Photography by Lori Wilson
THE SCHLIEVE FAMILY
Katie, Max, Hadley, Hannah, Harrison and puppy, Ollie
BACKSTORY: Katie and Max moved to Oak Cliff seven years ago and have lived in their Kessler Park house, on Edgefield at Colorado, for about four. He works for Vizient, and she is director of donor relations at Southwest Medical Foundation. She also started a nonprofit, One Wing Foundation, which raises money to support parents in Texas who have experienced infant loss. The Schlieves lost their first son, Hudson, to an umbilical cord accident in 2015.
HOW IT STARTED: Katie Schlieve was entering her second trimester of pregnancy with her fourth child when stay-at- home orders arrived. They had just surprised their daughters, now 4 and 3, with a gender reveal — blue balloons and a doll cradle filled with a boy’s toys. And they had just adopted a puppy. The porch portrait was a Mother’s Day gift. “This is the most challenging time that I’ll ever see as a mom, and I wanted to document what life was like, in a good way,” she says. “It was a little snapshot of what was fun for us at the time.”
HOW IT’S GOING: Baby Harrison was born at the end of August. “It was already a high-risk pregnancy because of our loss, so there are a lot more appointments, and every appointment has a sonogram,” she says. The doctor visits filled her with anxiety because she wasn’t allowed to bring anyone with her, and she’d learned of her first son’s death during an appointment when she was by herself. During her other two pregnancies, she’d always had someone with her. “It was hard to overcome that and just being pregnant and dealing with how the world is now,” she says. “I was due in late August, and I thought, ‘Surely this will all be over by then.’” When Harrison was born, only Max was allowed in the hospital. “It was the staycation we never got this year,” she says.
FUTURE CHALLENGES: “We had no idea how long this was going to persist,” Katie says. “Even with the vaccine, people don’t know how long we’re going to stay like this. In my industry, we do so many events. Even for One Wing Foundation, our main way of fundraising is through events. People are tired of the virtual world, but everyone’s getting creative and making the most of challenges. Even though this year has taken so much away from us, the theme of the year is still ‘more.’ There’s been more stress, but there’s been more time together. I’m not a stay-at-home mom. I’m meant to be a working mom, so this was the time I was given to stay home with my kids, and that’s not something I’m ever going to get back, fingers crossed.”
