Looking back at my belly

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I thought I would share this self-portrait I took the night before I went into the hospital to have Reid. Throughout my pregnancy I knew I wanted to capture images of my body and my growing belly. This is something I love to do for so many women, so naturally I wanted this for myself too. My clients always ask me when the best time is to have their professional maternity photos done and I always recommend sometime between 30 and 36 weeks, or when their belly feels ready to be shown off :). As the months passed I thought of my own advice and when the ideal time would be for me. With each week I would think, “Is now the time?” But it never felt quite right and so I continued to take my snapshots. I wanted my belly to be bigger for my pro photos! And so I waited….until I arrived at the surprising news of a necessary delivery with only a day’s warning…. and still no professional photos. So what do I do? I stay up late, set up my lights, my back drop… and strip. My belly isn’t huge in this photo, but this isn’t shocking as Reid was only three and a half pounds. This is as big as my belly got. I’m glad I have this time and how my body looked documented. And I like this photo. It reminds me of how I felt that night: scared, nervous and hopeful for the health of our baby, excited to meet the new little person.