Pregnancy can be hard. Personally, I never understood the women who said how much they loved being pregnant; that just was not me, and I envied those women. But regardless of the type of pregnancy you have, I encourage you to document it and do your best to enjoy it! Because as hard as my pregnancy was, I still miss my sweet Christian being inside my belly. When we learned of Christian’s cleft diagnosis, the emotional side of my pregnancy caught up with the physical side — I was broken. I really struggled to enjoy my pregnancy. I still knew my daughter was an incredible gift, and I was still so excited to meet her. However, my pregnancy became centered around high-risk doctor appointments, interviewing cleft surgeons, and worrying about what was to come. Taking pictures became almost therapeutic for me. It was a way I could enjoy my pregnancy just like other women who were having 100% healthy babies. And I had a ton of fun doing it! The following is a list of pregnancy pictures you’ll regret not taking. So get out the iPhones, enlist the help of a husband, mom, etc., and start taking those pictures that you can one day show your baby!
1. Bump Progression:
This is something I started doing but didn’t follow through with. Once a month (or even once a week if you’re an overachiever!) take a picture of your growing bump! I’ve seen this done a number of ways. You could consider wearing the same outfit for each picture to give these pictures some kind of consistency. Some women use an app to put how far along they are in each picture. Some women do a sticker or a chalkboard to show how far along they are or to even give more details about their pregnancy at that stage. For example, a chalkboard that says “30 weeks…craving Ramen noodles…baby is the size of a ______”. Whatever your heart desires! At the end of the pregnancy, you can combine all the pictures into one graphic to show how your bump grew over time.
2. Silhouette Picture:
This is becoming more and more popular, and I definitely took part in this! What I love about the silhouette picture is that it completely pulls focus to your growing belly.
Step 1:
Find a background with a lot of light, such as a window. When you take the picture, your photographer (read: husband) will need to click on the light in the background. This will make your phone focus on the light in the background and it will make you darker/shadowed.
Step 2:
For posing, I put my hair up so it wouldn’t make the silhouette look weird and so you could see all the curves of my body (such as my head). I also put my arm on my hip so that it wouldn’t blend into my torso and make my body look boxy/bigger.
Step 3:
Edit. Don’t worry about your picture not looking perfect — you still need to do some editing. I did all of my editing with Instagram filters/lighting. First I chose a black and white filter. Then, I went into the editing and messed with lighting/contrast/exposure until my body was blacked out. Bonus points if you can get one of your husbands growing bump! 😉 Don’t you love my husband’s picture? He was such a trooper when I was trying to figure out the right lighting!And he may not admit if, but he liked to participate…. 
3. Bikini Picture:
This was something I said I would do when I first found out I was pregnant….easier said than done! Once my body started looking like it had never looked before, I started backing out. However, I eventually realized that what my body was doing was a beautiful miracle, and I was going to show it off! Even if you take this picture just for your eyes or share it with the world, you will not regret taking this picture! Feel free to choose an angle that you feel is most flattering. You could also include your S.O. or make this picture all about you! 
4. Fruit Picture:
If you’re anything like me, you probably have an app that tells you how big baby is every week! For example, baby is the size of a plum, cucumber, pineapple, papaya, watermelon, pumpkin, etc.! Get inspired by one of these fruits and take a picture commemorating how big baby was at that moment. You could do a plum when you’re around 12 weeks and use that picture to announce your pregnancy. Or you could do a watermelon to make it clear to everyone why you’re wobbling around, sweating profusely, and abandoning anything that gets dropped on the ground! 
5. Maternity Picture(s):
I realize this may not be in everyone’s budget, but whether you enlist the help of a friend with a fancy camera or pay a pretty penny for a professional, take the opportunity to get dressed up, do your hair and makeup, and take some maternity pictures. You’ll need to decide how far along you’ll want to be when you take the pictures, what you’ll wear, and where the pictures will be taken. I’ve seen people do a variety of outfits, such as maternity gowns that show your belly, formal dresses, or casual outfits. I chose to do mine around 36 weeks, and I knew I wanted my husband to be in them. I also chose our wedding venue as the location for these pictures because I liked the way we came back to “where it all started”. Again, you’ll never regret taking too many pictures, but you will regret if you don’t take enough. 
Bonus:
Splurge a little and buy some maternity shirts/bathing suites that just make for a cute picture. For example, if there’s a holiday coming up, my go to is Etsy. For example, simply search “Thanksgiving maternity” and see what cute shirts they have for pregnant mamas! The baseball picture below was a HUGE HIT at an Astros game. There were random men and women complimenting the shirt and wanting pictures of it! Who doesn’t love a cute bump dressed up to look like a baseball?!
