Pregnancy Apps

An App for Every Occassion

Once upon a time, we had no iPhones, no android phones and no ‘apps’, but as with everything nowadays, there is an app for everything. And as with the chicken and the egg, it is a bit difficult to know where to start, but pre pregnancy seems like a good place. Plus these are the ones I have found so far….. I am going to try and find apps for all occasions, but for now, if you are thinking of becoming pregnant, maybe these will be helpful.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any apps you may like to share.

PRE-PREGNANCY APPS

Fertility Friend

This is a very popular app, with a five-star average rating. It’s simple to use and has reportedly tracked more than 650,000 pregnancies. Includes colour-coded chart that tracks your period, fertile days, and more, to predict your personal fertility window and ovulation date. Also, this is the part that makes it stand out above many other apps: you can compare your own chart with other users.

Ovia Fertility & Cycle Tracker

It has the same basic features as Fertility Friend but there is no chart or chart comparison. However, it is an attractive app to use and there is a good selection of articles in categories such as Before You Try, Fertility 101 and Having Trouble. It is set out as a monthly calendar view and it updates your fertility score and cycle day each day. The home page will pop up with advice for the day, including Trying to Conceive Tip or to report on the data you entered.

Glow Cycle & Fertility Tracker

Track your cycle with this ovulation calculator and learn more about your reproductive health Easily record your physical symptoms, sexual activity and day to day moods to help your chances of getting pregnant

PREGNANCY APPS

Pregnancy +

Pregnancy + tells you the exact number of days you are pregnant, provides daily info and blogs plus an in-depth explanation of what’s happening with your precious little one that week. There is also a kick counter, image gallery, baby names, appointment logging and shopping lists. It includes gorgeous images and lots of supportive tools.

What to Expect - Pregnancy & Baby Tracker

This app comes from the brand “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” book and website. Simply add your baby’s due date and start tracking your baby’s growth. You can join a tight knit community with discussion groups such as 1st Pregnancy, Single Mums, and Baby Name Game. It’s other main selling point is the huge amount of information in their blogs and articles. However, many women say the number of ads are a drawback.

Full Term

This app is a contraction timer to use during labour. It’s simple to use, with an uncluttered interface. When the first contraction starts, press start, and then press stop when the contraction ends. You can also put in notes about how intense each contraction was and anything else of importance. As an added bonus, you can email the progress report to your healthcare professional.

Contraction Timer & Counter 9

Another contraction timer app to help time your contractions and determine when it’s time to go to the hospital if you plan on having a home birth, the app will tell you what stage of labour you are in at any given moment

There are so many apps to choose from, with some focusing on dads, others on baby bump photos and some that listen to your baby’s heartbeat. Of course, all apps are intended for general information purposes only. If you have queries or worrying symptoms, please get in contact with your obstetrician.

Have you used any of these apps? Or are there others that you have found helpful?

Yes, You Can!

How to Afford Your Newborn Photographer

It’s the number one response I get from people when they inquire with me, but ultimately don’t book:

“It’s just too expensive.”

I get it, I really do. For a lot of people, photography is a massive investment. Having a baby can be expensive—paying for your health cover & the excess, childbirth education, a whole new wardrobe to accommodate your changing body, a whole new wardrobe for the baby, furniture, car seat, baby prams, baby wraps, the list goes on & on. It’s hard to imagine adding another $1000+ investment on top of all of that, and understandably so! Newborn photography is a luxury, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t have it. Here are some reasonable ways that you can pull together the funds to have the newborn photographer of your dreams.

REQUEST A PAYMENT PLAN

I feel like this is obvious, but I have a hunch that many people don’t know this is an option: ask your photographer for a payment plan! Almost every photographer I know offers them and if they don’t, they haven’t thought of it. Contact them (or me) as early as possible, so your payments can be spread out over the majority of your pregnancy. A $1,000 investment paid over 7 months is $143 a month, which is a much more digestible number. If you make 26 weekly payments (from 12 weeks until 37 weeks) that’s roughly $39 a week. The key here is to plan ahead so you can get started as early as possible.

ASK FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Nothing makes friends and family more generous than the exciting news that a new baby is on the way. People love to spend their money on babies! The unfortunate thing about this is that more often than not, a large percentage of the gifts you receive won’t see any use. Skip the unnecessary clutter and consumerism and ask for something much more meaningful instead: help paying for your newborn photographer! I make this exceptionally easy by offering a complimentary gift registry setup. How many people do you know?! If each of them contributed just $25 toward your investment, how much of it would be covered? Every little bit helps!

(Pro Tip: If you set this up early enough, you can share it more than once, so that those who forgot or weren’t able to contribute the first time will have a second opportunity to do so.)

SELL YOUR STUFF

Yep, I said it. It’s a suggestion I’m qualified to make because it’s something I’ve done. I know, it sounds awful, but really—look around you. How many things do you own that you’re not making good use of? How many of those things are less important to you than having priceless images from your baby’s early days? It’s really just a matter of deciding what’s important to you. This is actually something I do often, churn out things in my home that are no longer serving me well in favour of things that will bring me more joy or have more purpose. Nothing wrong with that! Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree are great places for this!

Did I miss anything? If you found a creative way to fund your photographer that’s not on this list, be sure to let me know so I can add it!

If you would like some information about my Newborn Sessions, please flick me a message below, and I will be in touch as soon as possible.

