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A friend of mine recently asked me to do a portrait for her – a pregnancy portrait. And, after we’d done the portrait, and I had gotten to talk with Kate a bit, I had to ask her to write something for my blog, that I could share along with her portrait. Enjoy,
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“For many women, pregnancy is a time of transformation and beauty, the miracle of life. While I was excited about having a child, pregnancy was something I dreaded. I was livid when people remarked about how big my tummy was getting and tried to hide it rather than embrace it. While I searched Pinterest to get ideas on how to hide my baby bump, I saw some images of henna bellies and knew that was something I wanted to do. I no longer felt attractive in this morphing body of mine. I felt awkward and self-conscious. While I got my belly hennaed, I no longer felt these things. As the baby danced around in my belly while the artist worked on her design, I was joyful. Our bodies really are incredible machines! I was able to see past my stretch marks and disgust and I could finally see the beauty.”
