AITA?

I’ll try to make this story short for yall without leaving anything out.

A few years ago when I was a photographer, I put out a model call for maternity photoshoots. A girl who we will call Kelsey answered the ad and I gave her a free maternity photoshoot. She befriended me shortly after because she was going through some drama with her best friends. They were honestly treating her like trash, and also treated me like trash for befriending her. I ended up giving her a free newborn photoshoot as well because we were friends. After her drama in her friends group was squashed, she pretty much dropped me as a friend. Would only text or send a Snapchat and would never hang out. Always ditching me for these girls that treated her like trash.

Fast forward to now, we are pregnant together. She is two weeks ahead of me. So she is 30 weeks and I am 28 weeks. I shut down my photography business entirely a year ago because my first child is school aged and I wanted to homeschool her and focus on my family. My husband makes enough money to do so, and our mortgage is paid off, so I decided to close my business. Again, Kelsey and I don’t hang out. She sends me a Snapchat every now and then. But after learning we are pregnant together, it seemed like she started trying to talk more often. Eventually it got to a point where she was complaining to me that she just had to spend $200 on a newborn photoshoot and just won’t be able to have maternity photos this time because she cannot afford it. I offered her a free photoshoot even though my business is closed. I let her know that it would not be an extensive photoshoot like the first time because I don’t have a studio, it’s hot outside, and I am pregnant. So she ordered SIX different dresses so she could have photos in 6 different outfits. Like that’s really excessive. Even when I ran my business, I did max 3 outfit changes for paying clients.

And then I was diagnosed with preeclampsia, marginal cord insertion, and IUGR. I’ve been extremely tired and just overall not feeling well at all, in addition to being restricted to light activity by my doctor. So now I’m 28 weeks pregnant, with preeclampsia. My husband and I have also been extremely busy and stressed trying to finish up the remodel on our house in case we have to deliver the baby early, which is hard because I’m restricted to light activity and can’t help much these days. But i decided that Kelsey and I would go to the beach this past Sunday for her photoshoot. Sunday came around and I was exhausted so I wanted to take a nap before heading out for her photoshoot. I told my husband to wake me up in time to leave, but he forgot because he was busy installing tiles in the bathroom. Alarms don’t wake me up, so that’s why I asked my husband to wake me up. I ended up missing the window of time needed to do her photoshoot because I was sleeping. She did not end up going to the beach, didn’t even leave her house, because she hadn’t heard from me.

As soon as I woke up and noticed the time, I called her and she didn’t answer. So I sent her a Snapchat immediately and apologized. I explained what happened and told her we can reschedule for literally any day she wants. She opened the snap but didn’t respond. This was on Sunday. Now, if this were a paying client, I would understand her being upset. But she’s not a paying client. It’s a free photoshoot between friends and she KNOWS I have health issues during my pregnancy and KNOWS I’m restricted to light activity. She has ignored me every single day since.

Yesterday I saw Maternal Fetal Medicine for my weekly monitoring (I have to see MFM and my OB once per week and get labs done weekly as well) and I asked them if they think it would be okay to have my husband take maternity photos for me. I wanted them to clear the activity because posing can sometimes put strain on the baby and myself. They said it would be okay if I took breaks as often as needed and didn’t do any poses that are too crazy or for extended periods of time. So my husband and I drove out to a nice location and spent about 15-20 minutes taking my maternity photos.

I edited a few of them on my laptop when we got home and posted them on Facebook. This morning I woke up to a text from Kelsey saying “Sorry I didn’t respond, I just needed some time. I hope you are doing okay.”

But I’m calling bullshit. I feel like she only texted because she saw my photos and got jealous because she doesn’t have photos and knows I would do a really good job on her photos. I feel like she ignored me for 4 days and was not being a true friend who would’ve been understanding and simply rescheduled for another day that week or the following weekend. Her half assed apology acting like I did her so dirty and she “needed time” is full of salt, and she just wants free photos from me. So I just simply didn’t respond, just like she did to me. I don’t like feeling used.

So am I the asshole for not responding and not doing her photos anymore? Sorry it ended up being long.