I have always wanted to be a Mom for as long as I can remember. My mom was married at 20 and had me at 23 and I still remember turning 23 and my mom saying to me, “Tabi, you know I had you when I was 23”, and the comments continued as I got older and more of her friends were becoming grandparents and she was waiting (I wouldn’t say patiently but doing the best she could) for her turn and would say “I want to be a grandma!”. We found out we were pregnant about 2 weeks before Christmas last year and we were so excited to fly home to Atlanta to share the news with loved ones.

Becoming a mother has been such a new experience and I wanted to share a little bit about my experience to the Mamistad blog. I had heard of Mamistad through a local DC area book club and I wanted to share 3 reasons why I joined Mamistad.

1. To connect with first time moms:

I wanted to connect with other first time moms that would be experiencing the same thing as me. The feelings and excitement of a positive pregnancy test, the ultrasounds,

the symptoms, the mood swings, the questions, the birth decisions. One of my close friends has a 20-month old but she lives in New York and I wanted to have a community of women to connect and grow relationships with here in the DC area.

2. I am new to the area:

I moved to the DC area from Atlanta in July of 2019 and this has been my first time living away from home. Ever. I went to college in Atlanta and never moved away for any other reason. As an adult I have had to learn to adapt to a new city and I have learned so much about myself. I had to put in more effort to meet people than I ever had to do back home in Atlanta because I typically went to school with, or worked with those that became my close friends and closest relationships. It’s so important to find ways to meet people with common interests/experiences and I am grateful for the Mamistad community.

3. My very first Mamistad meeting exceeded my expectations:

Cynthia organized the meeting and brought me and several other Mamis together. Mamistad provides a great opportunity to experience motherhood with other first time moms. I showed up to the first meeting and stayed for a couple of hours for the Meet the Doula event afterwards and I felt so much joy from participating, sharing my story, and meeting the other women. I am lucky to be part of two Mamistad groups, MDC36 and MDC37. Cynthia spends so much time coordinating the groups and ensuring we have a community and I have been so grateful having this as a first time mom in a new city!

Tabitha is a first time Mom that will be welcoming her daughter in August 2020. Tabitha lives in Silver Spring Maryland with her fiance and 3 adorable cats. She enjoys quality time with friends and family and is a lifestyle newborn and family photographer, passionate about photographing connection and emotion in photographs. To learn more about Tabitha’s lifestyle newborn and family photography, check out her work here: https://www.tabithamaeganphoto.com/.