Pregnancy Before and After

A dear friend of mine, one of the nicest women you could ever hope to meet, recently had a baby. She lives ridiculously far away from me, in the USA, and who knows if I will ever get to meet her beautiful daughter in the flesh. Thanks to the wonders of the interweb and photography, we can keep in touch and I'll see her family grow. Don't worry, I'm not going to start showing you all her photos, just these two that have made me think about pregnancy in a whole different light. I find these before and after pictures stunning, but also oddly unsettling as a non-mother. 

Maybe it's the stark visual of just how big that baby is inside you. The second picture was taken three days after this adorable girl came into the world. Just three days! That's how big they come out! It's not just the birthing process that puts the fear of god in me... isn't anybody else weirded out by the thought of walking round with a human of that size inside? I may have fixated a bit too unnaturally on what is otherwise a very natural thing depicted in beautiful photos. The emphasis in the second photo is clearly on motherhood and love, and that's what it's all about. I'm really proud of my friend, and all women who go through this. It's just awesome, in the true sense of the word.