Bump photoshoot with DK Capture

When I was pregnant with Callum, Stuart bought me a photoshoot experience gift. I thought about using it after baby was born but I didn't have long before I had to use it by and not knowing how long it would take me to loose the baby weight, or if I would ever lose it, I decided to use it for a pregnancy shoot. Considering it took me about 2 years to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight it was the right decision. We came away with 2 photos - the deal was to get one free framed photo but think we negotiated 2 photos without the frame!

Anyway, despite the fact they are still without a frame & are waiting to be shown off on a wall somewhere, I thought I'd like to do it again this time round. Originally my reasons were partly because I hated my pregnancy body! Now that might sound a bit masochistic but I thought I'd much prefer to look back at my body through professional photos & remembering it for the lovely image of what it represented (my unborn baby girl) rather than looking back at my body negatively. I know, it's an odd theory but it works for me...Debbie logic! However, as it turns out, I've learnt recently to like (love still being a bit strong) my pregnancy body a lot more than I did! Even with stretch marks appearing a week before the shoot date, although disappointed me, it didn't put me off.

The shoot was booked for Saturday 14 July (weekend just gone) so I did a bit of research beforehand to find some examples of poses I wanted to try. I was keen to have different ones to what I had done last time. I was also interested in getting some with Callum kissing my bump & to try some 'family' shots. I found a couple of poses using a sheet which I quite liked so sent the example ones to the photographer.

I took a couple of costume changes but unfortunately couldn't find a suitable sheet so had to go with the material the company provided which was pink chiffon. I did say I thought this would be ok but in hindsight I think I would have preferred a white satin sheet.

We turned up late after a number of delays getting to the venue but the photographer was understanding and also let us overrun quite a bit. I didn't feel rushed at all.

We did a few photos of me fully clothed in leggings and a fitted top first, just me on my own. Then a few with me in a pair of white skinny jeans and white bra. Then we 'tried' to include Callum! He predictively wasn't having any of it. He just wanted daddy and wouldn't perform. We eventually had to get daddy involved in the photos first and then try with all of us. Amazingly, the photographer still managed to get some good shots, even when Callum was reaching out for daddy.

After the family shots, we went for the sheet. Bra and jeans came off so I was just in my knickers & the sheet. There were a couple taken over my boobs & bump and then some taken with the sheet under my bump with my hands covering my boobs. Having seen the photos, I don't see much value in the latter ones & would have liked more taken with the sheet over bump & boobs but think there are a couple i like. I'd like to see them in black & white first & there's a good one where the colours have been played with that looks good.

Being that the shoot was only on Saturday just gone and today being Tuesday, I was very excited to receive an email today with link attached to say the photos are ready to view. Now we just have the tough task of trying to choose a couple. Again, we get one photo included in the price & Stuart has said he'll buy me another for my birthday.

Once I'm back blogging on my laptop and have decided on the photos I'll share with you both the Callum bump & Millie bump photos.

The deal we went for was for pregnancy photos then baby's first year which consists of 3 shoots within the first 12 months. Each shoot includes a 10x8 photo and there is no need to pre-book the baby photoshoots just ring up & book when we'd like one. An hour's studio time would have been £59 which is what the pregnancy shoot would've been. To upgrade to the baby's first year photos too was only an extra £20 which I think was a really good deal.

More details about DK capture can be found here. All opinions are my own, I have not been asked to write a review and have not received any fee etc for doing so (in fact they don't even know I'm writing this).


 

Posted with Blogsy

Time to love my baby bump - 33 weeks, 4 days

It's only taken 8 months but I'm finally happy with my pregnant body...when I have clothes on (still don't recognise myself naked!)...and as long as I'm not sat down!

I quite like the shape of my bump, it's position, it's size. I think stepping on the scales the other day then following it up with the growth scan has helped with that. This is all good timing cos I have a bump photo shoot booked for in 2 weeks. I need to start looking at examples of poses so I can go with some to try...if anyone has seen some nice ones that aren't the regular ones you always see, please let me know.

I'm geneally feeling pretty good. I still tire really easily, particularly by about 4 pm & I don't have to do much before my back & bump start to ache but I know if I listen to my body & rest, both of these symptoms improve.

I have a lot of preparation to do still, mentally & practically, and I am definitely not ready for this baby to arrive yet.

I still find it weird when overdue pregnant ladies start pulling out their hair in frustration waiting for their babies to start showing signs of their imminent arrival. I never got to this stage with Callum, I was still very much of the mind that the time was approaching too quickly & I wasn't ready. Pretty much the same as I feel now. It's hard to imagine the feeling of desperation for the baby to arrive & for that feeling to ever outweigh the fear & nervousness that the thought of birth & new born sleepless nights still evokes now. I'm sure I'll get there though & will laugh in that all knowing cynical way when I read this back at 42 weeks!

Posted with Blogsy

Who’s That Funny Girl in That Mirror There? 25 Weeks

I’m really not liking my pregnant body at the moment! I know I should and I’m trying to but I look in the mirror, particularly at me naked, and I’m almost repulsed by what I see. That sounds strong I know but its my first and natural reaction.

I’m by no means svelte and I have lots of bumps in places I’d rather not have places – some are down to pregnancy but mostly they are down to my diet and lack of exercise (she says as she shovels another spoonful of Nutella into her gob!) but this isn’t just a vanity thing! I know, with a bit of hard work, I can fix that after baby!

Its that I don’t recognise my own body – its not me.

I don’t mind ‘so much’ when I’m clothed, although I don’t like looking at my bumpy self, but naked….shiver! My tummy looks funny, my bellybutton looks odd…I just look…wrong!

I have no issues at looking at anyone else naked or other naked bumps, in fact, I often think a pregnant naked lady is beautiful – so why don’t I like it on me?

I remember when my feet first started to swell when I was pregnant with Callum. No one else could notice the difference, they weren’t hugely swollen, but I looked down at my feet and they weren’t my feet. I gasped and said “These aren’t my feet – my feet look funny, they don’t look like my own”. Its weird! This is similar – I look at my body and its not my body!

Thankfully, the next day after giving birth, I looked at my feet and the swelling had already gone down and I recognised my feet again – it was then that I knew I wasn’t going mad (too late for that!) as now they looked perfectly fine again – in fact they looked like my feet but skinnier!

I was the same with my pregnant bump last time too, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. I had hoped that when Stuart bought me a photo shoot gift experience for my Birthday at about 6.5-7 months pregnant, that it would help me to change my view on my body and get me used to seeing myself in a different light. I am so pleased I got the photos done and definitely want to have some bump photos taken this time too. I can look at them and appreciate them as photos of a pregnant woman but when I think of them as me I still feel uncomfortable looking at them and don’t recognise them as my body.

There’s no solution to it I suppose – apart from to stop looking at myself in the mirror!