By Bethany Kandel
Congratulations! You’re pregnant. If it’s early, you may hardly be showing, but your body is already changing in ways you never imagined. Soon you’ll have a tiny bump; then before you know it, you’ll “pop” and it will be obvious to the world that there’s a baby in there.
It’s never too early to begin documenting your pregnancy journey with belly photos. Not only is it a fun way to watch mom and baby grow together, but it will be a nice memory to share with your child someday when recounting the story of his or her beginning.
Here are some ways to document your bump:
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Photograph your belly.
While it’s traditional to photograph your body in profile, you can also use a backlit silhouette for a nice effect. Or why not take regular photos from above and watch your feet disappear.
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Get your husband and even your pet in on it.
Joelle Caputa of Hiawatha, NJ, took weekly profile photos of her expanding belly with a sign counting up the number of weeks she was pregnant. Her husband and dog joined the fun, holding signs counting down the number of days until the baby was due. They compiled all of them into a photo book that now sits on a shelf in 1-year-old Genevieve's room. “I can’t wait to share it with her,” says Caputa, who blogs at Chipped Polish and Patty Cake. “It captures such a special time in our lives and will be so fun for her to look back on and see how her mommy and daddy were pre-parenthood! My husband complained each week when I made him pose for pictures, but once he saw the end result, he was so happy that I took the time to do this.”
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Get your older kids in on it.
If there’s a big brother or sister in the house, get your firstborn in the photos holding a sign stating the in-utero age of his future sibling. That way you can watch the growth of your big boy/girl and belly all at once.
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Make a time-lapse movie.
Try the CineMama app created by the March of Dimes. Take belly photos daily, weekly or monthly and the app compiles them all into a movie, complete with titles and soundtrack. Watch the incredible growing mommy right before your very eyes!
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Show the world how big your baby is in utero.
Take photos of your changing belly while holding a piece of fruit that corresponds to the estimated size of your developing baby. It’s fun to imagine your little one is the size of a grape one week and soon will be as big as a cantaloupe.
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Start a bump blog.
Danyelle Faust of South Florida wrote about her pregnancy at Ok, Dani. “I was so over the moon about being pregnant (after a doctor told me it couldn’t happen!) that I documented it all, week by glorious, pukey, tired, awesome week. I took photos and did weekly bump updates noting my cravings and how much weight I had gained.” Open the blog to the world, or keep it private and password protected, just for friends and family.
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Don’t forget to document baby number two, three or more.
With her first pregnancy, Sarah Prince’s husband “wanted a profile picture almost weekly,” says the Salt Lake City, Utah, blogger. The second time around she didn’t take many bump photos, and with her current third pregnancy, sadly there are even fewer, she says. “I feel I've done a disservice to not only my boys, but myself too.”
So start documenting your bump now, even if no one else can tell you are pregnant. You have a lot of growing to do and you want to capture every milestone. Someday your child will get a kick out of it …no pun intended!
Image: Getty
