Belly Shots

I thought it might be fun to post some pregnant belly pics. This photo is of my friend, Lucia (left) and I. We were about eight months pregnant and getting a bit nutty with my photographer friend, Peter. He asked us what labor felt like. Being that it was both of our second pregnancies, we had a pretty good idea what was in store and pantomimed labor.

When the proofs came back I was surprised to see that our fake labor session birthed a pretty good photo. At the time, I was writing Frankly Pregnant and thought it would make a great cover for the book. When I shopped it around to agents and publishers, they all loved the photo. Even up to the final days of production, this photo was to appear on the cover. I cannot tell you the details of how and why my publisher changed the photo at the last minute, for fear of being blacklisted. But, I can tell you I was supremely disappointed for a number of reasons.

First, I thought the photo really depicted what the book was all about: going through pregnancy with a girlfriend and sharing the experience with laughter.

Second, having Lucia on the cover may increase the chance of the book getting a mention on Live with Regis and Kelly. Lucia and I had been to the show a few times and she reconnected with her childhood friend, Michael Gelman, the producer of the show. I had fantasized about going to the show again; giving Gelman a book and asking him to have Kelly hold it up during the host chat. “That’s my friend from the beach,” Gelman would shout from stage left.

And lastly, and most importantly, I wanted that photo on the cover for Lucia. She is one of my dearest friends and is the most giving, kind and thoughtful person I know. She is always the one to organize our “girls” dinners, trips and birthday celebrations. She sends hand embroidered thank you notes for having a simple chicken dinner at my house. She buys presents for everyone she knows for each birthday, anniversary, baptism, Bar Mitzvah, confirmation, graduation, baby naming, memorial or holiday.

Lucia and I became really close during our second pregnancies. We shared every baby kick, hemorrhoid, horrormonal hysteria and hating our husbands. Later, we even shared those precious times just wondering at our newborn babies.

While breastfeeding together one day Lucia asked, “Have you ever had a blocked milk duct?” Yes, I had. They’re usually quite painful. Her lump wasn’t painful. “Feel this. What do you think?” she had asked. I leaned over and felt the hard node on her breast. It felt solid and black and cold. It was cancer.

Today Lucia is still battling cancer and her prognosis is not good. It breaks my heart when I think of what may happen to her children…. Aggggh. I’m not going there now.

Anyway, the point is, I wanted to have this photo on the cover to be a gift, a tribute if you will, to Lucia and let her share, in some small way, the fame of being on a book cover.

Geeesh! I thought this was going to be a short post. I guess a picture really does tell a thousand words.

I’d love to see your pregnant belly shots too. I thought about linking to photos on other blogs of such bellies and commenting but decided against it. These photos are private and should only be shared and discussed willingly. If you want to share your belly shots on this blog, please email me with the photo and a brief or not-so-brief (you know, the thousand words thing could take over) description. Please don't be intimidated by my professionally photographed pic here. There will be plenty more layman shots to come.