If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve heard me talk about how I never thought I’d do a maternity session when I was pregnant. I also didn’t think I’d ever be a family photographer … and yet, my heart totally changed after becoming pregnant and now I loooove shooting families, newborns, and maternity sessions.

#neversaynever, amiright?!

Now that my baby is 3 months old, I’m starting to print and collect items for his baby book. Key among those? My maternity photos.

I was still hesitant about maternity photos even after I made it through the first trimester. My body was changing so much and would I really want to look back on how fat* I was??

*If you are pregnant and think you’re fat, let me offer a bit of encouragement everyone kept telling me: You. Are. Not. FAT!! You’re growing a human.

During lunch with a good photographer friend of mine, who had recently had a baby, we talked about maternity photos. She encouraged me to do them. She said I’d likely hate them while I was still pregnant but once the baby was born, I’d be so glad I did it.

She was right.

So that’s pretty much my message to you today, mama. I know that the waistband of your pants gets tighter every day. I know that you’ve gone up three cups sizes already and your skin is breaking out like crazy. I know you never considered yourself slim in your pre-pregnancy days but now looking back, you’d give anything to realize how good you looked!

Been there, sister. I’ve been there.

But now that I’m on the other side, I can tell you that I am 1000 percent glad I did a maternity shoot. I know my kids will want to see what I looked like while they were in my belly. And it’s so fun to reminisce on what I looked like for a few short months with a big ol’ belly popping out.

Pregnancy is a really short period of time even though I know it feels like forever.

And of all the maternity sessions I’ve done, I’ve never had anyone tell me they regretted it later. I’ve only heard people say they wish they had done one.

So maybe now you’re thinking you want to do a maternity session (yay!) The question I get asked most often is when you should schedule your shoot.

It is totally personal preference but for first-time pregnancies, I recommend anywhere between 28-32 weeks. I did mine at 27 weeks and do wish I had been just a little further along. I think 30 weeks is the perfect sweet spot.

If you’re interested in booking a maternity session with me, I would be so honored to document such a sacred time in your life. Please drop me a line if that’s the case!

PS: More a few more of my maternity photos, if you’d like to see …

All maternity photos by Anne Brookshire Photography // Floral design by Olive Grove Design // The Belmont Studio