Nicole 🧸

A Little Behind The Scenes Of a Perth Children's Photographer (that would be me) 😁

Magic & Wonder

………….. The Magic of Childhood

It is one of the things that I am attracted to with photography, that a place that could be (or is) boring or unexciting, through a camera and some creativity, can be transformed into a wonderland. People are always asking where do I go to take my photos, so I thought I would take you on a little journey with me over the next few weeks, to show you some of the places I visit, and hopefully some of the results. I do have to admit, that with the gorgeous kids and grown ups, that I am taking images of, the scenery is already greatly accentuated. Add the gorgeous clothes, and accessories for the kids in my Magic & Wonder Wardrobe, or the gorgeous maternity gowns……..

Then also add any other props that are carted, carried (and dragged), by my friend Nicki and me (and our husbands, our kids, and anyone who will lend us some muscle), give the locations a feel of their own. I am sure some people must look at us and wonder if we are crazy people, taking dining chairs & cupcakes into paddocks, fairy toadstools into gardens, a bathtub into some shrubbery, a bed into a park, a lolly stand with an elf, or a boat (that may or may not float) to a dried up lake. But this is all part of creating the fantasy, creating a wonderland to turn it into something real.

So join me, in my little jaunt around Perth, and see a few of the places I visit. Let me know if you find any little spots, that you think would be great for me ;)

A Camera In Hand and a Goal In Sight

Last night I went to my camera club, The Aperture Group for the first time this year, actually the first time in a long time. Last year was a pretty rough year for me, and my health has not been at its peak, so by the time 7pm came around on a Tuesday evening, I never seemed to be able to get out of the house. This year, I have sworn to make more of an effort, to chat to other photographers about the things we all love, and to learn new skills, and take heed of critiques of my work.

I have always loved photography, and years ago, the reality was, the price of being able to expand with it was out of my reach. With all of my kids at school (and left school), I was able to make way to take some time and money for myself and learn a new skill. I knew I would love it. My kids hated it, too old to love the ‘kids photo modelling’ like the little ones, they begrudgingly sat on stools surrounded by my prop addiction while I clicked my little shutter learning about focus, lighting, aperture (what the heck is that??), depth of field, composition…… “Mum, have we finished yet, I’m done.” I realised through my learning, I really do love photographing people, especially willing people, and children are usually the most willing. They really know how to play up to a camera.

I thought I wanted to photograph landscapes to begin with, and I did for a few months, learning to photograph things that were stationary…. but then my undiagnosed ADD set in and I needed movement, and what moves more than babies, toddlers or children? Try capturing a milestone session of a 6 month old crawling towards your camera ;) Plus I could use my abilities of art, design and prop hoarding, I mean prop searching. I have so many props we have just bought a sea container so we don’t have to move out the house……. if you think I am kidding I have a claw foot bath at my front door, and a row boat that probably doesn’t float, out the back.

The last few years I have built up my Perth Newborn Photography and Maternity Photography, and I love it (so share the word around). This year, my friend and I are immersing ourselves in ‘Magic & Wonder - Unique Children’s Creations’, and letting our, and our clients imaginations run wild. To let children have fun, and dress up, while capturing and encapsulating their childhood innocence. We have had such fun already, Glitter sessions, our annual Christmas Mini sessions, a bath tub full of bubblegum (whilst wearing rollerskates), a carousel horse in parklands, fields of lavender flowers, pirates in row boats….. and we have so much more up in our heads.

I had a goal when I turned my camera from auto to manual - to take a photo of someone and make the background that nice blurry look, while the person stayed looking ‘good’, and to take a photo of water over rocks, so you could see the motion of water. Ha, I now have a giggle, I can do both, and now my goals have shifted - but isn’t that good we all keep evolving & learning.

SO back to camera club, last night I won both Gold and Silver for the two images that I entered. Not high in the International photography stakes, but it did make me think of humble beginnings, and the continuing learning that we all are on. I think my goal is now Perth’s Best Photographer ;)

Gold Image

Silver Image

Aurora || 4 Months

I photographed her Mum’s maternity session, and her newborn photos, so how could I not do a milestone photo session for her!

Our babies grow so fast and often we are so tired (and sometimes cranky), that we miss so much of their growing, until we look back and wonder “where did that time go?” I know! Mine are now 26, 22 (yesterday) and 17 and I’m old enough to be a Grandma myself really, and I wonder where has the time gone? So it is really nice to capture some moments of that time, which is really neither here or nor there. They haven’t started sitting or walking yet, but their little personalities are really starting to shine through.

Aurora wasn’t really overly smiley on the day of her milestone photo session, but she is so gorgeous, she can’t help but melt your heart. We firstly dressed her in a gorgeous handmade, one of a kind romper from my prop box, took a few of her relaxing & kicking her feet. After a little break, we dressed her in a “aww” so cute bear romper, and were able to capture some more gorgeous images, before she became fed up, and gave me ‘the bird’ which I then knew was my time to put the camera down ;)

For gorgeous images of your darling one, contact this Perth baby photographer (that would be me) to capture your milestone images.

Happy | Smiles | Blue Eyes

I’m just kicking around.

I am so beary adorable ;)

Lavender Hues

As a Perth photographer, you are always looking for new and unexplored places to capture you images. Recently I was tagged in a post about a gorgeous field of purple. I thought it was Europe as there are beautiful lavender fields there, but how lucky was I to find it is actually around the corner from me. I was even more lucky as I had a photo shoot coming up and it was before they were to harvest the crop.
I had such fun capturing beautiful images of Taiy. We had a couple of outfit changes and a big gorgeous lavender balloon to match the flowers. I can’t wait to capture more gorgeous children’s portraits and kids photos there either next season, or I have heard they have still kept a few rows for ornamental reasons, so it may be enough to capture some wonderful images.