First, you are gorgeous and saintly. Pregnant women really are amazing. It cannot be comfortable or fun to gain tons of weight, be nauseous and still feel pressured to 'glow' and coo all the time. Seriously - I respect the entire deal. Also, I think babies are adorable, so thanks for making them. I hope to join your ranks one day.
But can we have a little chat about pictures?
Let's think about the women in our lives that we consider classic. Our grandmas, or even moms, for the most part, right? Women of grace and poise and, most likely, a little mystery. Though some of us had hippie parents who did some wild stuff and freely documented this on film (for those who are very young, film is the stuff that we took pictures on before we all had digital cameras - google it), many parents photos of themselves are pretty sparse. We have a wedding photo, and a few cute couples photos of our parents, and then we skip right to the day the oldest sibling was born. Mom is holding us,
Dad is smiling - it's lovely and sweet. But in the last 10 years or so, with the expanding use of digital cameras and camera phones and Facebook picture posting... we've gone a bit overboard. Now we have digital files of our ultrasounds with baby body parts labeled (I still cannot tell that's an elbow, I think it's an ear), and we do photo shoots of naked moms to be and post them on the internet for pregno-philes to peruse... it's quite weird.
If it doesn't bother you to share photos of the inside of your uterus, nor of you laying exposed on some black velvet cape with swollen breasts and watermelon tummy... think of the children you are currently nurturing in your body.
One day, they are going to be online, or going through your records, and find this. You may think this is adorable now to share with everyone you went to church camp in 3rd grade with and their friends of friends, but in
15 years, your womb pics are going to scar your children. And the barely covered preggo breasts with dad kissing your belly will NOT bode well with the middle school bully OR the girl they'd like to ask to 8th grade formal. You think the minivan will be embarrassing? Ha!
It's really not about my dislike of these pictures (though they do not add ambiance to my Facebook perusing experience, I'll say at least that much)...no, it's about the kids. For the love of God, think of the kids! Keep those ultrasound pics for the fridge and those nudey 'glowing mom' pics for your baby daddy. You're beautiful - we agree - but let's keep the really intimate beautiful parts to ourselves, ok? Your child's future eyesight and mental stability is in your hands. Honor that.
With love and good wishes for your family,
Lia
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