Hurricane Matthew may have left devastating destruction when it hit the Caribbean and Southeast last fall, but at least eight “miracles” that were also left in its wake are due to come into the world in the very near future.
Eight soon-to-be mothers in South Carolina’s Lowcountry region each got pregnant in October, at the time Hurricane Matthew hit the area, ABC News reported.
Residents either evacuated or sheltered in place while high-force winds destroyed trees, homes and property.
Cassie Clayshulte, the official newborn photographer for Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville, told ABC News that she knew there would be a surge in pregnancies after the storm, which also means a surge of business for her.
“About nine months from a big storm or a big power outage, even nine months from Valentine’s Day or the holidays, I’ll always see a surge in births at the hospital,” she said.
Anticipating this, Clayshulte posted on Facebook that she was “looking for moms who made babies during the hurricane and are willing to talk about it.”
“I got this vision of all these moms lined up celebrating these little miracles that may not have happened if it weren’t for the hurricane.”
Eight months later, Clayshulte shot eight very pregnant women wearing floor-length gowns in an array of colors.
Clayshulte said she wanted to show that had it not been for the storm, the mothers wouldn’t be expecting their “little miracles.”
“Some of these couples had trouble conceiving, experienced difficult previous pregnancies, and even had to undergo several rounds of fertility treatments to become pregnant,” she said. “This storm destroyed trees and property and our area’s tourism industry took a big hit, but the storm helped these couples create something even more beautiful and these stunning mommies-to-be are living proof.”
One of the expecting mothers, Lindsey Gullett, said she was forced by the military to evacuate her apartment in Beaufort, which was completely underwater at one point. She and her family spent six nights in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Another one of the mothers, Molly Spears, said while they lost power to their home in Bluffton for about three days, it did not suffer any damage.
“We lost power for about 72 hours and the worst to come of that was I lost my entire freezer stash of breast milk,” Spears said. “We evacuated to Cashiers, North Carolina, and stayed at my sister-in-law’s mountain cabin for the week.
Spears nicknamed her first-born “Hurricane Porter” and said it will be “interesting” to see if his little sister is “just as wild,” especially considering “she was conceived during an actual hurricane.”
Mom Danielle Lewis of Bluffton, who is pregnant with a boy, said she believes that “babies always come at a time when they are most needed.”
“When he is born, I feel he will fill a hole in our lives we didn’t even know was missing,” she said. “I’m so eager and excited to meet him.”
(H/T: ABC News)
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