In addition to maternity photos, I wanted to commemorate this pregnancy with belly mapping and then, belly painting. I think I first ran across the idea on Spinning Babies and it struck me as such a beautiful visual of what’s going on inside.
Most of the belly painting examples I ran across were simple quadrant sketches. Totally fun and very informative in preparation for birth, but I really hoped for something more artistic. And so, I partnered with Kelsea from The Pearl Creative. She’s a dear family friend and extremely talented when it comes to design and the arts. You can see lots of her work on Facebook and Instagram! It’s smashing!
Kelsea and I messaged throughout my pregnancy about ideas and when she showed up for the home birth visit my midwife and I had arranged I wanted to cry over the research and practice she had put into preparing for my belly painting. Her sketchbook was filled with sweet little womb babies and all the ways their bodies can twist and turn. So. Much. Talent.
Stacey mapped my belly by touch and explained to Kelsea all that she was feeling in regard to baby’s position. And then, Kelsea got to work. First sketching and then painting. Over two hours our family saw our little one come to life through her artwork.
Christine from LCS Photography captured the whole thing with her grand photography! If you like the LCS Photography Facebook page, you’ll get a secret preview of our maternity session too — the sibling/belly photos are pretty much to die for!
My belly painting couldn’t have turned out better! Truly, I’m in awe of how perfect and sweet this little boy is and it was such a treat to “see” him. Throughout, he kicked right where his little feet were painted and we felt his bum roll back and forth quite a few times. It seems he was quite the fan of his painting session :)
Max said it best though when we were all done. He exclaimed, “Our baby is weally cute!” then he leaned in for a kiss! I couldn’t agree more, Max, I think we’ve got a pretty cute little baby on his way into our arms!