrait of a mother peering down at newborn baby boy after years of infertility

mother holds her newborn baby boy in the nursery as she rocks him to sleep in her antique rocker

mother delicately holds newborn baby toes

mother in newborn nursery rocking her infant and watching her dogs play inside while getting photographed for her lifestyle session

proud dog brother looks up at newborn sibling, dog portraits with baby

newborn baby boy swaddled in Beaufort Bonnet monogrammed blanket adorned with a bow — Beaufort Bonnet Swaddle

details of newborn baby's nursery including Moses bassinet and heirloom silver bunnies, books, and even vintage baby shoes

newborn sleeps in nursery while details of the nursery are shown off including a set of sliver bunnies and a vintage pair of baby shoes

newborn sleeping on bed swaddled in a white blanket

newborn baby boy sleeps in his crib, a sign on the door of the nursery says shh...baby is sleeping

Styled by Lindsey Rogers – Curated Closet