As I lumber ever closer to my due date and my belly threatens to demolish all in its path, it occurs to me that despite all the many discomforts of being this ridiculously pregnant, I will likely never experience this again. Which is sounding pretty damn good at the moment, but I know how time has a way of minimizing the less pleasant memories in favor of the happy ones. Someday, I will look back on this stage with pure sentimentalism, and I’m sure I will even feel sad that my days of elephantine maternity proportions are behind me.

What to do in order to capture the moment, all the better for joyfully re-visiting when I’m long past my breeding stage and knee-deep in children? I’ve been thinking of possibilities for an artistic reminder of just how gloriously, freakishly big my belly is right now, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

Belly painting kits. Oh look, a kit for designing your own semi-creepy belly art project. Maybe if I could paint worth a damn, or if I knew a very patient and generous artist, but . . . no, I don’t think so. Might be a neat idea for Halloween, for anyone planning to be in their third trimester next October (and presumably located in a warm climate).

Belly imprint belly cast. I’ve always thought these belly casts seemed kind of weird, because although the casting process might be fun, what on earth will you do with it afterwards? People have come up with some creative ideas, though. I’m not sure hanging a full size cast of my belly in my house is quite what I’m looking for, but I can see it working in certain spaces (your sculpture studio, for instance).

Taking your own belly photos. So I’ve been doing this throughout my pregnancy, but I feel like these have been very uninspired. It’s more of a documentation (and not even a particularly good one) and less of a keepsake; I wish I’d spent more of an effort setting up the background and location for each photo — instead of just standing in my bathroom.

Professional maternity photos. I also wish I’d given more thought to having some professional photos done during this pregnancy. I kind of feel like it’s too late to set up a studio appointment and I’m not sure I’m ready to swing the expense anyway, but some of the photos I’ve seen (such as these amazing shots by Jennifer Loomis) make me lust over my own soft-exposure, scarf-strewn session. I would do it NAKED, too. As long as there was a handy antigravity field for the hooters.

Maternity henna. My friend Jen linked me to this image from photographer Ashley Mcnamara’s website and oh MAN, how cool is that maternity henna design? I love love love the idea and I’m currently seeing if I can find a local Seattle henna artist who can do something similar — obviously, henna is a temporary adornment, but it would be great to have some photos of how it looked.

Did you do anything special to commemorate your preggo body? Or do you have any cool ideas for doing so that you don’t mind sharing (and me stealing)?

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