In Praise of the Pregnant Selfie

In general, I am not a huge taker of selfies. I admit to posting the odd selfie when I make a major alteration to my appearance, and I have commemorated a few major events with my husband or friends by snapping an "ussie", a term that seems dumb and that I hope I never have to write again. Overall, though, I see selfies as belonging to the generation just after mine, the middle and high school students who have grown up with a device in their hand and just can't resist grabbing it every time they look in a mirror.

However, I do want to touch upon one type of selfie which comes up occasionally in my news feeds on Facebook and Instagram, but, in my opinion, is not prevalent enough: the pregnant selfie. (Note: I am dying to give this a nickname, like the "Prelfie" or the "Bellfie"- belly + selfie - but let's face it, there probably is a term out there already that I'm not cool enough to be aware of.)

I did not document my first pregnancy in photos, and I regret it. I was worried that people would view me as being self-indulgent, and feeling insecure about the changes in my body anyway, I talked myself out of it. Since then, I have seen some beautiful transformations happen before my eyes on social media, and the more I thought about it, why shouldn't I be proud of this huge, important undertaking? So, with my second and third pregnancies, I have tried to be more intentional about capturing the various stages of my maternity.

A few arguments for the pregnant selfie:

1) The people who think your pregnancy photos are annoying have never been pregnant. They simply don't get it, and they will surely change their minds as soon as they have a child of their own.

2) Pregnancy is hard. Lugging around anywhere from 25-50 extra pounds is exhausting and takes a toll on your self-esteem. Why not accept the positive comments from friends and family on social media as a reminder of what pregnancy is really about: the joy of a new life? Without the ordeal and responsibility that is pregnancy, there would be no cute little baby pictures for everyone to ooh and ahh over. The journey is just as important as the destination!

3) Your child will be able to look back on the time you carried him or her and know without a doubt that mommy was excited and happy, that despite all the hard stuff she still relished the knowledge that a new life was about to begin and would be forever joined to hers.

With that said, I encourage those of you who are expecting or hope to be one day to put it all out there. Well maybe not ALL of it, but you know what I mean. These are some of the most important months of your life, and let's be honest- you're more photogenic now, with your pregnancy glow, than you will be in the sleepless weeks ahead of you!